Wine Making Equipment, The Basics
Wine making at home is becoming an increasingly popular hobby around the world. After all, wine making is an ancient craft that has come with us through many centuries. Wine is possibly the most common alcoholic beverage found across the globe. And now it is gaining even more popularity as a hobby and passion. If you think that you need a wine farm and wine cellars to make good wine, think again. You can make it in the comfort of your own home and rather successfully too.
However, wine making at home can turn out to be a more expensive hobby to start up. Initial costs may seem daunting. To start out with you should only invest in the most basic of wine making equipment. Once you have tried making wine at home out a few times you can get a feel for whether you really do enjoy it. Then you can make a final decision to invest in more expensive and more elaborate wine making equipment.
Starting With Wine Making Equipments
When you start out making wine at home you can invest in a beginners wine making kit. These are excellent for any aspiring home wine maker as they have everything in them that you will need. If you choose to source your wine making equipment instead of purchasing a ready made up kit, take note. Before you pay money for any sort of cheap wine making equipment you need to make sure that is it catering or food grade. If it is not suitable for food use then it is definitely not suitable as home wine making equipment.
Health precautions, hygiene and safety is paramount to successfully making wine. The first item on your wine making equipment shopping list is a glass jug or a carboy. You can pick these glass jugs up in different sizes ranging from one to six gallons in capacity. The next item on your list is called a bung. What is a bung? This is a rubber stopper that has holes drilled in the middle of it. Bungs are secures in the mouth of the glass jug or carboy and the holes in them are for the airlock. Next item on your wine making equipment list is the airlocks for the bungs.
Why do you need an airlock? This is to prevent oxidation from breaking your precious wine down through contact with air. They also help keep the carbon dioxide that is given off during fermentation inside the carboy or jug. You also need a hydrometer, a wine thief, a food grade bucket and a hose that is food grade. Once you have these basics of wine making equipment you can start your new found passion.