Question:"I'm just starting out and want to make wine from grapes, not from concentrate. What equipment will I need?"
Answer: Great Question! The equipment you'll need will vary with the amount of grapes to be processed and methods you choose to follow. However, here is a good generic starter set for making wine using up to 200 lbs of grapes (100 lbs of grapes makes about 6 gallons of wine.)
Necessary Items:
- MoreManual! on Red or White Winemaking available free with your first order!
- The book Home Winemaking Step-by-Step
- Crusher/Destemmer
- 20 or 32 gallon food grade plastic primary fermenters (2) & Lids (Page 13) for the pick and the ferment
- Grape Press
- 6.8 gallon glass carboys (2) (FE330)
- 5 gallon glass carboys (2) (FE320)
- Breathable Bungs (2) (FE479)
- One gallon glass jars (2) (FE300)
- #6 Stoppers (2) (FE420)
- Stopper plugs (2) (FE400)
- Airlocks (4) (FE370)
- 12" Funnel (BE494)
- 1/2" Racking (siphoning) set-up (R315)
- Carboy cleaning brush (CE40)
- Acid test kit (W500)
- General hydrometer (MT300)
- 14" Hydrometer jar (MT332)
- 1 lb Tartaric acid (AD621)
- 1 lb Potassium metabisluphite (AD500)
- Star San Sanitizer (CL26A)
- Yeast (Use 1 gram per gallon of must)
- Fermaid K (AD345B)
- Go-Ferm Nutrient (AD342)
- Oak Chips or Cubes
Optional But Highly Recommended
- Opti Red or Opti White
- Lallzyme EX or Cuvee Blanc
- pH meter & calibration solutions
- Chromatography test kit (MT930)
- Residual sugar test kit (MT918)
- -5/+5 brix hydrometer (MT318)
- Depending upon style of wine, one of our Malolactic bacteria
- Lees Stirrer (WE590)
- Sulphite test kit (W510) or preferrably an Areation-Oxidation System (MT130) for SO2 testing
- Book Techniques in Homewinemaking
Neeeded for Bottling
- Corker
- 50-100 Corks
- Wine bottle brush (CE35)
- 4' of 1/2" transfer tubing (R330)
- 1/2" Bottle Filler (B420)
- Wine Bottles (B380, B390)
