I have gleaned a lot of information from message boards and what google turns up.
Over the short time of making my own wine, I found a few things to help me out, and
Cleaning:
1) Rinse everything - including buckets and carboys RIGHT AWAY.
2) A spray bottle with k-meta (labeled STERILIZER) and a spray bottle with Sanisol - the pink stuff (labled SANITIZER) using a Sharpie. Spray often!
3) Use rubberized gardening gloves, they keep your hands dry, and nothing slips out of your hands.
4) For small, messier jobs, get a pack of disposable plastic gloves at the dollar store, about a buck for 50.
5) Keep paper towels handy.
6) Also from the dollar store, I get cheap dropcloths, and cut it into sections that fit the top of my workspace. Each batch gets a new sheet.
7) If you THINK you cleaned something, clean it again.
Equipment:
1) When you want to get new equipment, always search on Youtube first to see how it works, and if you need it.
2) When you do get the equipment, do a dry run (IE: testing corking with an empty bottle). Or, in the case of bottling wands, auto siphon, do a run with water first.
3) You will never have enough carboys.
4) For carboys and pails, I get those little plastic stick on temperature strips.Better than digging a thermometer out of the primary (see item #4 above).
5) Keep cheesecloth handy at all times. If you add something to a kit that is larger than a grain of sand, use cheesecloth (ie: dried elderberries, oak chips, etc). I tie them up with mono fishing line. I figured this one out when I put crushed blueberries in a Shiraz kit.
Other:
1) Keep records. I keep a sheet for every batch. I put small half square in labels on the bottom of the bottle with the batch number. If, my 3rd and 5th batches are merlot, each bottle will have a small label with the batch number on it (3 or 5).
2) The internet is your friend.
3) When I make a new kit, I cut out the variety name that is on the box and tape it to each storage vessel until bottling time.
4) Try not to lift carboys!
Over the short time of making my own wine, I found a few things to help me out, and
Cleaning:
1) Rinse everything - including buckets and carboys RIGHT AWAY.
2) A spray bottle with k-meta (labeled STERILIZER) and a spray bottle with Sanisol - the pink stuff (labled SANITIZER) using a Sharpie. Spray often!
3) Use rubberized gardening gloves, they keep your hands dry, and nothing slips out of your hands.
4) For small, messier jobs, get a pack of disposable plastic gloves at the dollar store, about a buck for 50.
5) Keep paper towels handy.
6) Also from the dollar store, I get cheap dropcloths, and cut it into sections that fit the top of my workspace. Each batch gets a new sheet.
7) If you THINK you cleaned something, clean it again.
Equipment:
1) When you want to get new equipment, always search on Youtube first to see how it works, and if you need it.
2) When you do get the equipment, do a dry run (IE: testing corking with an empty bottle). Or, in the case of bottling wands, auto siphon, do a run with water first.
3) You will never have enough carboys.
4) For carboys and pails, I get those little plastic stick on temperature strips.Better than digging a thermometer out of the primary (see item #4 above).
5) Keep cheesecloth handy at all times. If you add something to a kit that is larger than a grain of sand, use cheesecloth (ie: dried elderberries, oak chips, etc). I tie them up with mono fishing line. I figured this one out when I put crushed blueberries in a Shiraz kit.
Other:
1) Keep records. I keep a sheet for every batch. I put small half square in labels on the bottom of the bottle with the batch number. If, my 3rd and 5th batches are merlot, each bottle will have a small label with the batch number on it (3 or 5).
2) The internet is your friend.
3) When I make a new kit, I cut out the variety name that is on the box and tape it to each storage vessel until bottling time.
4) Try not to lift carboys!