Critique My Equipment List and Kits

[I3igDmsu]

I am new to wine making and have done some research to put together everything I need to make my first two batches. Below is my equipment list and kits that I have chosen to start with. Please critique anything you see that is overkill or I may need to do these two (almost concurrently).

Kits:
*Winexpert Mezza Luna Red (done in 3-9mo, order from southern homebrew (***))
*RJS Winery Series Super Tuscan (done in 1.5-2+ yrs, order from ***)
I was hoping to start with the Mezza Luna first because it will be done much sooner. After fermentation and transferring the Mezza to the BetterBottle, I was planning on using the bucket to start fermenting the Super Tuscan. I'm trying to minimize the amount of equipment I am buying right now.

Equipment:
*FineVineWines Beginner Wine Package w Plastic Carboy (http://www.finevinewines.com/XPListDet9B.asp?MM_PartNumber=1009A
)
*Extra 6 gal BetterBottle
*Extra 30 corks
*Extra airlock
*Extra bung for BetterBottle
*1 lb of Potassium Metabisulfate (for sanitizing bottles and corks)
*4 oz of iodophor (for sanitizing fermenter, airlocks, bungs, other equip)
*Brewer's Belt (to maintain 75 degrees during fermentation in bucket as I am planning on doing everything in my basement (probably 60-65* during this time of year))

Thanks all for the help. I am planning on ordering asap so please let me know any changes to equipment/kits/etc!

 

[cpfan]

Not sure why you are getting two sanitizers. Personally I use iodophor for everything.

I would suggest getting a couple of extra hydrometers, they are quite breakable.

Suggest floor corker instead of hand corker.

This kit includes the 1/2" (or large) tubing kit. I like this for racking but I do NOT like it for bottling. I would suggest a 3/8" tubing kit (auto siphon, tubing, bottle filler.

Steve

 

[Dhaynes]

Not sure why you are getting two sanitizers. Personally I use iodophor for everything.

I would suggest getting a couple of extra hydrometers, they are quite breakable.

Suggest floor corker instead of hand corker.

This kit includes the 1/2" (or large) tubing kit. I like this for racking but I do NOT like it for bottling. I would suggest a 3/8" tubing kit (auto siphon, tubing, bottle filler.

Steve

I've never used iodophor so I can't comment on that but otherwise I second everything cpfan said especially the part about one (or more) extra hydrometer. You have more patience that I do to start with kit like Luna Rosa that will take a long time to develop. It's a great kit, just takes time. You might consider starting with an Island Mist kit that will be ready to drink about 3 months after you start it.


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[Dhaynes]

Erroneous duplicate post due to bug in iPad app. Please ignore.

 

[richmke]

Use glass carboys instead of BB. If you ever get an All-in-one wine pump, you will need glass carboys.

Use StarSan instead of iodophor.

Don't buy corks yet. You have time to research corks, and decide which ones you want to use.

I recommend AGAINST using the bottling spigot. One more hard to clean thing. Keep your primary simple to make it easy to clean.

 

[Dhaynes]

The question of glass or plastic is more of a religious holy war than anything else. There are good arguments for and against each. Plastic is easy to scratch on the inside and create places for spoilage organisms to hide if you are not careful and you can't pull a vacuum on one if it's empty to transfer wine into it. However if it is full of wine you can use a vacuum to degass it. On the other hand plastic is considerably lighter and easier to lift. More important, it bounces if you drop it rather than shattering into a million pieces and losing a whole batch of expensive wine all over the floor.

I was reminded just today why I'm glad I use Better Bottles. I was cleaning up a carboy in the bath tub after racking wine out of it. It was wet and slippery. I lost my grip and it fell about two feet onto the bottom of the tub. Luckily it was a better bottle so it just bounced. If it had been glass I would still be picking up shards of glass. We have about a dozen 6 gallon BB. We also have one 6 gallon glass carboy that we bought just to compare. We never use the glass one unless all the BB are already being used. We do have 10 glass 5 gallons that we got used of of craigslist for $8 each which was the only reason we bought them. But we also have two 5 gallon BB. Guess which one we use first.


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[Rocky]

Dhaynes, you certainly have the basic equipment to get you going and you have picked two very nice kits. I would make one suggestion to your plan, however. Start the Super Tuscan first and get it into the rotation. It is a minor change but would save you about 10 days or so until you can enjoy the Super Tuscan.

Your points on plastic vs. glass are well stated. Bear in mind if you want to vacuum rack (and at some point, I suggest you purchase and All-in-One pump) you can not vacuum rack INTO a plastic carboy. You can gravity rack and you can bottle fill from plastic with the All-in-One. I realize it is an investment but one that you will cherish as the years go by.

Good luck!

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the forum!

I second the thought of Dhaynes and would recommend getting several early drinker kits going first before doing late drinker kits. Even at that you'll need several more carboys in order to start building stock.

I use both glass and plastic carboys and find pluses and minuses to each choice.

 

[peaches9324]

I like to use the glass carboys for long term aging but unfortunately I have lost a few glass carboys but the cause of the loss was carelessness! If I had made sure my hands were dry when handling it and don't rely on propping it up with something to dry get a carboy dryer the 6 bucks it cost is nothing compared to the cost of a glass carboy. Not to mention the time it takes to get all the broken glass cleaned up!
cheers

 

[Stressbaby]

I bought the BBs early on, as you plan to do.

Now almost three years on, I never use them. You can't vacuum rack into them. And if you pick one up by the neck, it draws the airlock fluid into the wine.

For me, BB was a total waste of money. If you are coming through central Missouri, swing by, you can have mine.

 

[I3igDmsu]

Not sure why you are getting two sanitizers. Personally I use iodophor for everything.

I would suggest getting a couple of extra hydrometers, they are quite breakable.

Suggest floor corker instead of hand corker.

This kit includes the 1/2" (or large) tubing kit. I like this for racking but I do NOT like it for bottling. I would suggest a 3/8" tubing kit (auto siphon, tubing, bottle filler.

Steve

Thanks. For the 3/8 tubing and pump setup, do you recommend a different kit? What's the disadvantage of 1/2" for bottling?

 

[I3igDmsu]

Dhaynes, you certainly have the basic equipment to get you going and you have picked two very nice kits. I would make one suggestion to your plan, however. Start the Super Tuscan first and get it into the rotation. It is a minor change but would save you about 10 days or so until you can enjoy the Super Tuscan.

Your points on plastic vs. glass are well stated. Bear in mind if you want to vacuum rack (and at some point, I suggest you purchase and All-in-One pump) you can not vacuum rack INTO a plastic carboy. You can gravity rack and you can bottle fill from plastic with the All-in-One. I realize it is an investment but one that you will cherish as the years go by.

Good luck!

Thanks. I'm leaning toward glass carboys stored and lifted in milk crates now. What extra do I need to vacuum rack? I already have a Vacu Vin that I can use. Any extra attachments needed?

 

[diywinemakers]

Thanks. I'm leaning toward glass carboys stored and lifted in milk crates now. What extra do I need to vacuum rack? I already have a Vacu Vin that I can use. Any extra attachments needed?

If you already have a vacuum pump. All you need is a two hole rubber stopper like this one ($9):



Add a valve like this ($9) you can degas and rack in one step:

 

[vacuumpumpman]

A vacu vin is ok for hand degassing
But cannot be converted to be able to transfer and bottle with.
Like others mentioned about the Allinonewinepump - really comes with everything you need.
Please check out the website or the review on this forum.

If you have any other concerns you can always pm me and I will call you back promptly.

 

[richmke]

What's the disadvantage of 1/2" for bottling?

Flows too fast. You want a slower flow so you can control it as it gets to the neck of the bottle.

For future All-in-One use, use 3/8 for everything, including racking. Yes, it is slower for racking, but it creates more suction pressure, and thus degases better. FYI: All-in-one will have its own tubing (thicker walls because of the vacuum). By using 3/8 all around, everything will connect to whatever tubing you are using.

BTW: I think the larger siphon uses 1/2 tubing, so you have to use 1/2 tubing for that. I prefer the small siphon for 2 reasons:

1) The small siphon fits into the hole of the wine kit bags, so you can use the siphon to transfer from the bag to the fermenting pail;
2) The small siphon fits into the hole of a carboy. I don't think the large siphon fits; and
3) The small siphon uses 3/8 tubing, so that is the only size tubing I have.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I do make a 1/2" racking cane assembly for those who want to use it for barrels and such vessels that are meant more for faster transfer rather than vacuum

 

[cpfan]

Thanks. For the 3/8 tubing and pump setup, do you recommend a different kit? What's the disadvantage of 1/2" for bottling?

Flows too fast. You want a slower flow so you can control it as it gets to the neck of the bottle.

BTW: I think the larger siphon uses 1/2 tubing, so you have to use 1/2 tubing for that. I prefer the small siphon for 2 reasons:

1) The small siphon fits into the hole of the wine kit bags, so you can use the siphon to transfer from the bag to the fermenting pail;
2) The small siphon fits into the hole of a carboy. I don't think the large siphon fits; and
3) The small siphon uses 3/8 tubing, so that is the only size tubing I have.

Well faster flow may be an issue for some. For me, the 3/8" bottle filler is the perfect size. Fill to the top of the bottle, remove the filler, and the correct amount of space is left for corking. With the larger 1/2" filler, too much space is left, so you have to fiddle around to get more wine into the bottle, often negating the time savings.

FYI, the large siphon fits my glass carboys just fine. Since plastic carboys have a larger mouth, they'll fit fine there as well.

I use the large auto-siphon for racking, and the smaller one for bottling. I haven't used an auto-siphon for emptying the wine bags.

Personal Pet Peeve: The smaller (or regular) equipment takes hose that is 5/16" id (inside diameter), and the large equipment uses 7/16" id. People have bought 3/8" or 1/2" id hose and thus had a bad fit. A good winemaking shop won't let you make that mistake, but not everybody buys their hose at one. The hose sizes recommended by the manufacturer are 5/16"x7/16" and 7/16"x9/16".

Steve

 

[Just-a-Guy]

Vacu-Vin is useless for anything other than what it was designed for -- capping wine bottles that you haven't finished for short term storage to avoid oxidation. I spent days "degassing" a couple of batches with one of those things. Then I racked the batches with the All-in-One pump, and filled half a carboy with foam. I had to laugh. I thought I had degassed... but no. Don't kid yourself.

As for glass vs plastic carboys, please see the photo -- this is what happens to a "Better Bottle" when you put hot water in it, which I insist on doing to clean. I use only glass, and have never had contamination in years of brewing beer (and so far in months of fermenting wine). I'm new at this, but this is my experience.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

CPFAN - Steve
Yes you are correct about the hose sizes - I sell 5/16'' x 1/2 '' for a vacuum tight seal - and it will not collapse either. I will sometime recommend using your standard racking hose while bottling because it is a bit more flexible and you are not putting that much vacuum on the hose while bottling.

 

[I3igDmsu]

Thanks, I am definitely not spending money on a wine pump right now. What are my other options?