Category: Wine Making Equipment

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The Differences Between Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Sterilizing

While this may seem like a trivial distinction to make different wine making resources will use these terms interchangeably and it can get confusing.

Cleaning

Simply put, cleaning wine making equipment is to remove dirt and debris. This can be done by using warm water and your hands or a sponge to remove the big stuff. You don’t want to use soaps or detergents as these can leave behind a residue of their own.

What cleaning does not do is remove any micro-organisms. Cleaning by itself is not enough to ensure that you won’t have any undesirable tastes due to rogue micro-organisms. Continue reading “The Differences Between Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Sterilizing”

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Using a Hydrometer for Making Wine

Using a hydrometer is key to determining the amount of alcohol potential in must and content in finished wine.

The hydrometer is the testing instrument you’ll use most when making wine. While it looks simple enough it does take some practice to fully understand both how to use it and what it’s telling you.

I’ll show you how to use a hydrometer as well as what the results mean in this three and a half-minute video. You’ll get to actually see the hydrometer used to measure the specific gravity of tap water, a sugar solution, as well as a finished wine so you’ll see the differences.

After the video I’ll share some additional tips on getting the best reading you can from this extremely useful instrument. Continue reading “Using a Hydrometer for Making Wine”