Wine Making Accessory: Must Have List

I asked several winemakers if they were only allowed to add one wine making accessory to their basic wine making kit after making their first few batches of wine, what item would they add. Here are some of the answers they gave. So if you are looking to add an accessory or two, but don’t know exactly what, you can add it without wasting your money.

An oak barrel: This is on the high end of the accessory list, so you should only buy an oak barrel if you are positive that you like this hobby. Once you’ve tasted a wine that has been aged in oak, you are going to fall in love with it. The wine will definitely have a more mature and distinct flavor.

A better hydrometer: Wines are the result of the fermentation of sugar into alcohol. To measure this, you are going to use a hydrometer. This wine making accessory is the cause of a lot of problems for new users, partly because the hydrometer that is included in most kits is not the easiest to read, and partly because of vintner error.

A better corker: If you got one in a basic wine making kit, you probably have really strong arm muscles now, because using it is not the easiest in the world. For less than 30 bucks, you can get one that one person can easily operate and that will last for a lifetime.

Measuring tests: There are a lot of tests that you can buy to measure what exactly is in your wine. Some of these tests will tell you the number of sulfites that are in your wine, how much residual sugar is left or if certain elements are present in your wine. These aren’t necessary if you follow the golden rule of winemaking: if it tastes like wine, it’s good to drink. If it doesn’t taste like wine, drinkers beware.

There are many other wine making accessories that you can buy. Accessories don’t make the wine taste better; they usually just make things easier on the vintner.