In my searching, I found several sites with recommended equipment
lists, but one had what sounded the best to me.
PRIMARY FERMENTER: A food-grade plastic bucket shaped container with
a cover.
CARBOY: A bottle-shaped container made of glass or food-grade
plastic. Glass is much
heavier then plastic, and a lot more fragile (have broken a couple
bumping into each other), but is a lot easier to clean, and does not
scratch as easily as plastic.
AIRLOCK AND DRILLED STOPPER: A valve that seals the carboy at the
neck. It prevents oxygen and spoilage organisms from entering while
allowing fermentation gases to escape. The airlock must be
half-filled with water and attached to the carboy whenever there is
wine in it.
SIPHON HOSE AND SIPHON ROD: 5-6 ft. of food-grade tubing attached
to a rigid acrylic rod. Used for transferring wine from one
container to another, while leaving the sediment behind.
SPOON or PADDLE: Food-grade plastic long enough to reach the bottom
of your fermenting bucket.
CORKER or CAPPER: Some device that will enable you to seal the wine
in the bottle to protect it from oxygen.
HYDROMETER AND TEST JAR (VINOMETER): A hydrometer measures specific gravity
(S.G.) and is very useful for monitoring the progress of
fermentation. You should take a hydrometer reading at each step and
record the S.G. The easiest way to perform this test is to pour some
wine into the test jar, then place the hydrometer in the jar.
FLOATING THERMOMETER: Helps you to maintain the proper temperature
of your must during fermentation.
WINE THIEF: Used for removing samples from the carboy in order to
test specific gravity (S.G.) and carry out other winemaking
procedures. Lower wine thief into carboy and allow it to fill. Place
finger over open top and remove.
MEASURING CUP: A 500 ml (2 cup) measuring cup is useful for mixing
and measuring.
BOTTLE WASHER and ADAPTER: The adapter attaches to your kitchen
sink and the bottle washer attaches to the adapter. When you put
your bottle over the washer, it shoots water into the bottle to wash
out any remaining cleaning residue.
BOTTLE RINSER: Used spray a sanitizeer in to your bottles.
BOTTLE DRAINER: Used to drain your bottles after you have cleaned
and/or sanitized them.
There were several
items on the list that many recommend, but I have not found very
useful. I mention them
for reference only.
BOTTLE FILLER: A glass rod with a valve at the bottom that attaches
to your tubing. When the valve touches the bottom of the bottle, the
wine is released into the bottle.
CARBOY BRUSH: Long handled brush used to clean the inside of your
carboys.
CARBOY HANDLE : Handle that attaches to your carboy to reduce the
risk of dropping it.
AUTO-SIPHON: Used for transferring wine from one container to
another while leaving the sediment behind. This replaces the siphon
rod and eliminated the need for creating a suction as the
Auto-Siphon creates the suction for you.
There are additional items from the above list, plus others I felt
would be useful are:
Gallon jug: This glass container will be used exclusively to prepare
the sanitizing solution to clean your equipment.
Small measuring cup (1- or 2-cup capacity): The small cup will
render very accurate readings for the smaller volume ingredients you
will be measuring. You'll also need some measuring spoons.
Measuring spoons
Scale -1000 gram
pH Meter
Thermometer - room
8 inch Nylon Filter Funnel with strainer
Small Multi-fit Carboy Stopper, Drilled Used with airlock and
inserted into top of carboy to keep oxygen out of wine.
Additional Carboys Glass – 5 & 6 gallon Secondary fermentation and
bulk aging.
Additional Multi fit stopper
Additional Airlock
So where do you find this equipment, why at your local wine supply
store, or on line.
Some starter kits can be found here:
Some starter kits can be found here: