Reddit mentions: The best wine making equipment

Since I actually find the links in the sidebar to be fairly unhelpful, at least for someone as detail oriented as me as a beginner, and I'm still enough of a beginner to remember how hard it was to get started, I'll go ahead and give you a start here.

Equipment needed

• Primary Bucket
  
• Carboy
  
• Airlock (x2 to make your life easier) + rubber stopper(bung) + vodka for sterile agent, could use water instead. I like vodka. Also, you could use balloon here instead of all this.
  
• Hydrometer, so you can measure your starting gravity and estimate the strength of your brew.
  
• Racking Cane
  
• Siphon Hose
  
• Bleach or some other sanitizer
  
• You can get everything up till this point with a homebrew kit, here's one for a 3 gallon batch, plus a few extras that aren't necessary but are nice to have. Like a bottle filler.
  
• Large (can hold several gallons of water) Stockpot
  
• Large metal spoon for stirring
  
• Small bowl for starting your yeast
  
• Small spoon for stirring your yeast
  
  Equipment Wanted If you think you'll get really into this, here's some equipment that I have that I feel makes life a lot easier.
  
  
• Auto Siphon so you don't have to use your mouth to get things started. You don't need a racking cane if you have this.
  
• Fermentation Sampler. Is an easy place to read your hydrometer (don't drop your hydrometer into your carboy by accident, regret!!) and makes it real easy to get a small glass for sampling without having to risk the mess of siphoning into a glass.
  
• Cloth bag to hold primary ingredients to lessen particles in your mead during racking.
  
  Ingredients Needed
  
  
• D-47 Lalvin is a type of Yeast specifically used for brewing. I don't know if I can speak very well to the differences in yeasts, but I like this one because in my limited experience it propagates and dies quickly so you have less time in the brewing stage and more time in the ageing stage which is what makes Mead delicious.
  
• Honey! See amount listed in recipe. I personally like to purchase locally. Some recipes will indicate a specific type of honey. Others that are heavily flavored won't matter as much. I believe I used a clover honey in this, but I don't think you can tell with all the other flavors.
  
• Molasses. Regular in the store molasses works fine.This is acting as my nutrient (to feed the yeast) and additional sweetener because I knew I wanted a very sweet mead. Bonus, I'm pretty sure this is what gave it most of it's color.
  
• Pumpkin mash. You could use Libby's pumpkin mash here, but I wanted to be as "from scratch" as possible so I roasted 4 pie/sweet pumpkins.
  
• 1 bottle cinnamon sticks. This is the size I used.
  
• For the spices - really just put in the spices you feel appropriate for pumpkin pie. I ended up with the ratios I did because that's what smelled nice in the primary bucket. Ha!
  
• Spring water. You know the water you can buy at the store in jugs? That's the stuff. The reason you want to use this instead of tap is there's no fluoride or chlorine to possibly taint the taste of your mead.
  
  To Brew a Mead
  
  

1. Sanitize all of your equipment. First wash everything with soap and water. If this is new equipment, you can probably skip that part and move on to sanitation. To do this, you can use the sanitation packets (if you bought the kit and have them) or you can use bleach. (There are other methods too, but these are the ones I'm familiar with. If you use bleach, it's 1 Tbl/1gallon of water to make a sanitary solution to wash things in. Soak all your equipment in your sanitary solution for 20 minutes. Then rinse. If you used bleach, you will need to rinse a lot. Over and over again till you can't smell any more bleach. In my experience, 4x rinse has worked for my bleach solution.
   
2. Prepare your primary. This is only necessary for a recipe like this one where you have a lot of ingredients that don't go into the Must. In this case, you'll put pumpkin mash directly into the primary (assuming you've already roasted and cooled your pumpkins or are using canned pumpkin mash) or into a cloth bag so you don't have to worry about mush particles getting into your siphon later.... Pour in molasses, orange peels (which you've also washed) and all your spices.
   
3. Prepare your Must. The must is your heated honey-water mixture. You use your large stockpot, put in all your honey (you might want to melt it some by placing the bottles/jugs into a hot water bath in your sink or in a different pot on your stove, this makes it easier to pour and use all the honey), and as much spring water as you can fit in the stockpot on top of the honey without over flowing. (Unless you're making a 1 gallon batch - then make sure you don't use more than 1/2 a gallon- 3/4 gallon.) Note: you don't have to heat the honey for any kind of sanitizing purpose. I heat my honey/water mixture just enough so the honey dissolves nicely in the water. I feel like this makes it easier to mix everything, but you don't have to! There's a whole bunch of hubub about it killing flavor and whatnot. I only feel this is true if you accidentally boil it. DO NOT BOIL your Must!
   
4. Cool your Must to about room temperature. To do this, you can put your stockpot into a cold bath and track the temperature fall, you can add it to your primary bucket and add in chilled spring water till almost your goal volume (not quite), or put it covered in your freezer/fridge till it reaches around 70degrees. Don't let it get below 65degrees though, that's too cold. Whichever way, add the must to your Primary bucket after and bring your volume up to goal by adding spring water.
   
5. Prepare your yeast. Follow the directions on the back of your yeast packet to bring your yeast to life. Typically, this means heating a couple cups of water to 109degrees in that small bowl you sanitized, adding your yeast, stirring vigorously with the small spoon you sanitized, and letting your yeast propagate for 15 minutes.
   
6. Pitch your yeast! While the yeast is propagating in it's small bowl, give your primary a couple stirs to mix everything up. After the time has passed, upend or pitch your water/yeast mixture into your primery bucket.
   
7. Stir vigorously! This is my SO's favorite part. We play crazy music and stir like crazy (using that big metal spoon you sanitized) for 5-7 minutes. This get everything mixed up good and adds the oxygen the yeast needs for fermentation. So the more bubbles the better!
   
8. Take your starting gravity. Either stick your hydrometer straight into your primary bucket or use a sampler. Write it down and use one of the links on the side to figure out your potential alcohol content, or use the chart that came with your hydrometer.
   
9. Put your lid on your primary bucket and add your airlock to the bunghole (hehehe) aka that rubber surrounded hole in the top. Add vodka (or water) to the airlock to create an airtight seal. Place your primary vat into a cool dark place for a week or two.
   
   NOTE If you're making a 1 gallon batch, you can put your batch directly into your jug carboy and shake instead of stir. You can also use a balloon instead of an airlock. I recommend sanitizing a food-grade funnel to put all your ingredients in if that's the case. To make smaller batches - just divide everything in my recipe (except the yeast, always just use 1 packet of that regardless of the batch size) by 6.5x. For example - for a 1 gallon batch you would use 1.5 cups of pumpkin mash instead of 10.5 cups. etc etc etc.
   
   As time goes by
   
   

• Several weeks down the line you'll want to rack your mead. What this does is several things. You move your mead from Primary to Secondary. Secondary should be a glass carboy for long-term storage. This reduces the chance of plastic tainting the taste of your mead and reduces the chance of your mead alcohol slowly degrading your plastic primary. The reason it's nice to start in a plastic primary is for easy mixing and it leaves a lot of head space for your vigorous yeast activity. When you transfer to secondary (glass carboy) you reduce the amount of mead exposed to air, thus reducing the chance of infection. Also, every time you rack it cleans your mead of sediment, making it that much more drinkable.
  
• You'll want to rack several times before you consider bottling.
  
• The longer your mead sits, the better it gets. Unlike beer, plan for the long term.
  
• Keep your mead cool and dark. At one point I had access to cool but not dark, so I put a blanket over my mead.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you!

So there's a bunch of different resources. I started out with a simple set of instructions on how to make cider out of prebought apple juice. Googling "How to make wine" gives you a lot of different things.

And I'm not trying to say, "Google it yourself you lazy bastard." There's a lot to learn about making wine, and there's a lot of resources to get you started. I wouldn't just read one recipe. I'd read a bunch of them.

Here are the basics: Brewing alcohol is a chemical process where enzymes within yeast convert carbohydrates into CO2 and alcohol. They're the showrunners. You want to give them the best possible life you can. Keep in mind that alcohol is a sterilizer, so it will kill of the yeast if there's too much. For brewing, not distilling, the upper limit is 15% alcohol by volume. If there's too much alcohol, there's leftover sugar and the yeast dies. You can put in too much sugar that'll leave a sweet, burning flavor, but the good news is that you cannot put in too much yeast. It doesn't speed it up or hurt it, so I just use a packet of yeast.

The first thing is: Sanitize, not sterilize. Clean everything, even your hands, thoroughly through all the steps. Using wild or homegrown grapes can introduce wild yeasts and other molds into the mix, so you want to wash them thoroughly before the mashing begins and boil the juice to kill any strays.

I started out with a 10 pack of champagne yeast from Amazon and a bag of balloons from the dollar store. You can get better and more professional equipment as time goes on, but I'd say start small and cheap. Also, do not use bread yeast for winemaking. For cider, it's hardly going to make that much of a difference, but something like wine, you want to use a strain that's suited for it.

So, I'll give you a quick rundown: Go to Lowes or some home improvement store or homebrewing shop. Get a 1 gallon foodgrade tub, reuse a 1-gallon glass jug, or use a 1-gallon jug of purified water from a grocery store. If you reuse anything plastic, make sure it has a triangle with 1 in it. Clean it thoroughly with bleach or hot soap and water, though I prefer StarSan. It's a food-grade, non-toxic no-rinse solution. Mix 1 oz with 1 gallon warm water, gets all sudsy, and coat everything you're using with it. Let it dry. You're done. Bleach takes time because you will have to rinse and you'll have to wait for the bleach scent to dissipitate.

If you go to Lowes or anywhere like that, get a about 3-5 feet of clear, vinyl tubing. I grapped a few feet from 3/8" tubing that was on clearance, though it should run you less than five dollars no matter what.

Bust out a large pot, some cheesecloth or a metal mesh strainer.

Next level tools: Hydrometer, which is used to check the amount of sugar in it. A triple scale gives you the specific gravity, Brix, and potential ABV. They're all related in some way, which is good. I start somewhere around 13% ABV, but here's a site that breaks it down better than I could..

This is what I did, adopoted for an open-ended recipe:

• Separate grapes from stems. Toss out any that look moldy or have split already or have shriveled up entirely. If there's a black mark on it, it's still fine. Get about 3-4 pounds per gallon of water. Rinse thoroughly with cool water, if you have Star San on hand, wouldn't hurt to wash them with a little of that and rinse it off.
  
• Mash the grapes up, separating the pulp and seeds from the skin^1. If you're making red wine, retain the skins. If you're making white wine, discard. Best to discard the seeds as they'll impart a bitter flavor. Strain through the wire mesh carefully, as you'll build up a bunch of gunk. White grapes will become cloudy and brown as they oxidize. That's fine. Bring to a boil then simmer, stirring in your sugar into the mix to sweeten. Use approximately 2-3 cups.
  
• Once cooled, strain into container and return skins if you're making red wine and add filtered water. You can keep the skins in a mesh bag or a little "teabag" made out of cheesecloth^1. It's okay if it floats. Use the hydrometer to check where you stand, stir in more sugar if necessary (I prefer using simple syrup, but it's fine no matter what).
  
• Take about half a cup of your solution, add the yeast and wait 10-20 minutes until it starts bubbling. Pour into your mixture and stir in. For a jug, just put back on the cap and shake or swirl vigorously and then remove the lid. If you're using a food-grade bin, just stir with a spoon.
  
• If you're using a food-grade bin, secure the lid and find a way to secure your balloon there. For a repurposed 1-gallon jug, just stretch the balloon over the top and poke a some holes into it with a sterilized push-pin.
  
• Put it somewhere cool (63 F degrees is ideal, but I keep it in a cupboard in my kitchen which is usually in the low 70s F).
  
  ^1 You can also put the grapes into a fermentation bag or a mesh sack made from cheesecloth and squeeze out that way, keeping it to add back into the must once it's cooled. You can do it however you want.
  
  And wait.
  
  Like, 5-7 days. Transfer from one vessel into another by siphoning with your vinyl tube into a sanitized container of the same size. Affix another airlock. Wait at least 2 weeks to a month. Fermentation doesn't really stop. Transferring, or "racking," is helpful as you separate the "lees", or left-over crap of dead yeast and plant matter, behind. You don't want that to come with you. Each time you rack your wine, you'll have less lees than the previous time. You should only have to rack once or twice before you put it into your bottle. Once you seal the bottle, free oxygen can't just get in, so fermentation is effectively stopped. Corking lets in very minute amounts, while screw tops are a pretty solid seal. The reasoning is this: Aging is a settling process and a slow fermentation of any leftover sugars. Introducing oxygen back into the system allows aging to speed up, but too much and the wine spoils. Too little or not at all, and it just takes longer for it to happen.
  
  If you have a hydrometer, check to make sure the specific gravity is less than 1 but above .995. That's sort of the "sweet" spot for wine. Taste it, also. It'll require some aging and breathing to taste good, but that's a better indicator than anything else really. Once you're comfortable, transfer into wine bottles and cork or seal however you want. Corks are cheap, and a handcorker is the simplest instrument I could find that requires very little effort.
  
  And then age for a while. Or be impatient like I am, but let it breathe before you start drinking.
  
  Then when you feel comfortable, start getting the good stuff. I haven't got that far yet, where you get the Campden tablets (a better sanitizer) and the yeast nutrients and the autocane and the acid blends. Some people start with kits. I started with cider and moved up. It was low effort and low cost. I wasn't sure if it was something I had time for or patience for, so investing heavily upfront wasn't a good idea.
  
  I know there's a lot of words here. If you want better resources to get started, check out /r/winemaking and /r/homebrewing. Look up wine recipes and check out the myriad of homebrewing forums. Don't get overwhelmed and don't get ambitious. Start small and then go big.

I've made some slight modifications to this, mostly to make it easier to follow. I've also included steps that should be quite obvious to someone who's done any homebrewing before, but I wish someone had told me when I first started.

I'd link to the original, for the sake of attribution, but the user who posted this deleted their account not long after I wrote everything down.

This will produce a sweet fruit-mead (or melomel). WARNING this will be far more alcoholic than it tastes, and should not be consumed if you've recently taken antibiotics, or suffered gastric distress, as the yeast culture will still be alive, and will happily colonize your intestines if your gut microbiome is too fucked up.

Equipment: Most of this stuff will be a good deal cheaper at your local homebrew store, but I've included amazon links (also to the yeast).

At least 2 (3 is better, for reasons we'll get to) 1-gallon jugs (I don't recommend scaling this up), glass preferred. Add an extra jug for each additional batch. This one includes a drilled stopper and airlock

Drilled stoppers (or carboy bungs) and airlocks, non-drilled rubber stoppers.

An autosiphon and food-safe tubing.

Food-safe sanitizing solution (I recommend StarSan).

An electric kettle with temperature selector is useful, but not needed.

If you want to bottle it rather than just keeping a jug in your fridge:

Empty beer or wine bottles (just save your empties), capping or corking equipment, caps or corks, and a bottling wand.

Ingredients:

2.5 lbs (1130g) honey, clover recommended.

A cup (approximately 250ml) or so of fruit (I recommend blackberries, and I strongly recommend against cherries, other recipes have worked for me, but this yields a very medical flavor with cherries).

1 packet Lalvin EC-1118 yeast (a champagne yeast notable for its hardiness, its ability to out-compete other microorganisms, and its high alcohol tolerance).

Optional: potassium sorbate (to reduce yeast activity when our ferment is done), pectic enzyme (aka pectinase - for aesthetic purposes). Both are also available in bulk.

Process:

Day 1:

Mix sanitizing solution with clean water at specified proportions in one of your jugs, filling the jug most of the way. Stopper it, shake it. Remove stopper, set it down wet-side-up (to keep it sterile), pour the fluid to another jug. There will be foam left behind, this is fine, don't bother to rinse it or anything. At low concentrations this stuff is totally fine to drink, and won't ruin your fermentation or flavor.

Add honey to jug, all of it.

If you have a kettle, and your jug is glass, heat water to around 160F (71 Celsius), pour a volume into your jug roughly equal to the amount of honey present. Fix sterile stopper to jug. Shake until honey and water are thoroughly combined. The heat will make it FAR easier to dissolve the honey. Set aside for an hour or so while it cools. Add clean water 'til mostly full, leaving some room for fruit and headspace.

If you're missing a kettle, or using a plastic jug, this is gonna be a little harder. Fill most of the way with clean water (I recommend using a filter) leaving some room for fruit and headspace. Fix sterile stopper, shake 'til honey and water are thoroughly combined. This will take a while, and you will need to shake VERY vigorously.

At this point, you should have a jug mostly-full of combined honey and water. To this, add fruit (inspecting thoroughly for mold, don't want to add that). Then dump in a single packet of the Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, don't bother rehydrating it first or anything, it'll be fine going straight in. Add pectic enzyme if you have it (this does nothing to the flavor, it just makes the end product less cloudy). Stopper it up, shake it again. This jug now contains your "must" (pre-ferment mead).

Pour some sterilizing fluid in a bowl, put a carboy bung/drilled stopper in the bowl, with an airlock. Ensure full immersion. Let sit for a minute. Replace stopper with your bung/drilled stopper, affix airlock. Fill airlock with clean water, sanitizing fluid, or vodka. Rinse the stopper, fix it to your jug of sanitizing fluid.

Place must-jug in a dark place, I recommend a cabinet or closet.

Days 2-7:

Retrieve jug, give it a little jostle. Nothing so vigorous as to get your mead into the airlock, but enough to upset it. This is to release CO2 buildup, and to keep any part of the fruit from drying out. The foaming from the CO2 release may be very vigorous. Do this over a towel for your first batch. If the foam gets into your airlock, clean your airlock and reaffix it. Perform this jostling procedure at least once per day, more is better.

Day 8:

Final jostling, I recommend doing this in the morning.

Day 9:

let it sit, we want the sediment to settle.

Day 10: Time to get it off the sediment

Shake sterilizing fluid jug. Affix tubing to siphon. Put the siphon in the sterilizing fluid, shake the jug a little just to get the whole siphon wet. Siphon fluid into either a third container or a large bowl. This is all to sterilize both the inside and outside of your siphoning system.

Remove siphon from jug. Give it a couple pumps to empty it of any remaining fluid. Place siphon in your mead jug, leaving the end of the tubing in sterilizing fluid while you do this.

Take the jug that you just siphoned the sterilizing fluid from. Dump what fluid remains in it. Place the end of the tubing in this jug, then siphon the mead into it. Make no attempt to get the last bit of mead into your fresh container, it's mostly dead yeast and decomposing fruit.

Add potassium sorbate if you have it, stopper the jug, place it in your fridge.

Clean the jug you started in. Clean your siphon and tubing.

Day 11:

Let it sit

Day 12 or later: time to transfer again, or bottle it.

If you no longer have a jug full of sterilizing fluid, make one.

Repeat the earlier steps to sterilize the siphoning system, with a bottling wand attached to the end of the tubing if you want to bottle.

Sterilize your bottles or a clean jug, either with fluid or heat.

Siphon mead either into your bottles or jug. Stopper/cap/cork when done.

Put your jug/bottles in the fridge.

The yeast culture is still alive, and will continue to ferment. The fridge, and optional potassium sorbate, will merely slow this down. I recommend drinking any bottles within two months, to avoid a risk of bursting bottles. The mead should already be tasty at this point, but usually tastes much better after a couple more weeks.

EDIT: Fixed the formatting up a bit.

Don't buy a kit! They sell you all kinds of shit you won't use when there are better options for similar money.

Get a brewing bucket as if you don't have a bottler then this will make your life so much better.

Get 2 carboys (glass is best but better bottles will work too). Check Craigslist for these...you can get some awesome deals.

Get 1 Refractomoeter instead of a hydrometer because they use WAY less of your must to calculate and they aren't mega fragile like hydrometers are.

You will want an auto siphon

You will want a carboy brush that fits on a cordless drill because cleaning a carboy without one fucking sucks (and for 18 bucks this is a no brainer).

You will need sanitizer. I personally like Iodophor because it's super cheap, it doesn't really foam up and it lasts forever. I bought one of THESE bottles like 2 years ago and it is about half full even though I brew between 50-100 gallons a year.

I always advocate people start with beer bottles rather than wine bottles. The reason for this has less to do with the bottles and more to do with equipment. The Ferrari Bottle Capper is 14 dollars while a good floor corker for wine bottles will set you back 60 bucks. In addition, it's cheaper to bottle in 20 ounce beer bottles with caps rather than in wine bottles with good corks. Use of a double lever corker for wine bottles should be considered a war crime...seriously...unless you're a masochist who loves dumping wine everywhere and having to clean it afterwards...then just avoid them...they are absolutely awful.

If you go the wine bottle route then NEVER use agglomerated or colmated corks (the ones made from tiny pieces of cork glued together) as they fall apart and will leave chunks in your bottles. In addition they don't age well, so you are much more likely to lose your brew to spoilage. I like synthetic Nomacorc but you can also buy very good quality solid natural corks as well.

Good oxygen absorbing bottle caps on the other hand are mega cheap. Again...this isn't about one being better than the other, so you can use either one.

For wine bottles, I REALLY like the ones with screw tops because they make it nice and easy to cap your bottles once opened. But for all of your bottles buy these locally...shipping will double or triple the cost of these vs buying locally. I get them for 15 bucks a case a few miles from my house...they're almost 30 a case on Amazon or close to that from Midwest or from Ohio (shipping is like 11-15 dollars a case.)

For beer bottles...I prefer clear, but they'll be tough to find locally so I often end up with brown ones. Again...buy these locally not online due to shipping costs. Your local brewing supply stores buy these pallets at a time so even Amazon can't compete with the lack of shipping costs.

edit: Here's a tip! Check your local winery or meadery and ask what they do with their bottles from the tasting room. You might be able to grab a few at a time for free! It might vary by state, but in Michigan at least the establishments are unable to re-use bottles they empty in their tasting rooms. So they will end up tossing them in recycling for lack of a better option.

I've always used wine bottles previously, but just recently I've come into a large hoard of baby bellissima bottles which I've really come to love. A 750ml wine bottle is great for when you're sharing with friends, but sometimes I just want a glass or two to myself or share with my fiancee. The 375 bellissima is perfect for two glasses, and the petite bottles are beautiful. They are extremely sturdy, with thick bases, and the clear ones show color very well.

it looks like the ones pictured on amazon don't appear to have the thick sturdy bases like the ones I have. I didn't buy my bottles from amazon, and instead picked them up from my local meadery.

You are correct but I would like to point out that similarly styled hand corkers do exist. I have a similar one for my small batch meads and absolutely love it.

They're a bit of a pain if you're doing hundreds of bottles but perfect for a few cases. What I love most is the small size -- it fits in my brewing supply bin instead of taking up the room a stand-up corker does.

To piggy back on u/stormbeforedawn's comment.

This is the equipment I used that I've had good luck with so far. It's what he recommended, I'm just providing links to the specific product I used.

• 2 gal primary bucket
  
  
• 1 gal secondary glass
  
  
• Autosiphon
  
  
• racking cane
  
  
• Hydrometer
  
  
• Starsan
  
  
• GoFerm
  
  
• I used Fermaid O, not Fermaid K, because I was following a specific nutrient regimen. It's called TONSA 2.0. Popular, but apparently not cost efficient with larger batches. People better at this than I can answer nutrient schedule questions.
  
  
• Bubbler/Airlock.
  
  
• Bottles and cap method are your preferance. You can get bottles of tons of shapes, colors and styles. Corked, capped, swingtop, etc. Just make sure the bottles are food-safe and not decorative hobby/thrift store stuff. If you use corks, same rule, don't use decorative stuff. You'll want #8 agglomerated cork and a hand corker tool to put the corks on. #9 corks work too, but you'll need heavy tools (like a floor corker) to do that..

First off. Thank you for not saying you made sake. Half the bad literature online can't be bothered with the nomenclature.

> An important thing you're going to need to do is stir up the rice every once in a while. While the yeast will gradually break down the solids you'll always have some amount of rice at the top of the mixture which will start to dry

This is analogous to 'punching down the cap' in wine. Any ferment-on-skins or ferment-on-whatever generally needs to be mixed such that the top doesn't dry out.

> The kind of annoying thing about rice wine/sake/whatever is there's no easy way to figure out alcohol content at the homebrew level

Well, kinda. For about $6 you can get a Vinometer. It requires that the beverage is fined, so you can't put cloudy sake in it, or at least should probably cold crash the sample before testing. Not the most accurate but will get you in the ballpark; it uses capillary action and surface tension of the solution to give a readout

What was your approximate must/rice ferment reduction? I'm guestimating something like 2 gallons down to 3/4 gallon? Also, no added liquid to must? Did you pre-acidify at all? Also, it seems you did not bottle pasteurize (or campden/sorbate), which is something I've seen mentioned.

I've seen some Orzae and similar enzyme-fungus culture protocols calling for morton salt substitute specifically as an additional nutrient. Did you come across that / have any opinion on the topic?

In re straining, I don't quite follow the thread about oxygen plus K1V + sugar. Granted K1V is an uber-agressive yeast with strong competitive factors, will eat anything even in the presence of competition. Oxidation, on the other hand, attacks alcohols and esters, adding more yeast and sugar really can't un-ring the bell. That being said, I've been chewing on this problem conceptually and it's been one of the reasons I haven't started my own rice ferments. Even the traditional sources have a hanging, dripping bag. I do know I get a reasonable amount of oxygen exposure when I press my red wines (kinda similar process, knock down cap daily for two weeks then press), cause I'm scooping grape skins and debris and wines into a press and then squeezing.

As for the low temperature yeasts. I'm still kinda split on whether or not that's some "traditional BS" kinda how "real lagers are only fermented at 50F for 3 months". I make a bunch of wines, and have been eyeballing all the different mid-temp white wine yeasts. Right now I'm looking at DV10 or W15. I mean, Wyeast's Sake blend is literally "Sake / High Alcohol" (a/k/a distilling yeast hint hint). Which does not lead me to believe it is something special. And given that chinese jiuqu balls are pretty much whatever POF+/- sacc, I feel like there's a lot of room for valid process.

Buy a cheap corker from amazon.

Fill a regular wine bottle with everclear, and use food coloring to dye it the same color as a red wine.

Recork the wine with a fresh cork. (protip: Soak the new cork in water for ~10 minutes before corking to help it go in more evenly.)

I'm a homebrewer, I've done this tens of times. It's super easy and quite foolproof.

On the flip-side, I love my hand corker. Here’s a link. It’s a little more expensive than other hand corkers I’ve seen but a lot less expensive than a floor corker. All I do is spray the corks with a little starsan just before corking so they slide in easier and they go in without the dents. It’s adjustable also.

I don’t doubt a floor corker is better but if you don’t have space/can’t afford/don’t want to pay that much for the floor corker, this is a good option.

This might be a better investment. I use this for my 2F and it works great. You may also want to get a Air lock and a siphon as well.

Thank you! I’ve already got 2 more batches (Blackberry/Cherry/Cranberry and Juniper/Peppermint) sitting in post-fermentation, both had SNA of just Fermaid-K (have since purchased DAP and Fermaid-O for the future), and with better aeration as well. The wiki and posts here have been incredibly helpful/insightful.

As for corking, I’m using a double lever hand corker (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCYZA9O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6.nPCb36S4SRB). My grandmother insisted she had a floor corker from my grandfather, but it ended up being a antique table-mount crown capper (still very cool, and as you can see from the photo I still used it). So I purchased #9 corks expecting floor corker. I imagined the problem was just the hand corker wasn’t designed to handle the larger corks, but do you think it could be something else?

I have been doing a barrel aged negroni at my bar. Old Raj 110, Carpano, Campari. I use spiral staves they give a great oaky quality after about 3 weeks. Super Tasty!

So, I make most of my syrups (except orgeat, really), and I've found that these work really well. I also have some flasks, and I use one of those for homemade grenadine as well. And this is what I use for homemade Irish Cream, as well as an infinity bottle.

None of these things are a requirement, my first batches of simple syrup were stored in an empty red vinegar bottle after washing, and my first batch of Irish Cream was stored in an empty Absolut vodka bottle. I just figured I could lend some ideas for if you want to pick up some glass bottles. Naturally, there might be better, but I haven't had to replace these, so I figure they're good enough.

This is what I used. The first barrel they sent me didn't seal so they sent me another free of charge and that worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B009K5DSJG

Do your own aging with something like: http://www.amazon.com/American-Oak-Infusion-Spirals-Medium/dp/B0064OBE74

white dog isn't very good without the wood to clean it up. nice part about the spirals is you can do a years worth of aging in a matter of days.

https://www.amazon.com/Double-Lever-Hand-Corker-Synthetic/dp/B01NCYZA9O/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536467232&sr=8-1-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=hand+corker&psc=1

Definitely not. This is the corker I use, its very small, less than 20 bucks and it worls great.

> I'm hoping that wax seal keeps out the air

It won't. Those corks probably also won't last more than a few years, even under proper storage conditions. Drink this batch up and make some more. I get the sentiment but, no first time brew is worth saving for 25 years - you'll get better as brew more and future batches will certainly be worth aging for longer periods.

Edit: Also, just buy synthetic unless you're crazy about the aesthetics/presentation of using real cork. 100 Nomacorcs are only $20 on Amazon (if you're in the US).

I highly recommend spirals over chips

Buy one of these, saw off a quarter of it, drop it into your mead, and taste it every week until it's as oaky as you like.

But remember to find a balance between sweetness, acidity, and oak.. you don't want to go too far in any one direction

Here's a hand operated corker on Amazon for less than 20 bucks. Would that help?

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 use one for beer. They work well and I like them. I have to many Meads going to spend that much on them. Expect to pay over 100 for a nice one with temperature too. I have the Tilt one found here. Digital wireless hydrometer and thermometer for smartphone or tablet (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVP11L2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OjavCbKRDYPDG

Late to the party but wondering the same thing, was hoping something like this might work but I have my doubts https://www.amazon.com/Weston-05-0201-Construction-Stainless-Crushing/dp/B000XB5UHE/

even cheaper is wood spirals. It doesn't look as cool as a barrel, but the results are still incredibly solid. I occasionally age the spirits for a last word with wood and add the lime after the aging process. It's... insanely good.

I've got this one, which is pretty solid:

http://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Super-Agata-Bench-Capper/dp/B001D6KGTU

Although I have since gotten into wine, and had I known I would do that, I would have sprung for this one, which can accomodate a larger bell size for corking as well:

http://www.amazon.com/NorthernBrewer-Colonna-Capper-Corker/dp/B0089WJ8P4

I use this style: https://smile.amazon.com/Ferrari-8R-KUTK-YL7E-Double-Lever-Corker/dp/B000FQBBK2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1469729139&sr=8-4&keywords=corker (though there are better corkers)

You can see the nuts near the top I was talking about, they allow for adjustment. I usually back them off whenever I'm using a new cork or bottle type, and just keep adjusting it forward while hitting the same cork in the same bottle until I like the result. Then just go hit the rest as normal.

Get a Fruit Crusher and a apple press and have a great time.

I do have a few indents in some of them, but really it's just good photography (left that to the wife). The corker is this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Ferrari-8R-KUTK-YL7E-Double-Lever-Corker/dp/B000FQBBK2?sa-no-redirect=1

I use a Vinbrite gravity based filter, essentially pulls the mead into a filter body with a filter pad in there, usually takes a couple of hours for a 1 gal batch to filter since it's pretty slow but it does the job really well.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vinbrite-Mk3-Wine-Filter-Kit/dp/B004NXSPLG/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=vinbrite+filter&qid=1574555889&sr=8-2

If you looking for wine bottles you can totally wash out and reuse whatever you drink and buy a corker.

It's not that hard to bottle with cork. I have this corker and it is fine for a few bottles:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCYZA9O/ref=sspa_dk_detail_4?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B01NCYZA9O&pd_rd_w=f2qbN&pf_rd_p=f0dedbe2-13c8-4136-a746-4398ed93cf0f&pd_rd_wg=RYbTp&pf_rd_r=5W9DW8QM1JE2CABS143Y&pd_rd_r=6d6a27a0-28ac-11e9-8fda-23ec39d64fe3

Corks you can find for a few bucks. So like for 25$ you cork your bottles.

​

I'm moving houses soon, and was just thinking about this. Not for any fancy purposes, but just to consolidate some leftover remnants from bottles. But after reading more about it, the idea of keeping a bottle over the years with a bit of history sounds cool.

I bought this bottle off Amazon for the moving job, it was cheap and I was just gonna repurpose it for other stuff, but I may just keep this bottle as my "leftovers" bottle.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M69TPGO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A true god would not be caught with plastic or even thin metal cups.
http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Barrel-Solid-Valley-Creations/dp/B004Q2AUTO/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1312611271&sr=1-3

Chips are not the same as spirals. Their flavor is less complex and imparts sooner.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Oak-Infusion-Spirals-Winemaking/dp/B013S28UC6/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1522282130&sr=1-1&keywords=oak+spirals

Are better. Your chips will work fine.

Your response cleared a few things up!

I was referring to a hydrometer — I just wasn't certain of the name (it measures gravity levels and should read 1.2 - 1.29). Here is further explanation.

Thank you for providing the link to the H2O2 kit, I'll look into that kit!

I don’t know much about it, but would something like this accomplish the same thing?

https://www.amazon.com/Vin-O-Meter-Vinometer-Alcohol-Tester-0-25/dp/B01990W824

> 375 ml bottles

http://www.amazon.com/375-Clear-Bellissima-Bottles-case/dp/B0064OG1RW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1451098516&sr=8-2&keywords=375+ml+bottles

thanks!

Are you talking about synthetic corks like these?
https://www.amazon.com/Nomacorc-Synthetic-Wine-Corks-Bag/dp/B0064GWTS0/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=synthetic+corks&qid=1554419619&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Or something else?

Can I use something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Ferrari-Portugese-Double-Lever-Corker/dp/B000FRWJNE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482378735&sr=8-1&keywords=corker

It definitely will.

I ferment peppers in a glass jar with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/American-Oak-Infusion-Spirals-Medium/dp/B0064OBE74/ per gallon. Using a cask will give you a lot more surface area coverage.

Here you go!

An entire Amazon search of them!

I do this often with these- https://www.amazon.com/American-Oak-Infusion-Spirals-Medium/dp/B0064OBE74/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1503619110&sr=1-2&keywords=oak+spirals I use about a 3" piece in a 2-liter glass bottle. It only adds oak flavor, color, and maybe some other wood like characteristics i.e., cinnamon. I got my spirals and glass bottles from Midwest Supplies.

https://www.amazon.com/NorthernBrewer-GR-5G10-3HIY-Colonna-Capper-Corker/dp/B0089WJ8P4

i recommend this one bc it has given me 4 years of reliable service and it does both capping beers and corking wines fantastically... I keg now so idk when I will use it again....

Yeah, I initially thought, Even if its $30 USD how could I not. That website doesn't even seem to have the actual machine.

Actually still not bad if you're going through a lot of fruit
https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Apple-and-Fruit-Crusher/dp/B000XB5UHE

Canadian if that wasn't clear.

This appears to be the same crusher under a different name. Reviews are mixed, though Fakespot says they're mostly-real. Anyway, lots of the 1- and 2-star reviews seem to indicate other folks have the same issue. Maybe flip through the 4- and 5-star reviews and see if anyone has suggestions for improvement? One I saw said adding more rows of "teeth" using screws made it more functional.

Not really. I just bought a corker and knew that some people dipped wine in wax for a better seal.

[Here's a video I found that isn't what I did, but would be way better.]
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2tfko-iU0)

Here's the steps, it's not hard overall but requires some equipment.

1. Soak 1 more cork than you need for 2-3 hours in a bowl of sterile water.
   
   
2. Fill wine bottles with mead
   
   
3. Get out the ol' compression corker and cork your sauce.
   
   ....20 minute break for a drink....
   
   
4. Fill a pot with water and fill half way a can or disposable metal bowl with wax
   
   
5. Drop can into water and simmer as a cheap double boiler - don't boil, just slowly heat
   
   
6. Dip bottle tops in, wipe off excess before it cools, and store for aging.
   
   When you open it use a corkscrew with a knife for this purpose, like a standard waitstaff model, and cut the wax off (or score around the top) first over the trash or sink. Then open.

I got 100 for $12 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IQW2A2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_XxaNDbSVSACBB

$40 on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007R8ZBC/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_1C8PBbTAY3RDH

Probably more than you want to spend, but this would do it- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XB5UHE/ref=asc_df_B000XB5UHE5192541/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B000XB5UHE&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167124686369&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5708612962213490304&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030456&hvtargid=pla-273475308682

I want to get into wine making / brewing. At the moment I'm thinking about getting this but other than that I don't really know what to do.

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/C-Kraus-5Q-TPXD-2HH9-Compression-Corker/dp/B00838STWM/ref=mp_s_a_1_15?keywords=wine+corker&qid=1573965599&sr=8-15

http://smile.amazon.com/NorthernBrewer-Colonna-Capper-Corker/dp/B0089WJ8P4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1449337529&sr=8-8&keywords=Bench+capper

I used oak spirals. You just put in one third of a spiral per gallon for 5 weeks.

I use synthetics for convenience

Nomacorc Synthetic Wine Corks #9 x 1 1/2". Bag of 100 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064GWTS0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0fdNDb7F70BAD

http://www.thebarrelmill.com/infusion-spirals.html

http://www.amazon.com/American-Oak-Infusion-Spirals-Medium/dp/B0064OBE74

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brewing/brewing-ingredients/flavorings/oak-products

http://www.infusionspiral.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Weston-Apple-and-Fruit-Crusher/dp/B000XB5UHE
$170 for the crusher.

You could check out one of these

I use a 5-gallon glass jar. I actually got it for almost nothing, I was at an estate sale and they just wanted it gone. It looks very similar to the one I have linked below, just much older.

Also, if you do happen to fill it up, you will probably have several hundred dollars. Last time I cashed it out, usually once a year, it was half full and I got around $600 from it.

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-To-Brew-LLC-39-BS46-H46M/dp/B0007R8ZBC

If you’re not carbonating, then a cheap handcorker will do. It can be a pain to cork a lot of bottles though.

Beer bottles with bottle caps and capper are easier.

I would def test the beer often.... it's very easy to ruin a beer. I did an imperial with this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B013S28UC6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1463523514&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=oak+brewing ....for 3 days and it's border line for me.

That one I linked is probably not accurate for wine because of it's 0-100% scale. Here is a vinometer. Even with an initial and final hydrometer reading there is still error as there are several different calculation methods.