I have been extract brewing for almost two years now and at the request of my wife, am looking into wine making. My main question is, what further equipment would I need to buy in order to attempt my first batch. I have all the basic equipment you would use for extract brewing, including 3 glass carboys. Is it wise to buy new carboys/buckets to use solely for wine or am I ok using the same ones I use for beer? Also, aside from the obvious things like a bottle corker, is there any other pieces of equipment vital for wine making that I may not already have? Any other tips/advise on beginning to make wine?
I have looked at the wine starter kits on NB & compared them to the equipment I currently have, but I thought I would ask those who have actually made both wine & beer before to get an educated opinion. Thanks for your help!
You’re gonna want a 7.5gal carboy or bucket for fermentation if you don’t already have one. Most wine recipes/kits are 6gal so whatever you’re fermenting beer in now would probably be fine for secondary Ferm with wine (you don’t want much head space while it’s aging).
You’re gonna want a way to degas too. There’s several different ways to do this, the way I prefer is using a hand pump wine saver that fits over a 6.5 rubber stopper with a hole (same ones you use with air locks) and using it to pull a vacuum on the wine. Some people use drills with paddle devices on them to degas…this works but it’s gonna introduce a small amount of oxygen to the wine. Most people say it’s negligible so it’s up to you what you want to do. Another benefit of the hand pump system is it removes any most oxygen from the head space too and stays air tight to prevent contamination while it ages.
As long as you’re competent on cleaning/sanitizing you should be good. Nothing is worse than waiting a year for wine only to find out you ruined it a few months ago when you contaminated during the last racking session…of which there will be several.
Other than that, a good book is really all that you’ll need for help understanding the chemistry of vinting. You could get super fancy and have a full on chemistry set up to titrate your acidity to a level you want and adjust flavors, etc. but that’s not really necessary for small batch wine. Just use a wine thief to sample from time to time and adjust as necessary.
Of course, once you step up from extracts and frozen musts to grape crushing you’ll need equipment for that, but since you’re just starting out what you have for beer and what I mentioned above will be just fine.
Personally I like to make small batches of wine in empty Carlo Rossi 4L jugs to try out different recipes. It’s a great way to figure out what does and doesn’t work without investing a ton of money on fruit and having to waste 6gal and months of time. It’s also quicker to age with oak chips, easier to store, and fun to bring to parties. I have a 3 gal carboy that I use to scale up the good recipes to make sure the 1 gal wasn’t just a fluke before going full sized.
Hope this helps!!!
Thanks irishpirate, I appreciate the help!
I took the exact same path as you many years ago. Was brewing extract beer, and my wife convinced me to buy a wine kit. Within a year, I was making more wine than beer.
Irishpirate covered this pretty well; there isn’t too much extra equipment you need. Just a big bucket (minimum 6.5 gallons) for primary and a 6 gallon carboy for bulk aging. You don’t even need to degas if you age it long enough, though a wine whip doesn’t cost much, so why not get it. The one thing he didn’t mention was a corker. You will need one unless you decide to use screw-top or beer bottles. Which by the way are fine, just not everyone thinks it is “proper” to put wine into beer bottles.
The kits are pretty easy to get right; just follow the directions. One thing to be aware of is that there is a big variation in both the price and the time needed to make different kits. As a general rule, the more expensive the kit, and the longer it takes to finish, the better the wine will be.
Good luck. Next step by the way, and this is guaranteed to make your wife really happy, is to start making sparkling wines.
grizfan20, if you want a good overview of the kit wine making process, I’ve got a video up here that goes over the whole process from beginning to end, and you can check out the Master Vintner Blog for other topics.
If you’re a successful extract brewer, kits are going to be a breeze. You’ll probably say, ‘Is that it?’ at least half a dozen times while you’re going through the process.
Have fun!
