Winemaking Equipment Kit

Wine Equipment Explained

The fermenting bucket is a food grade plastic bucket with a 7.9 gallon capacity, that is used to ferment the must (unfermented wine).

 A lid with a grometted hole and airlock is used to seal the fermenting bucket. The airlock is filled halfway with water to allow co2 to escape while keeping bacteria and oxygen away from the wine.

The bottle filler attaches to the tubing that is attached to the spigot and has a valve on the tip. The valve releases the wine into the bottle when pressed on the bottom of the bottle. Fill the wine to the very top of the bottle and remove bottle filler. The filler displaces the exact amount of air space needed to properly age your wine. It is a very handy tool.

A racking cane allows you to transfer your wort from one vessel to another. It is made of hard plastic and is shaped like a cane. The end of the cane has an anti-sediment tip that draws liquid from above so that sediment can be avoided while transferring.

We have a variety of corkers available for the home winemaker. The most popular is the double-lever corker. It is easy to use and one person can operate it easily. The cork is inserted into the slot and is compressed as it is being pushed into the wine bottle. This is the main downside to the double lever corker. Because it is compressed as it is inserted into the bottle, it leaves a dimple in the cork. This doesn't affect the aging but isn't as attractive as other corkers that leave a smooth "polished" look to the cork.

The Gilda 3 lever corker uses an iris, like the more expensive bench models. The iris pre-compresses the cork before it is inserted into the wine bottle, leaving a smooth, finished look to the cork. This corker is a bit more difficult to use and it is recommended that you have a helper to hold the wine bottle as it isn't as stable as the double lever.

The bench corkers are really the best for corking your wine. We carry 2 models, the Portuguese and Italian floor corkers. Both have an iris that pre-compresses the corks. The handle that pushed the cork into the bottle is adjustable so you can control how far the cork is inserted. The bottle locks into place as you are corking to keep the wine bottles in place. The biggest difference between the two is the the Italian is more solid in construction with a brass iris rather that a plastic one. The Italian also will cork champagne.

Wine Thief

Wine De-gasser

De-gassing your wine. Stage #3 is the most important stage of the winemaking process. In order to prevent a fizzy wine, it is very important to vigorously stir the wine to drive off any co2 that is in the wine. Excessive co2 not only causes a fizzy wine, it can also prevent the finings from effectively clearing the wine. We strongly recommend a Mix-stir that attaches to a power drill and is used in stage #3 to stir and de-gas the wine.