PolishWineP
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After I told Stinkie about using marbles to top up a carboy, I realized that we've adapted a lot of everyday items to making wine. I thought I'd share our list with all of you. Please remember though, all the items we use here are dedicated to only making wine!
Marbles for topping up carboys. Clean them like any other equipment and drop them into the carboy after all your chemistry work is done. A second set of sanitized hands formed into a funnel around the top of the carboy to pour them in can be a great help.
After racking out of a carboy with marbles in it, be sure you have a pan or strainer in the sink before you pour your dredges into the sink. They're a hassle to get back out of the garbage disposal!
Chopstick and toothpicks for cleaning hard to reach areas.
Dishtowel, string & rubber band for covering primary fermenters. Fruit flies and other insects are highly attracted to primary fermenters and this helps keep them out. We lay a clean sack cloth dish towel over the top of the primary and then use string and a rubber band tied to it to hold it on and place the cover over that. Air can move through but the insects can't! The 2 ends of the string are tied to a rubber band so it makes a circle that holds the cloth on tightly but is easy to remove.
Hooks over the kitchen sink. We still have kids at home so we can't completely take over the basement for making wine. Yet. We do our work in the kitchen and space is limited. The hooks are used to hang plastic tubing, stir sticks and brushes. They have a place to drip but aren't in the way.
Index cards and string. Each carboy gets an index card with 2 holes punched in the corners and a loop of string through them. The card is used to record the vitals of each one. Name of wine, start date, when and what has been added and when it's been stirred. When we rack a wine the card just goes onto the next carboy.
Plastic covered tubs and plastic tub drawers on wheels. Since we don't have a dedicated room yet, these are great for storage because they're easy to move and keep everything clean and dry.
A quart canning jar holds the sanitizer powder. We wrote out the recipe for mixing it with water and taped it to the jar so we never need to remember how much powder to water.
Long-handed, slotted,stainless steel spoons. These are great for mashing fruits in the primary and other stirring needs. We really like the long-handled spoons so we can get to the bottom of a problem.
I've bought these at a restaurant supply store.
Bus trays are great for sanitizing. (You know what I mean, the gray plastic tubs they use in restaurants to clear tables.) You can lay down a lot of the longer equipment in them for sanitizing. They're also great for storing equipment and moving things around. These too were bought at the restaurant supply store.
Anyone else out there have any other everyday items that we haven't thought of? Hope to see some other ideas.
Marbles for topping up carboys. Clean them like any other equipment and drop them into the carboy after all your chemistry work is done. A second set of sanitized hands formed into a funnel around the top of the carboy to pour them in can be a great help.
Chopstick and toothpicks for cleaning hard to reach areas.
Dishtowel, string & rubber band for covering primary fermenters. Fruit flies and other insects are highly attracted to primary fermenters and this helps keep them out. We lay a clean sack cloth dish towel over the top of the primary and then use string and a rubber band tied to it to hold it on and place the cover over that. Air can move through but the insects can't! The 2 ends of the string are tied to a rubber band so it makes a circle that holds the cloth on tightly but is easy to remove.
Hooks over the kitchen sink. We still have kids at home so we can't completely take over the basement for making wine. Yet. We do our work in the kitchen and space is limited. The hooks are used to hang plastic tubing, stir sticks and brushes. They have a place to drip but aren't in the way.
Index cards and string. Each carboy gets an index card with 2 holes punched in the corners and a loop of string through them. The card is used to record the vitals of each one. Name of wine, start date, when and what has been added and when it's been stirred. When we rack a wine the card just goes onto the next carboy.
Plastic covered tubs and plastic tub drawers on wheels. Since we don't have a dedicated room yet, these are great for storage because they're easy to move and keep everything clean and dry.
A quart canning jar holds the sanitizer powder. We wrote out the recipe for mixing it with water and taped it to the jar so we never need to remember how much powder to water.
Long-handed, slotted,stainless steel spoons. These are great for mashing fruits in the primary and other stirring needs. We really like the long-handled spoons so we can get to the bottom of a problem.
Bus trays are great for sanitizing. (You know what I mean, the gray plastic tubs they use in restaurants to clear tables.) You can lay down a lot of the longer equipment in them for sanitizing. They're also great for storing equipment and moving things around. These too were bought at the restaurant supply store.
Anyone else out there have any other everyday items that we haven't thought of? Hope to see some other ideas.
