As commercial wine production has increased enormously in recent decades bringing with it a consequent drop in prices, the art of home or small scale wine production had become the preserve of a small band of committed enthusiasts. Recently, however, the art of home wine making has seen a revival as more and more people have discovered the fun of creating and, of course, tasting these fine brews. Such has been the growth of interest in wine making that it is now possible to buy a wide spectrum of wine making equipment from he simple and mundane to the sophisticated and expensive, such as a home wine making press or a home corking machine. So how is the best way to start in wine making at home?
Wine can be made from almost any fruit or even grains (making rice wine is proving popular), and there are many recipes for making wine at home to be found in specialist books or online. For the beginner in home wine making there are wine making kits readily available that provide a range of concentrates that with the addition of water can be readily fermented on to produce acceptable wines. However this approach to home wine making precludes the collection and processing of the ingredients, something which most enthusiasts find rewarding.
What basic equipment is needed to start home wine making for beginners?
Firstly you will need two fermentation vessels, one for the primary fermentation process, where the fruit, etc is still present, and secondly a vessel for the secondary fermentation where the strained liquid turns into the finished wine. A plastic bucket is ideal as the primary fermentation vessel .It should be made of food grade plastic and preferably have a lid, although a towel draped over the top will suffice. The secondary fermentation vessel takes the form of a one gallon glass or ceramic jar with a narrow neck opening to take an air lock device. Resist the temptation to use a metal vessel, as this will result in a tainting of the flavour and a possible introduction of toxins.
The next important piece of home wine making kit is the air lock. This is an S- shaped plastic or glass tube with a cork fitting that will fit into the neck opening of your fermentation jar. Water in the S bend allows gas to bubble out but prevents any contaminants getting to the wine. It is possible to use instead a party balloon stretched over the jar opening to collect the escaping gas. As it inflates you simply let the gas out every now and again.
Staying with this simple and mundane approach to home wine making the next piece of home wine making equipment is a siphon tube. This is about three feet of narrow plastic tubing to siphon the wine into the bottles. To make siphoning easier there are tubes available with taps on the end. As for bottles it is easier and cheaper to use your old empty clean wine bottles. For the home wine making enthusiast plastic stoppers make practical and financial sense when compared to the traditional corking. Next a plastic funnel is needed to get the strained juice into the fermentation jar, and finally a muslin cloth for the straining, although a clean towel or even women's tights are fine.
This simple and cheap home winemaking kit is sufficient to get the home wine making beginner going on a journey of wine exploration. There are many recipes for making wine at home and many provide detailed wine making steps. And as I pointed out earlier there is a myriad of wine making equipment to suit all tastes and pockets.
