Basic Wine Making Equipment

One of the things that makes wine making so attractive is that you don't have to spend a ton of money to get started, and if you already are buying wine at the store it can actually save you money, after all , you should have plenty of bottles. But there are some basic pieces of equipment you will need before making your first batch.

Of course you will need a container, I have found that plastic works best for fermenting the juice and an air-lock will also need to be able to fit the container. This is to allow gases to escape without letting stuff back into the wine during fermentation like nasty buggies! For siphoning your wine off of the sediment a 1/2 plastic hose works well. All very simple items.

If you are making wine from fresh fruit a straining bag comes in handy. It is used for easy removal of the pulp during fermentation. You can leave the bag in the fermentation, filled with pulp, and simply pull it out at the right time.

A hydrometer will allow you to determine the alcohol level of your wine and it will help you to track the progress of your wine's fermentation. So you will also want to get one, you will find that it is an invaluable tool!

There is a lot of other cool wine making supplies, but these are really the basics to get you on the road to making your first vino! Wine making should be fun so relax and enjoy the experience!

Learn basic wine knowledge here and make your own homemade wine.

Learn Wine Making Basics - the Beginning!

Basic Wine Knowledge ... every story has a beginning and my wine experience started quite young for an American girl.

My parents always enjoyed wine. My grandmother was born and raised in Germany and wine was something everyone drank over there...young or old, it didn't matter. This custom was passed on to me. I was always allowed just a tiny glass of the grape, sometimes cut with water, sometimes Kool Aid ( I was always a bit on the adventurous side!) and so it seemed very natural when a new neighbor moved in from Austria (very exotic for Seattle) and she and her husband brought with them all the grape presses, barrels and equipment from the "old country". WOW!!!




My parents were fascinated and, of course, I was too! They taught my parents basic wine knowledge and how to use this knowledge to make good homemade wine.

Soon Polly and Andy taught us where to look for grapes and how to press them in their garage/winery! They added this and that to the mix and I stood by watching, my love affair with wine just beginning. The anticipation was always there. I would wander over after school and take a look at the barrels and listen, or try to, as Polly and Andy described in their broken English the process taking place.

Fast forward now, forty five years later, My parents and grandparents are gone and so are Polly and Andy, but the memory is still there. I love wine. I am fascinated with making wine. This blog is dedicated to learning wine making basics. Let's take this journey together and have fun along the way. We will never take ourselves too seriously and we will enjoy the ride.

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