Dec 16 2008
Wine Making Kits
Even if you already know the basic concept of wine making and already have the recipes that you need to make your own wine, you still need some tools and equipments to produce your own homemade wine. What you need is your own wine making kit.
Most of the items in the wine making kit that you will need for your homemade wine could be found in your home. You don’t necessarily need to buy them if you could find an alternative or a substitute item in your house, just make sure that the tools and equipment you are using are sterilized to avoid spoilage due to contaminants and bacteria.
Here are the Basic Equipments you will need in your Wine Making Kits:
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6 or 7 gallon plastic bucket to be used as your primary
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5 gallon Carboy to be used as a secondary (could be replaced by a smaller Carboy depending on the amount of wine to be made; or as many 1 gallon glass bottles you can find)
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Air locks or bubblers with bored bungs
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Nylon Straining bag or a sieve or a mesh bag
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Hydrometer
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Siphon Hose could be used for racking
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Corks
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Bottles where the wine will be stored after fermentation
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Corker if needed
A reminder about replacing these items with a substitute or alternative item is that you should avoid using equipments (primary or secondary vessel) made of metals or any container that has any indication of being scratched inside.
Metals have layers of chemicals on its surface. During fermentation which could range between 24 hrs to one (1) year, the wine could draw these chemicals out and mix with the concoction. These chemicals may cause not only the compromise of your wine’s taste and quality but it could as well, cause you to have serious health issues.
Scratched containers on the other hand are just as risky. All the equipments and tools to be used for wine making should be sterilized and free of bacteria or any kind of contaminant. No matter how minuscule the scratch is, it should not be used since that tiny scratch could breed millions of living microorganisms. These microscopic beings could cause your wine to spoil.
These living microorganisms can’t be cleaned either no matter what you do. So to avoid having your wine risked into spoilage, better not use scratched containers at all.
Of course, the listed items above aren’t the only things you will need in your kit to make wine. You will need some additional consumable items or additional ingredients to ensure that the wine you are making will complete its fermentation, have the proper acidic and alcoholic level and others. These consumable items aren’t usual household products and you will definitely need to find a store near you to purchase any of these items.
The Consumable Items that you will need to include in your Wine Making Kit are:
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Campden Tablets (Sulfites)
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Citric Acid or Acid Blend
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Tannin
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Pectic Enzyme
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Potassium Sorbate or Yeast Zapper to be used for stabilizing the wine
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Yeast Nutrient
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Wine Yeast
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Sugar
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Wine Finings to be used if speedy clearing of the wine is required or desired
Now that you have all these items and list of chemicals to be included in your starter wine making kit, you are set to go and start producing your own homemade wine. But of course, there is one vital ingredient that you must have or obtain before you start making your wine. You should of course, identify which base fruit you are going to use and where you could get it.
There are wine kits available that merchandises both the equipments, the chemicals and the concentrated fruit juice, all packaged as one. You could buy these types of wine kits if you like and then, just reuse the tools for your next batch of wines.
Another option is if you could gather all these equipment at a cheaper price somewhere else, then do so and just buy the concentrated fruit juice. Of, course, there is also the option of extracting your own fruit juice so that you could pick the fruits yourself and be certain that you are using fully ripe fruits.
We have listed below some samples of the Wine Kits that you could buy in the market today. We have included some description and what other items are included in the wine kit as well. Hopefully, these could give you an idea of what kind or type of wine you’d want to make.
Sample Wine Kits:
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White Selection: Gewurtztraminer Wine Kit – Comes with 15 liters of concentrated varietal juice, wine yeast and all necessary ingredients. Can produce 6 gallons of wine and ready to be bottled in as early as six weeks.
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California Connoseur: Cabernet Sauvignon – Comes with 7 liters of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, which is equivalent to 6 gallons or 30 bottles of wine. It also comes with all the ingredients needed to make the wine. All ingredients have been pre-measured for easy preparation. Also comes with directions.
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World Vineyard: Chilean Malbec – Comes with 10 liters of concentrated Chilean Malbec juice, which would produce 6 gallons or 30 bottles of wine. The wine could be bottled in at least four weeks.
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European Select: Valpolicella - Comes with 7.5 liters of concentrated Valpolicella grape juice. Can ferment up to 6 gallons of good quality wine. All ingredients are included and have been pre-measured along with easy to follow directions.
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Island Mist: Green Apple Riesling – Comes with 7.5 liters of concentrated green apple juice mixed with concentrated Riesling grape juice. You can produce up to 6 gallons or 30 bottles of fruit flavored wine. All ingredients are included. Can be bottled in 4 weeks.
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Niagara Mist: Peach Chardonnay – This wine kit comes with 7.5 liters of concentrated peach and Chardonnay grape juice. You can produce up to 6 gallons or 30 bottles of peach flavored Chardonnay wine which can be bottled in as early as 28 days. All ingredients included have been measured prior to packing.
These wine kits sound so savory as you read through them. Especially if you are a regular wine drinker and you see the amount of wine these kits could produce. But you have to be aware as well of the prices. The cheapest wine kit that we have seen will cost around US $50 and the most expensive that we have seen so far is around US $160.
The kit may be expensive but once you have your thirty bottles of wine, it may be worth it.
It is not our intention to sell or market any of the brands or products that were mentioned above. In fact, we don’t have any of the wine kits that we listed. The reason why we posted them is to illustrate the variety of wine kits that are available in the market.
It ranges from varietal grape concentrates to exotic fruits to the combination of varietal grape juice and other fruits. You can see how creative wine makers have become by not only producing wine of a certain fruit or made of grapes but have considered producing even blended flavors.
Now you, as a hobbyist or as a beginner in the field of wine making, may find it unfathomable to produce wines like these but the list was made to show you that it is possible to produce these blended flavored wines. Even at the comfort of your own home as long as you have the wine making equipments and tools with the necessary additives.