George, thank you very much for sharing these great ways to save some money while building a home winery! Purchasing all new glass carboys can certainly get expensive.

I too have received used bottles from a winery. They were more than happy to let me have them and help out a beginner as they have to get rid of the bottles once used.

-Matt

Hi Gary,

Red wines are tough to see through. You can do one of two things to check on its clarity.

First you could try taking a flashlight and pointing it toward the wine and then see if you can look through the carboy at the light. You’ll be able to see particles floating around.

If your wine is too dark of a color for that then you’ll have to take a small amount of wine in a wine glass and hold it at a 45 degree angle over a blank piece of paper. In good light you’ll be able to see whether or not it is clear where the wine is deepest in your glass. It doesn’t take much and if you get too much it’ll be hard to see.

Let me know how this works for you.

-Matt

i Matt, how do you manage to see through 5 gallon of red wine to see if its cleared or clearing, tried on mine and i can see bugger all through it lol

cheers

Gary

Nice Gary! Being able to see your wine as it clears helps a lot. You probably already know this but most carboy handles aren’t designed to move carboys with wine in them. Just in case they didn’t tell you at the store 🙂

Hi Matt, been to brew shop today and got glass carboy, was only £4-5 dearer, FV buckets were not clear so needed to get something as how could i see my wine clear. they are fairly heavy but got a handle with it.

Hi Gary! I hear what you’re saying about budget constraints. When you first start out there’s so much to buy that it really adds up.

You can always start with a plastic carboy and move into a glass one when it starts to get tired. Either way I think your wine will turn out well.