My winemaking area--nothing like a 200 s/f unused bathroom for ease-of-use.

Have you noticed the one glaring blank spot in the instructions for most wine kits? They contain detailed steps for making a batch of wine, which of course you need to follow carefully. But there's one thing they don't really talk about: where you're actually going to be, while you're mixing up your liquid masterpiece.

This is partly because everybody's situation is different. One person might go to an on-premise winemaking location, and only bring the bottles home to store when they're done, while another person will set up in their kitchen or in an open space beside the furnace. So the instructions can't tell you where to set up shop, because you might place a fermenter in each of your ten bedrooms while some people barely squeeze into a corner of the garage. There are a few guidelines though, to help you decide on the best spot.

You might live in a small enough place that even if you can set your fermenters and carboys in a little closet, you probably can't do your mixing there. When you remember that you're playing with all sorts of brightly-colored liquids, it's a pretty good bet you won't want to be splashing around in your buckets in the middle of your living room. Unless you feel your carpet is in need of a deep, thorough cleaning anyway.

So you'll probably want to make everything up in the kitchen, before moving the containers elsewhere. You're already cleaning your equipment here when you're finished using it. So starting and finishing in the one room that's actually designed for making food and drink, and dealing with splashes and spills, makes the best sense. Just be sure you have a way of moving the heavy fermenters so you won't injure yourself.

If you do have one space to dedicate solely to your winemaking efforts, so much the better. Now you just have to make sure the room has the proper conditions for the job. It's ideal if it has a good sink, and especially floors of something like tile or concrete that slope toward a drain. But two other factors are even more important.

Firstly – temperature, temperature, temperature. This has to fall consistently within a range of about 65°-76°F (18°-24°C). You simply can't have big fluctuations between very warm in the daytime and quite cool at night. If you don't want the fermentation to stop altogether, the room or space must maintain that steady temperature range through the whole winemaking process.

Secondly, your winemaking space has to be very clean. Would you chop your salad vegetables on a dusty counter? Remember, this is literally food preparation you're doing here. Don't go to the trouble of all the cleaning and sanitizing of equipment if you're only going to undermine the work by making your wine in a dirty spot. You want this space to be completely clean and free of dust and insects, and also free of random intrusions from other household members – including pets.

Despite all the details in wine kit instructions, the actual working space sometimes gets short shrift. But never think the conditions around you are unimportant when you're making up a kit. Temperature and cleanliness are absolutely key. It might take some creativity to guarantee them, but thinking of the delicious end product you're working toward should inspire you.