Must Have Equipment

[fish1onthefly]

I am wondering if you seasoned (ageing!)wine makers,have a list of things you would just wished you would havehad from the start...You know the stuff that after you got it you wondered why it took you so long to get it! I would like your input on these 5 but if you have more..by all means put them in!
Cleaning?
Siphoning?
Degassing?..I got the brake bleeder!
Bottleing?
Corking?

 

[Wade E]

Bottle tree with Bottle rinser vinator, floor corker, bottling spigot fro primary, and still on my wish list and will be for awhile an Enolmatic filler/filter. I have the gravity filter and it works well though.

 

[PolishWineP]

A couple of brand new basters. (They work better than a wine thief) A few bottom-heavy beer mugs. (We use those for holding basters and other things when working with them.) FLOOR CORKER!!! Restaurant bussing tubs. (Great forsanitizing and toting around equipment.) Floor corker. Stacks of flour cloth dish towels. Spare hydrometers. (TheyNEVER bounce when dropped. Never.) Floor corker. Strainer for pouring off lees with oak in them. (Don't want that going down the drain.) Marbles for topping up. (Pour them into the strainer for washing. Pour them from the carboy to the strainer to keep them out of the drain, just like the oak!) And a floor corker is really a labor saver.

 

[Wade E]

PWP, you forgot to mention the floor corker!

I will also add a seal able food grade container to make a cork humidor out of, preferable a MM All Juice bucket as it comes with precious juice in it to ferment as an added bonus.
Edited by: wade

 

[smurfe]

Hmm, hard for me to answer. When I started I bought the Super Duper starter kit that had everything I needed. Only thing I don't use it the bottle blaster thing that hooks on the sink. Other than that, a filter was a must have and I got it after my first batch. Looks like most have gave you a great list.

 

[joeswine]

well lets see,i now have all the toys required,but a good tranfer pump would have been great to have, takes the lifting out of the equation if your doing volume,mini jet filter system,auto sphions( did i spell it right) foor corker,these things i have aquirred over time thats what i mean i have all the toys,but the greatest asset for me is the set-up prior to all that,having racks,a sink thats for what ever i need at the time and room ,room to hold it all,,,,without hearing anyone saying watch out for this or make sure you cover that,(my other half ,no who i mean)a place to call my own thats why i call myself a cellar dwellar its like my second home///////////////but it all comes with time

 

[PeterZ]

Smurfe, hook up the bottle blaster next time you have to clean a carboy. I wouldn't be without it.

 

[smurfe]

Smurfe, hook up the bottle blaster next time you have to clean a carboy. I wouldn't be without it.

Peter, I know it is a fine product but I have lousy water pressure where I live now and it just don't work well. At my last house I had fantastic water pressure and I could use the spray wand on the kitchen sink with the same results as the bottle blaster. I did hook it up on one of the outside spigots and it worked much better as there is better pressure out there.

 

[joeswine]

smurf if pressure is the problem,do you have the bottle tree with the pump gizzmo on top,if so don,t worry about pressure as much as just sanatizing the bottles with b-brite rinse with hot water,pump b-brite into them and let them sit till they dry,wash theout side in the dishwasher and let stand dry in their before using, rinse again for and debriaor crawlers -go to go

 

[smurfe]

smurf if pressure is the problem,do you have the bottle tree with the pump gizzmo on top,if so don,t worry about pressure as much as just sanatizing the bottles with b-brite rinse with hot water,pump b-brite into them and let them sit till they dry,wash theout side in the dishwasher and let stand dry in their before using, rinse again for and debriaor crawlers -go to go

Yup, I have that. It came with my Super Duper starter kit. I don't re-use bottles so I have no issue there. The main use for the bottle blaster for mewas to clean carboys. What I do now is just dump a scoop of Oxy-Clean in the carboy, let it set and soak and then take the carboy brush to it. I then take the carboy outside where I have better water pressure and take the hose pipe to it.

 

[joeswine]

well i think we went over that in the past,remarks,is your oxy-clean food grade?if not try something else,at least thats my thoughts on it i use b-briye butwe won't get into that,stirred up some feathers on that issue if i remember right,,,,its tuff finding what works in this craft and what don't you can listen and sortit out but you'll find whats right for you and your set ofwork conditions,ok ,stay tuned

 

[smurfe]

Yes I use Oxy Clean. No issues. Use it for cleaning only, not sanitizing. No infections yet in over 100 batches of wine and 25 batches of beer. Clean with Oxy-Clean, rinse and then sanitize with Star-San.

 

[joeswine]

no infections yet ,i like that