What does the first time wine maker really need?

The list of "gotta haves" is actually quite small. Most of what you will need you already have in a less convenient version. Let's look at what you need to make a kit.

Getting Started

The kit has all the "supplies"... yeast, fining agents (makes the particles in the wine fall out), metabisulphite (stops the yeast from working), possibly oak or a flavor pack (usually more juice to put in after the yeast stops working)

You will need... 1) Fermenting bucket, lid, and airlock 2) hydrometer 3) big spoon 4) pitcher to mix sanitizer in

This is where you put in the juice and water.... and stir. The instructions will usually have you take a specific gravity reading at this time. This is why you need a hydrometer.

Racking

After a week or so, you will "rack" the wine. This means siphon it off to a clean carboy leaving the crud that falls out of the juice behind.

You will need... 1) Clean carboy (6 gallon bottle) 2) bung and airlock 3) Auto-siphon

Stabilizing

After a week or so, you will stablize the wine. You will probably need to take another reading with the hydrometer. Here you will put in some more fining agents from the kit and stir.

You will need... 1) Big spoon. 2) scissors 3) kitchen funnel

Racking

After a couple weeks you will rack the wine again to help make it clearer.

You will need... 1) clean carboy 2) bung and airlock 2) auto-siphon

It's easiest to have another clean carboy, but if you do not have one, siphon the wine into the fermenting bucket, clean the carboy, then siphon it back to the clean carboy.

If you need to rack the wine again, pull the trick above.

Time to bottle.

Siphon into clean bottles, leaving 1 1/2 inch at the top.

You will need.... 1) a bunch of bottles, you have been saving them, right? 2) corks 3) corker... hand corker will work, or you can use bottles with screw on lids.

There you go... you have made your first batch of wine. You needed a kit and...
1) Fermenting bucket, lid and airlock -- about $18.00
2) Bung -- about $ 1.00
3) Carboy -- about $24.00
4) Auto-siphon -- about $15.00
5) Hydrometer -- about $ 5.00
6) Sanitizer - metabisulphite -- about $ 2.00
7) corks and hand corker (optional if you have bottles with screw on tops) -- about $19.00

The good part is that you can use all of this, except the corks, on your next batch.

Your kit instructions will always talk about sanitized this and that. A mixture of metabisulphite and water will work fine. Rinse with the solution, and then rinse with water.

To make life easier, a second carboy is much nicer, but you can get along without it.

A Carboy drier to drain and stack carboys is great to have. So is a bottle rinser and drying rack (dishwasher lower shelf works great too!) Bottle brush and carboy brush are eventual necessities. Couple dollars each.

Then you can get fancy with capsules and labels.... there is no end to the fun!

Of course, you can email us if you have any questions. We have made hundreds of kits. If you have a problem, we've probably seen it.

Whatever you do, if you think you have a problem with a batch, which is rare, contact us before giving up on it. Sometimes it just needs aging. Sometimes it may have gotten to cool for the yeast to work, it can be restarted. Sometimes it may need to be de-gassed (stir the heck out of it to release the trapped gas.)