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...

Home winemaking, while it can be hard work at times, is a delightful hobby that for some can turn into something more serious such as a second career.  For most, however, winemaking provides a lot of pleasure and excitement in creating something that can be enjoyed by not only them but also by friends and family.  Before you get to that point, however, you need to start at the beginning and learn...

Sodium metabisulfite is a very important part of winemaking, and is used commonly in both commercial winemaking and home winemaking.  Basically, sodium metabisulfite wears many hats, making it an extremely versatile and thus valuable item in winemaking.  It acts as a sanitizer in both the wine and in the equipment used, as well as a protector against the damaging effects of too much oxygen. Very...

1. Are the mushroom caps easy to install, or do you need special equipment. Do they seal as well as regular corks, (over time). 2. Wine bottles that have a screw top, can you reuse them with a cork.Name: Tom H.State: Davison, Mi Hello Tom, The Mushroom corks are very easy to install. This is the biggest advantage to using them over traditional wine bottle corks. You do not need a wine bottle...

Home winemaking is an enjoyable hobby that can bring you great joy, but if you’re not prepared, it can be frustrating and near impossible.  It’s important to understand the first steps in winemaking; to get a solid grasp of the basics, as well as an understanding of why it is you are doing what you are doing at any step of the way. One of the first steps in winemaking that you should do is to get...

There are so many more pieces of homemade wine equipment than can be described in 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 home winemaking practice.  Today, you’ll be introduced to three important pieces of equipment: the Copper Tun Heating Pad, the Transfer Pump, and the...

There are many more pieces of homemade wine equipment than can be described in one short post.  It is very important to understand the different types of homemade wine equipment, how they function, and whether or not a particular piece of winemaking equipment is needed in your home.  Therefore it’s important to introduce to you as many pieces of equipment as possible in as many posts as it takes!...

So, your homemade wine is just about ready and you’re preparing to bottle!  All the hard work creating your masterpiece is nearly complete and transitions into a more passive process of waiting for the wine to be ready to be shared and enjoyed! You must be careful at this point to not get too lax about things, as the bottling process is just as important as every step up until now.  That being...

I started a fermentation with 10 lbs. of cleaned orange fruit, 6.5 lbs. of sugar, 3 gallons of water, yeast, pectic enzyme etc. I forgot to take the original specific gravity. If I remember correctly when I racked the first time my reading was 1.030. I just racked it a second time and am getting the reading of .990. Any way to accurately figure out the alcohol content or not? I'll know better next...

Whether you are just starting to get involved in home winemaking or you have been making wine at home for some time, it’s a good idea to have a good understanding of the different types of homemade wine equipment, how they function, and whether or not a particular piece of equipment is needed in your home. Of course, there are many more pieces of homemade wine equipment than can be described in...

There are many steps to home winemaking, and each individual step is critical in maintaining the quality and acceptability of your homemade wine.  First, you have to prepare the must either from juice or the fruit itself.  Next, the must undergoes fermentation to convert the sugar in the must to alcohol.  Further racking, clarifying, stabilizing, and aging steps help develop the wine to an even...

Before diving head first into the fun of home winemaking using one of our homemade wine kits, it is important to understand what exactly is in the kit, and what role each item in the kit plays.Of course, all of the homemade wine kits that you can buy are going to be slightly different, depending upon the brand and upon what type of homemade wine you wish to make.  Here is a breakdown on some of...

One of the most commonly used ingredients in home wine making are Campden Tablets. You will find them in almost any of the wine making recipes you will use; talked about in almost any of the wine making books you will read; and called into action by just about any of the homemade wine instructions you will follow.What Do Campden Tablets Do?The original reason these tablets were used in wine making...

Hi Kraus, What kind of alcohol tester other the vinometer can I buy to measure the alcohol of my finished homemade wine? Thanks Joshua---------- Dear Joshua, Of all the wine making products that exist, the vinometer is the only one that home winemakers can practically use to test the final alcohol level of a finished wine. It is somewhat accurate when testing a dry wine, but if your wine has any...

There are many misconceptions and misguided assumptions about making wine at home. Most all of them are perpetuated by individuals who never even tasted or made homemade wine. Others are simply born out of the mystique surrounding the commercial wine industry.How can something so sophisticated be made in one's kitchen?Here are the ones that we run into the most. The ones that flat-out drive us...

Dear Winemaster Kraus,   Do I need to sanitize the new out of the box wine bottles? I got two cases from you folk last week. Thanks Kevin ---------- Hello Kevin, The quick and painful answer to your question is, Yes. Just like any other homemade wine equipment and supplies, you need to treat them with a Sodium Metabisulfite and water solution before filling them with wine--1 teaspoon per gallon of...

Hello, I'm curious as to when the threat of wine turning to vinegar is over, if ever, and what causes it. Is there an in depth explanation anywhere I can get the science of this? Thanks Jane ---------- Dear Jane, Acetic acid is what makes vinegar taste like vinegar. If you had acetic acid in a jar and poured some of it into a fruit drink, it would immediately start to take on the characteristics...

Of all the pieces of homemade wine equipment in which you can invest, the gravity hydrometer ranks as one of the highest as being money well spent. Not only can the hydrometer tell you how much alcohol your wine is going to have, it can tell you how far along your fermentation has progressed and even whether or not the fermentation has completed.Yet, many beginning winemakers do not use a...

  Hi there, I am a recent homebrewer turned winemaker. I was wondering if it was appropriate to filter the wine before bottling. I am making a European Select Verdicchio at the moment. I have a 10 inch sediment filter unit with either a 0.5 or 1.0 micron filter. Can I put wine through this and is it worth it? Thanks, any help would be great.   Regards, Dean R. ------------ Dear Dean, There are...

Hello: I have almost 4 gallons of Scuppernong grape juice that I've gotten with my steam juicer this year. I would like to know how to make white wine with it. I was needing to know how much water to add to it. I would like to know what other wine making materials/ingredients I will need. I already have equipment. Can you help me with this. Thanks Fred ---------- Dear Fred,With actual wine grapes...