Basic Set of Wine Making Tools

• Posted: March 6, 2008
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• Author: James DeRosa
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• Filed under: General, Process
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• Tags: equipment, wine

All wine makers require a basic set of wine making equipment. Fortunately, if you are new to this art, the list of items is small. To craft a small 6-gallon batch, you will want to have these essentials:

• 5-foot siphon tube
• 7.5-gallon glass fermenter
• 6-gallon glass carboy
• Airlock
• Bottle filler with a shut off valve
• Corker and corks
• Drilled rubber stoppers to fit the fermenter, airlock, and carboy
• Hydrometer
• Long handled bottlebrush
• No-rinse sanitizer
• Racking tube with anti-sediment tip
• Wine bottles for six gallons of wine

Glass is always preferred over plastic jugs because plastics can retain the color and flavor of the last batch of wine you have prepared.

Some wine makers prefer rubber corks to real corks because they are easy to clean and will not fall apart in your batch of wine. But for authenticity, and that nostalgic feeling I am fond of real corks!

There are some other items you may wish to have on hand, but these are not needed for the first run. A hydrometer can measure the specific gravity of your wine. This handy tool can give you readings on the alcohol content, sugar levels, and how the fermentation process is progressing. See the Weekend Wine Word: Brix post for more information on this.

A wine thief is another handy apparatus that all wine makers tend to use frequently. It is used to take a sample of your wine without pouring or siphoning it from the container (barrel or carboy).

A dairy thermometer is also useful. This thermometer floats in the container and keeps track of the temperature during fermentation. Yeast cells need a constant temperature of 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit for fermentation to occur at a normal rate. This is essential in helping you gauge where your wine’s temperature is. When it is too cold it slows fermentation, and when it is too hot the yeast cells ferment too rapidly, or die altogether.

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