Wine Making Supplies for The Home Brewer

Basic Wine Making Supplies for The Home Brewer

Having the right supplies on hand makes can make the difference between a fine wine and something that tastes like vinegar. Read on to find out what home brewers should have in their beverage-making arsenal and how to use these items to make your first simple batch of wine.

Every person making wine needs the same basic items. These items, in one form or another, have been used through the centuries to make the same types of wine still popular today.

Wine Making in Antiquity

Wine wasn't always made in such an exacting way as we make it today. There weren't any high tech gadgets, like a hygrometer, to ensure that batches of wine turned out well. Wine was made using a few items that are still used today: a primary fermenter, a secondary fermenter, corks and a final vessel to hold the wine in which to age it. Things haven't changed much today, but instead of clay pottery we use plastic, glass and rubber.

Wine Making Supplies Today

For a home wine maker today, he or she will need the following very basic supplies:

• A 6-gallon bucket with a lid for primary fermentation
• A rubber stopper or bung with a hole for the air lock
• An air lock
• A 5-gallon clear glass carboy for secondary fermentation
• A second rubber stopper or bung with a hole for the air lock
• A 3-4 foot length of vinyl tubing to transfer the wine from fermenter to fermenter
• A wine corker
• Corks
• Wine bottles

Basic Wine Ingredients

Once you have the basic wine making supplies, you'll need the basic ingredients to make your first batch of wine. The ingredients are simple, but it will produce a nice first batch of wine for the novice wine maker. To do this you will need the following:

• 12 pounds of one type of fruit- pitted, leaves and stems removed; once this has been done, freeze the fruit. You won't need to crush the fruit if you do this first.
• Four gallons of water (well water or spring water, not chlorinated water) brought to a boil
• 8 pounds of sugar, added to the boiling water until dissolved
• 1/2 teaspoon of pectic enzyme
• 1 teaspoon of yeast nutrient

Primary Fermentation

Place the frozen fruit in a sterilized primary fermentor. Pour the boiled sugar water over the frozen fruit. Place the lid on the primary fermentor and allow the mixture to cool down to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. At this point, add the pectic enzyme and yeast nutrient. Fill the air lock half full with water and replace the lid on the fermenter. Push the air lock into the bung and place the bung into the hole in the lid of the fermentor until snug. Place the fermenter in a cool, dark place and check again in 24 hours.

When you check the next day, there should be air bubbles forming in the air lock. This means that fermentation is taking place. The fermentation should be allowed to continue for two weeks. At that time, it is ready for secondary fermentation.

Secondary Fermentation

Prepare your other wine making supplies for the home brewer by sterilizing the carboy, length of vinyl tubing, bung and air lock. Place the primary fermenter on a table that is higher than the secondary fermenter. Using the vinyl tubing, siphon the wine from the top into the carboy. Be careful not to suck up the sediment on the bottom of the primary fermentor. Replace the lid, add the bung and air lock and place into a cool, dark place. Check every few weeks to see if the mixture is clear yet. Once the liquid is clear (and there will be sediment on the bottom), it is ready to bottle.

Bottling Wine

Siphon the liquid into sterilized wine bottles, filling the bottles and leaving two inches for the cork. Use your corker to insert the corks and place the bottles in a cool, dry area to age. Leave the bottles for a minimum of six months before you try it. Once it has aged one year, it probably won't improve much. Drink home made wine within one year of bottling it.

If all has gone well, you'll be imbibing your wine and enjoying it. At this point it is a good idea to start collecting wine recipes for your next attempt and learn new techniques to make your next vintage a more complex one. It is also a time to consider buying those high tech wine making gadgets that will help you measure sugar and alcohol content, enabling you to make more different types of wine. Once you're bitten by the wine making bug, you'll be hooked for life!