Wine And Beer

Essential Home Winemaking Equipment

Want to know how to make your own wine in the comfort of your own home? Since the Roman era, lots of people have been doing it, but without the right equipment, it's not an easy thing to do. Here are a few tips of what winemaking accessories and equipment you should look at investing in to make some great homemade wine for a surprisingly low cost!First off, you need to look at how expensive the equipment is and see if it fits within your budget. You can find lots of online vendors who can give you special deals on winemaking equipment. Most of them will probably have a "Starter Kit" where all the basic equipment is included. A Starter kit could be the best thing to purchase at the beginning, especially if you are new to the home winemaking hobby. Most of these kits will be no more than $100, which shouldn't break the budget. Most of the components to the kit can be reused constantly, so you're not required to buy a new kit every time. The kit will pay for itself in no time, as you'll be saving a lot of money!What's in the Starter Kit?The largest piece of equipment will be a large bucket of at least 25 litres which will act as your fermentation vessel. A secondary container will also be required, which will probably be a clear glass container about 20-30 litres in size. The term used for this container is carboy. Although glass is better, you could use plastic if funds dictate.There will also be several rubber stoppers that will be required to be used on the fermentation vessels included with this Starter kit. You'll probably find an airlock included with the kit, which will allow excess carbon dioxide (produced during the fermentation process) to escape while preventing external bacteria and air from entering the container, which has the potential to ruin your wine. Starter kits that are a little more expensive will likely include a couple brushes that are different sizes. These will be used to thoroughly clean the carboy and the bottles that you'll be filling with your finished wine. Assuming corks are included with the kit, you'll also need some sort of device to put the corks in the bottles. It should be easy to use, as you'll be getting a lot of use out it soon!When making homemade wine, cleanliness and sterility are extremely important and will be one large factor between a great wine and homemade vinegar. A good cleaning agent and sterilizing chemical should always be included with the kit. If you try to cut out this stage, you risk spoiling your wine! As part of the process, you'll need to transfer wine between different containers. This is accomplished with a device called a "racking tube", which may be included in your kit.The last piece of equipment you should expect to see in your kit is called a hydrometer. What this does is that it measures the amount of sugar in the mixture before you add the yeast. From here, you can calculate the potential alcohol that will result. The hydrometer will be able to tell you if fermentation has stopped because there is no more sugar left in the mixture, or because the yeast has died without finishing its job.These are some of the more common but essential wine making equipment you'll find in most homemade wine "starter packs". You'll probably need to purchase the ingredient kit separately, as the type of wine you make is your personal choice. A lot of wine kit vendors may include an ingredient kit at a special price if you purchase the starter kit from them. Regardless of the type of wine you want to make, if you have the right wine making equipment, you'll spend many hours perfecting the art of homemade wine and producing your own great-tasting vintage!