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December 20, 2012June 25, 2018

Studying Wine to Become a Better Winemaker

Great winemakers have a tremendous depth of wine knowledge in addition to their understanding of the winemaking process. The more you know about finished wines the wines you make will be.

Why? It’s nearly impossible for a winemaker to make a subtle and complex wine if he/she can’t describe or even pick out subtleties in what they drink. Once you know how to pick out the nuances of a great wine you can start honing your winemaking skills to draw out those characteristics out in your own wines. Continue reading “Studying Wine to Become a Better Winemaker”

December 17, 2012June 25, 2018

How to Use a Degassing Tool

Degassing is most easily accomplished with a tool such as a Wine Whip connected to a power drill. Degassing is the process of removing suspended carbon dioxide from your wine. Usually you’ll do this when you add your fining agent about two weeks prior to bottling.

Wine that’s not properly degassed will be carbonated. If you don’t get the carbon dioxide out of your wine before you bottle it’ll still be there when you open it later. Continue reading “How to Use a Degassing Tool”

December 13, 2012June 25, 2018

Where to Set Up Your Wine Making Operation

Making wine takes not only time but also space. The right kind of space.

Finding The Best Wine Making Area

With all the sanitizing, racking, and testing you’ll be doing it’s easy to see how wine making can get messy. Without the proper area you’ll definitely be leaving your mark. Let’s look at what sort of area will work best for your wine making operation.

The most important factors are: Continue reading “Where to Set Up Your Wine Making Operation”

December 9, 2012June 25, 2018

The Most Neglected Piece of Winemaking Equipment

It’s inexpensive, easy to use, and easy to neglect. The cost of neglecting it, however, is all the wine your making. So what is this little savior of wine?

The airlock.

Why Are Airlocks So Critical?

Continue reading “The Most Neglected Piece of Winemaking Equipment”

December 6, 2012June 25, 2018

How Much Does it Cost to Make Wine from a Kit?

Wine kits are by far the least expensive way to get into wine making. It requires the least amount of equipment and makes the smallest amount of wine. Let’s take a look at what determines the cost to make wine for the first time.

The Equipment I Purchased

To get started I picked up the Vintner’s Reserve Shiraz wine kit. This included the grape juice concentrate and nearly all of the additives required to make the wine. However, wine kits do not include any equipment.

Both equipment and the quality of the kit determine how much it costs to make wine. — Kit Winemaking Equipment

With that in mind I picked up this wine making equipment kit from Midwest Supplies. This kit included the following:

Primary Fermenter
Glass Carboy (6.5 gallon)
Hydrometer
Corker
Corks
Bottle Brush
Sanitizer
Airlock
Carboy plug

Continue reading “How Much Does it Cost to Make Wine from a Kit?”