E.C. Kraus Home Wine and Beer Making Supplies

There are many pieces of homemade wine equipment than can be described in just one post.  It’s important to understand each piece of homemade wine equipment, how it functions, and whether or not a particular piece of equipment is needed in your own home winemaking practice.  Today’s post features three more important pieces of equipment: the Three Spout Bottle Filler, the Wine Thief, and the Brew...

Last week we talked about beer yeast -- what it is and why it’s an important part of homebrewing. Today, we’ll go over a simple technique to improve the effectiveness of fermentation in the home brewery. This technique is known as the yeast starter. What is a yeast starter? A yeast starter is a volume of yeast that’s pitched into wort, usually prepared a day or more in advance of brew...

Preparing wine bottles for bottling wine is sometimes glossed-over or minimized by some home wine makers. That's not a good thing. That's a bad thing! Starting out with clean and sanitized wine bottles is paramount to having healthy wine. The alternative can lead to a spoilage and embarrassment. Cleaning Your Wine Bottle Even if the wine bottles are new, out-of the-box they should be thoroughly...

This is Part II of a 2 part series on wine oxidation. Part I covers the effects of oxidation. Part II, this part, covers how to avoid it. The first thing I'm going to say about avoiding oxidation might not be what you'd expect, but it's important to know. Make sure the fermentation has plenty of oxygen in the beginning — particularly the first 2 to 3 days of fermentation. This is the time when...

Hello Winemakers:I am getting ready to start my first batch of wine from concentrate. I am a little confused about the sanitizing process for large pieces of equipment. The directions say to dissolve so much sanitizing stuff to one gallon of water. Does this mean a gallon will do the job? With a 6 gallon tuft tank or a 6 gallon glass carboy, for example, do you pour the gallon in the container and...

Hi, I bought your wine making starter kit and am up to the point where you add the wine yeast. I added the yeast about 12 hours ago and nothing has happened yet at all. Is this normal? The reason I ask is because I have made wine before in just a gallon milk jugs and added brewers yeast and instantly it foams. Can you please let me know......... Thank-You, Harley ----- Hello Harley, Thank you for...

A friend had given me a wine-making recipe that I have used for several years. It doesn't call for special yeast's, but one regular pack of bread yeast. One quart of Cranberry Juice; two cans of Concentrated Grape Juice; One pound of white cane sugar. Plus one gallon glass jug, rubber cork & economy-lock.I dissolved the yeast first, place in the jug first. Then I semi-dissolve the sugar in the...

Dear Kraus,I have a batch of peach wine and a batch of pear wine in 5 gallon glass jugs ready to bottle.  Both need to be sweetened at bottling time to bring out more of the fruit flavor.  Please explain to this rookie exactly how you sweeten the wine as you bottle it.  Do you add the sugar/water solutions to each bottle or do you add to the 5 gallon glass jugs, stir, and then bottle??  Same...

Hi E.C.Kraus! I'm new to home winemaking. I made red and white wines this year and have them resting in 54 L carboys (with air-locks) after the initial fermentation is completed. The storage room does have a pretty high temperature (65degF), but it doesn't fluctuate. After a month, I decided to start drinking the red one. It tastes great now. So, every weekend I open the carboy and have 1.5 L of...

My father started making wine back in the 1960’s. He had a very basic set up - I remember a dozen or more gallon jugs each with it’s own air lock - a Styrofoam cup taped to the side of each jug with a tube coming out the top of each jug. Some of his wines weren’t so great but some were very good. I helped him from time to time but mostly it was just him, however I always helped drink the wines!He...

I do not have pictures of my wine. It is nothing but simple gallon jugs with air locks. What is unique is that I am a 79 year old lady growing my own muscadines on 1 acre. I have grown them from seeds and propagated with limbs in a flower pot. I have also been using my land to grow blue berries, black berries, pears and everything edible including asparagus. I built a solar bath house, a...

Hello: I have been having problems with residue in my bottles of rhubarb, choke cherry, pear and plum wine but have never had a problem with my wild grape, plum or even choke cherry before. Bottled three weeks ago and the only one with no residue is my wild grape. Will unbottle and redo if you think it's warranted. Thank you in Advance Mike---------- Hello Mike, It sounds like there is one of two...

Hello: I'm getting ready to bottle my wine and noticed that it has a bubbly taste. Like champagne. Is this because I need to degas it? Or is there something else going on? Ken ---------- Hello Ken, It is very possible that you are correct in your assumption. The wine may simply need to be degassed. But you should also verify with a gravity hydrometer that the wine has actually completed its...

Hi EC, How long can finished wine be stored in gallon glass jugs? Gabe ----------- Dear Gabe, There is nothing unique to homemade grape wine that makes it spoil any faster or keep any better than commercially made wines. As long as the homemade grape wine is treated properly, it will keep just as long and as good as wines stored in glass jugs that you purchase at the store. What does treated...

Hi. Can you give me any information on how barometric pressure would affect the fluid level in an air lock. Some days they show negative pressure and a day or two later they are making bubbles again. I can't tell if fermentation is done or not. Thank you Jerry ---------- Hello Jerry, An air-lock is what seals the outside world from your wine during and after fermentation. It is a barrier that...

Greetings, My son gave me a 5 gallon oak barrel as a personalized wine gift.  I have a batch of wine that I would like to put in the oak barrel and let it age a bit.  Do I finish the wine (use bentonite) and then put it in the barrel or should it go into the barrel now, let it age for a period of time then finish and bottle it? Thanks, David ---------- Dear David, Thanks for the great question,...

Dear EC Kraus: I just started my first batch of wine using the "California Connoisseur Necessities Box" (Chianti option).  In 6 days, I will be racking the wine. When racking into glass jugs, I understand that I need to leave behind the sediment created during the primary fermentation.  However, the plastic fermenter is NOT transparent and it will be difficult to see when I will start encountering...

At the very center of wine making is the process of fermentation. Fermentation occurs because the yeast want to consume the sugars in a wine must. As a result the sugars are converted into both alcohol and CO2 gas by the fermentation. Normally as winemakers, we are concerned about the alcohol, but in this post we are going to change directions and talk a little about the gas.Almost all of the CO2...

One of the long, ongoing discussions in the world of home wine making is, "should I age my wine in bulk or in bottles?"What Exactly Is Bulk Aging?Bulk aging refers to storing the wine in something similar to a glass water bottle. Home wine makers refer to them as carboys or demijohns. It's important to have a container with a neck of some sort so that the head-space, or air gap, can be mitigated...

  Hi, I have a question.  This is day 5 of fermentation for my apple wine.  It's been in plastic fermenters. I just siphoned it into a couple of glass jugs and put the air-locks on.  How long should it take for the air-locks to start peculating. I do not see any signs of the wine brewing. If it doesn't start in 24 hours does that mean my wine is bad? Thanks, Bill__________ Hello Bill,Before we can...