Topic: Equipment-and-Gear

We have had many customers at Blichmann Engineering ask about using our fermenters for winemaking, which is why I decided that I needed to learn more about making wine. My first batch

Over the past few years I have made larger ­­­and larger batches of wine, and as a result the number of carboys I use has really added up. Each year I try

It sounds to me like some “bad bugs” (ambient bacteria or yeast cells) got into your wine. After four years of aging, having a batch infected due to a bad airlock must

Many a home winery gets by just fine with no pump at all. If your hobby grows, though, you may find that many routine tasks are made simpler with the help of

Don’t want to fork over the money it costs to buy a destemmer-crusher? Good with your hands? Try building this!

In large wineries, functional spaces are usually separated. There may be a crush pad, one or more fermentation rooms, and a cellar or cave for barrel aging. Most of us at home

Hot new winemaking products hitting the market in 2016.

Wine is frequently transferred or “racked” into another vessel to leave the byproducts of the process (known as lees) behind. If you make larger batches of wine at home, using a pump can make this process easier.

All good things must come to an end . . . and that includes your winemaking equipment. Let’s run through the signs of when it’s time to replace equipment, when it can be restored, and how to best preserve it for a few more seasons.

There are two common options to choose between when it comes time for home winemakers to press their grapes. Take time to weigh the benefits of a basket press and bladder press before the fall harvest and determine which one best suits your winemaking needs.

Here’s the equipment you’ll need to get started at making wine.

That is a great question. The “simple” answer is that no, hydrometry and refractometry are not interchangeable and that you shouldn’t try to use a refractometer during active fermentation. Refractometry relies on

As a home winemaker, testing your wine for certain things like Brix and pH are critical, while other tests are optional. Get to know the equipment you really need, what the equipment does, and how much it costs.

For many home winemakers, space — or the lack of it — is the final frontier, the one thing holding their winemaking aspirations back. See how some home winemakers have dealt with this problem.

When setting out to make wine from grapes, one of the first major decisions is what you will use as a fermentation container. For most winemaking, you will need a primary fermenter

I certainly wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater or the crush equipment out with the sanitizing solution in this case. A little accumulated mold on a wooden basket press or

I think your barrels should be salvageable. Since you fished out the sulfur stick and are aware that you might have some residual sulfurous acid hanging about, you’ve already won half the

First off, one should never burn a sulfur wick in a wet barrel; only do this (which releases the antimicrobial SO2 gas, which we want) when your barrel is well dried-out. This

  Wine barrel testing My barrels are American oak, repeatedly used for wine, and about five years old. When empty, I fill them with water containing a strong solution of potassium metabisulfite

Argon gas My carboys are 6 1⁄4 gallons (24 L). I am making mostly heavy reds and want to bulk age in glass carboys for up to twelve months before bottling. I

A song to the oak, the brave old oak, Who hath ruled in the greenwood long; Here’s health and renown to his broad green crown, And his fifty arms so strong. There’s

10 items that will make your home winemaking more enjoyable. From old mechanical stand-bys to new computerized state-of-the-art doo-dads, here’s a list that every gadget junkie will want to ponder.

Your hydrometer shows that your must has a specific gravity of 1.100 – but how do you know that’s accurate? Learn how to calibrate your hydrometer and all your winemaking tools, so you can be sure.

The better you plan for grapes to come in, the smoother the big day of harvest and crushing grapes will go. Do you have all of the equipment on hand and cleaned? Is the space cleared? Start planning now.

What could vacuums have to do with wine kits? While there have been times when a wet/dry vacuum would have been very helpful in my wine cellar, there is a specific benefit