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Depending on the process you select for your home wine making process, you can choose from a variety of wine making accessories, ranging from simple fermenting bottles to grape presses. But for the beginning home wine maker, here are some essential wine making accessories to get you started with a solid base of supplies to build on as your wine making evolves.

Getting Started

The most important wine making accessory you will need is a fermenting bottle. Whether you are using a concentrate from a wine kit, or using juice from grapes you have pressed yourself, you will need a bottle to let the juice ferment. You may want to select smaller bottles for your first batches of homemade wine, and can find some as small as three gallons.

There are two other wine making accessories that you will need to ensure a successful fermentation process, a hydrometer and a thermometer. A hydrometer will allow you to measure the weight of your wine in relation to the weight of water. The heavier your wine is, the more sugar has dissolved, and this is how you will calculate the resulting alcohol content of your wine. A thermometer will allow you to ensure that you are maintaining the proper controlled environment to best facilitate the fermentation process.

Wine Making Kits

The most beginner friendly wine making accessories are wine making kits, which generally consist of juice concentrate and yeast. This will allow you to make homemade wine without a lot of guesswork. You will still have control over the fermentation process, and can enjoy the rewards of knowing that you made your own wine, but you can skip the complex process of pressing your own grapes.

Wine Bottles

Once you have started the wine making process, you will certainly need wine bottles to store your finished product. The great thing purchasing wine bottles is that they are relatively inexpensive, averaging about $12 per dozen, and they are reusable. You can find them in a variety of shapes and colors, and as a marker of your home wine making success, they are arguably the most fun wine making accessory you will purchase. Buy them in a variety of colors and shapes to give out as gifts or to keep for your own personal enjoyment.

Whether you shop for your wine making accessories online, or in a speciality store, make it fun! Celebrate your new hobby and build a collection of wine making accessories that will facilitate the process of home wine making for years to come.

Online Resources

The Wine Making and Home Brewing Beer Resource. 2006. 31 August 2006. < http://www.winemakingandbeerbrewing.com/ >.

Terry A. Garey. The Joy of Home Wine Making. 1997. 31 August 2006. < http://www.joyofwine.net/ >.