Home Winemaking Equipment Kits To Get You Started.

Home winemaking equipment is not complicated equipment. Many times you do already have some of the equipment required. With the beer and wine making supply stores that have opened in lately, obtaining the right wine making equipment should not be any trouble. You can purchase a winemaking kit to go with your winemaking equipment kit from these stores and then all you will need are the bottles and a wait of about 28 days. Wouldn't that be nice?

You can find out what equipment is in a home wine making equipment kit by either visiting your local brew shop or do a search online and then list out what the kit includes. After you get a list of what is in the wine making equipment kit, have a look through your cupboards, you may have some of the items on the list already. Remember, anything plastic you use must be food safe quality, that's very important. It can happen that maybe by purchasing the winemaking equipment kit you will come out in ahead and you need to remember is many of the items will be that purchase only, you won't have to replace every time you make your wine.

Wherever you purchase your wine making equipment, ask if there is a recipe book that comes with the kit, the store keeper for good will, may just give you one to get you started, never hurts to ask, but if not then see if they can recommend a good one to you. Beware, winemaking recipe books can become addictive, like cookbooks, some can never get enough. In the early stages of your home wine making, it can be a good thing to have a few home wind making recipe books until you get into your own way of making wine. You will get into your way of making your great wine.

Here is a list of home wine making equipment you will need.

A 30-liter or larger food-grade plastic container (similar in shape to a garbage can|like a plastic garbage can) with a non-airtight lid and a mark at the 23-liter point
A 23-liter glass or food-grade plastic carboy
An airlock and bung (a rubber stopper with a hole in it) for the carboy
A hydrometer to check the specific gravity referred to as 'sp. gr.' of the wine
A long, narrow tube or jar to hold the wine while you're checking its specific gravity (generally the tube the hydrometer comes in works fine)
A dairy thermometer
A long piece (at least 1.5m or five feet) of food-grade plastic tubing
A long spoon that can fit into the neck of the carboy and reach to the bottom
A wine thief to remove the developing wine from the carboy without having to tip it


You will also need apart from the grape juice or whatever you have chosen to make you wine with the following:

Good quality water, this normally means filtered water, not the chlorinated water from many town water supplies.

Wine Yeast, this is best tailored for the type of wine you want to produce, use bread yeast only if you can't get the wine yeast. The results with bread yeast are generally not as good.

A wine 'settler', you can use sterilized bentonite or isinglass and they should be readily available from the winemaking stores.

Potassium sorbate, to stop fermentation, you can get this also at the winemaking supply store.

Bottles and corks

Campden tablets, these are used to help kill all the naturally occurring wild yeasts and undesirable bacteria in must, but they can also be used to make a sanitizing solution.

Once you get your wine making equipment kit, you will be ready to start making wine at home and impress your family and friends When you make your first vintage, you will be well on your way to becoming a home wine maker