(Part 2) Best products from r/winemaking

To bottle your wine, you're gonna want an auto-siphon (one of these bad boys http://www.amazon.com/Fermtech-5516-Regular-16-Auto-Siphon/dp/B0064ODELI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462350125&sr=8-1&keywords=auto-siphon) and appropriate tubing.

You're also going to need some kind of liquid dispenser (a la http://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Plastic-00756-Beverage-Dispenser/dp/B005S4LOYY/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1462350089&sr=8-10&keywords=water+dispenser - wash that shit out first).

You'll use your siphon to "rack" your wine into the dispenser and then dispense it into bottles of your choosing. If anything, buy the siphon's tubing at a homebrew store and not online; a lot of online venders sell non-food grade tubing and list it as food grade.

To clean out your jugs (carboys) I recommend Oxyclean Free (http://www.amazon.com/OxiClean-Versatile-Stain-Remover-Free/dp/B005GI8UPI) used in conjunction with really any clean scrubber. I'd clean out the bottles with this stuff too, then sanitize with star san. I usually keep some star san in a spray bottle; it makes life a lot easier.

I'm in the same boat as you. I followed this recipe. The only additional step I took was melting the sugar before I added it to the mix.

I bought a jug and a set of airlocks on Amazon. I bought a 4lb bag of sugar, a can of frozen white grape concentrate, and some packets of yeast at the grocery store. It cost about $25 total, but most of it was on the jug and airlocks, and I won't have to buy those again.

Since I had the extra airlock, I started another batch in a 3/4 gallon bottle of grape juice with some added sugar. Should the grape juice batch turn out better, the $10 jug wouldn't have even been necessary. I'm 10 days in, we'll see which batch turns out better.

i use the recipe from the book "home winemakers companion" http://www.amazon.com/The-Home-Winemakers-Companion-Great-Tasting/dp/1580172091 and i'm away from that book right now so can't get you the exact recipe.

most recipes are pretty similar though. you can't go wrong with eckraus recipes, here's one for raspberry which looks really similar to mine: http://www.eckraus.com/winerecipes/raspberrywine.pdf

when using real fruit, i always freeze it first (it breaks down the fruit better) then i thaw it out completely a couple of days in the fridge before starting this recipe. it doesn't hurt to throw a couple more lbs of fruit in this recipe either, better taste

Winemaking: Recipes, Equipment, and Techniques for Making Wine at Home

http://www.amazon.com/Winemaking-Recipes-Equipment-Techniques-Making/dp/0156970953/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377051471&sr=1-1&keywords=winemaking+stanley+f+anderson

I love this book. It talks about all sorts of equipment, has some troubleshooting guides ("what do I do when....") and has TONS of different recipes for all sorts of crazy fruit wines, as well as grape wines.

I love this book to death. :)

I would invest in a decent portable pH meter

A good set of Hydrometers, maybe even an Ebulliometer if you can find a reasonable one.

Also, a rig/stirrer/flask and reagents for testing sulfur additions accurately is insanely helpful.

Temperature control is nice, maybe a jacketed 50 gallon tank of some sort?

Great book but very dense and technical. Certainly wouldn't call it light reading by any stretch. I also certainly wouldn't even start that text until after reading Cox's "Vines to Wines" and perhaps even David Bird's Understanding Wine Technology

These I'm pretty sure. I got them to use behind the bar so I had them on hand for bottling.

Ahh. I see what ya did there. Lol

God bless amazon. Wall Control 30-WGL-200GVB Galvanized Steel Pegboard Tool Organizer https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LZSWFW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kFVzCbPRPTAQH

The bottles you have there will be really difficult to seal well. I would use a screw top bottle instead of those. If you store them in a dark cupboard the tinted glass won't really make a difference anyway. Screw top bottles seal up pretty tight on their own. I really don't think you need to get too crazy with sealing them any more than that. As long as the bottles are filled nearly to the top, oxidation in a closed screw top bottle should be very minimal. Especially if you aren't opening them often. Something like this should work well: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072LGNN4L/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/North-Mountain-Supply-Ounce-Bottles/dp/B073T4XLRG/ref=sr_1_9?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1550765242&sr=1-9&keywords=mini+hot+sauce+bottles

order plastic carboys. They'll survive the trip. Alternately, buy a 1 gallon jug of apple juice. Bonus that you can use that as a start for apple wine or apple cider.

I'd use a food grade bucket for primary fermentation, and a plastic carboy for secondary, in your situation.

Same thing with plastic wine bottles: https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Bottles-Screw-Green-750ml/dp/B00ILC4A7S

just save the bottles!

I would not use Tetrapak containers.

Of course!

5 pounds of blueberries used for ~1.5 gallons of mixture in primary fermentation. I took it up to ~10% with sugar and used this yeast -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008EDD46M/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I split two vanilla beans down the middle, sanitized, and threw them in for primary fermentation. Hindsight, two was not enough, barely any vanilla flavor came through. Squeezed the blueberry pulp twice a day until I pulled the pulp bag out and transferred to secondary.

I racked it once, probably a week and a half after transferring to secondary to get a vast majority of the lees out. After that, I let it sit two months to clear in secondary.

Backsweetened with the vanilla syrup i linked somewhere in this post, and voila! Ended up with 5 bottles of delicious wine that I may have to drink right away because they could start re-fermenting :D

This is the one I use.. It's kinda spendy to start up, $50, but then the pads are about $7-$10 a pack and I can run 6 gallons (biggest batches I make) with no noticeable slowing and no pump needed. But, I DO make sure I'm pretty clear before I filter it.

I recently picked up this kit which was 5.5L. It was very, very watery. I've since been looking for a kit that is at least 10L. Yours says 8.9L, so that is better, but if I were doing it all over again, I'd have cut my volume in half. I'll defer to those with more experience, but imagine pouring orange juice into a cup and filling it a quarter of the way up, then filling the rest with water. That is essentially what my wine is like now. :/ Good luck!

This one is the only one I've tried so far. Fast acting and tolerates high alcohol but may not be the most... sophisticated out there.

Easiest way to carb would be carbonation tablets. Pretty easy to throw them in while bottling at pretty low expense. I linked to amazon but you can buy them from anywhere really.

https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Carbonation-Tablets-4-5-oz/dp/B007P5NHC6

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Wine-Technology-Science-Explained/dp/1934259608

Very good read on the pieces parts of wine making. Understanding how different aspects of Oenology play into making wine. Used during my first semester of Oenology

Get him a refractometer and a pH meter.

https://www.amazon.com/Refractometer-Brewing-Measuring-Original-Predicting/dp/B01LWAYNGA/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1541692462&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=wine+refractometer&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Meter-Tester-Measurement-Hydroponics/dp/B07GW7J6PN/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1541692505&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=pH+meter&psc=1

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Both are worth their weight in gold.