Fine Vine Wines - Home Winemaking Tutorial Lesson 1- Winemaking kits, concentrates, equipment, supplies, advice, recipes, and tutorials

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There are a few things a home beer maker MUST have in order to make a great beer. Obviously, you need a beer ingredient kit, but what else is needed? At a bare minimum, we recommend obtaining the following home beer making equipment:

Note: Some items are not needed when making a RJS BrewHouse kits and since they make 6 gallons you should be using a 7.9 gal primary and 6 gallon carboy.

	Stainless Steel Boiling Pot with Lid- used to heat the water with steeping grains and to boil your wort. Minimum 20 quarts and this item isn’t necessary if you are making a RJS Brew House kit.
	Dial Thermometer- used to monitor the temperature of your wort when heating and cooling.
	A long handled spoon or paddle to stir your wort and beer. A stainless spoon is a great option for this.
	Sanitizer - A chemical used to clean and sanitize your equipment. It can be one that requires rinsing or a no-rinse formula.
	6.5 or 7.9 gal Food-grade plastic bucket drilled for a spigot - Used for primary fermentation and bottling. A 7.9 gal primary is needed for the RJS BrewHouse kits.
	Food-grade plastic lid with grommet for use with plastic bucket during primary fermentation to trap Carbon Dioxide and to keep insects out.
	Spigot for plastic bucket is used to drain the beer into the secondary carboy, instead of siphoning. Also used to bottle beer after priming with corn sugar.
	5 or 6 gallon glass (pictured) or plastic carboy - Used for secondary fermentation. A 6 gallon carboy is needed for making the RJS BrewHouse kits.
	Airlock - Allows carbon dioxide to escape from the plastic bucket or carboy during fermentation while keeping the oxygen out.
	Drilled rubber stopper- (Also called a bung) Placed within the neck of the glass carboy; it provides an airtight seal while the drilled hole in the middle holds the airlock.
	Vinyl tubing - Used for racking (transferring) beer from one vessel to another. Can be use with the racking cane, auto-siphon, bottle filler and spigot.
	Hydrometer - A device that measures specific gravity, sugar, and potential alcohol. These usually come packaged with a small test jar.
	Sample Thief – Used to draw a sample from your fermenter or carboy for testing of specific gravity.
	Curved racking cane with sediment tip - Used in conjunction with the vinyl tubing to siphon the beer out of the primary fermenter or secondary carboy.
	Bottle filler is used to fill bottles from bottling bucket. A small piece of tubing is used to transition between spigot and bottle filler.
	Beer bottles - You'll need around 53 (12 oz size) non-twist off bottles for most kits. Save cash by getting empties from your friends and recycling your own!
	Caps - To keep the beer in the bottle and allow it to carbonate.
	Capper – To put the caps onto the bottles after they are filled.

And of course, you'll need some raw materials from which to make your beer:

Beer Kit - Choose your beer kit (boil or no boil). All of our beer kits contain all the ingredients needed to make your beer including yeast and priming sugar.
Water - Good, clean tap water works best. The better quality your water is the better your beer will be. Distilled water is ok also as the malt extract contains all the nutrients needed for proper fermentation.

The following items are not necessary, but are "nice to haves" because they either improve the process (saving time and/or possible errors) or help improve the quality of the beer:

	Thief/Test Jar Combo by Fermtech - A device used to obtain a sample of beer from a carboy (for testing) without having use a separate sample thief and test jar.
	Auto-Siphon - Reduces beer waste due to spills and splashes. No more unsanitary sucking on the hose to start a siphon!
	Carboy Brush - Because of their small holes at the top, carboys are hard to clean without one of these!
	Carboy Handle - Attaches to neck of carboy to allow a good grip on the carboy and reduce the chance of dropping it.
	Bottle washer - attaches to kitchen faucet to allow you to rinse your bottles.
	Bottle Washer Adapter - Fits Kitchen Tap so you can fasten your bottle washer to the faucet.
	Bottle Rinser (Vinator) - shoots cleaner and sanitizer into bottle. Greatly reduces time to sanitize your bottles.
	Bottle Drainer - Used to allow your bottles to drain after you have cleaned and sanitized them.
	Immersion Wort Chiller – Used to cool your wort quickly after the boil is complete and before starting fermentation. A must have if you boil the full 5 gallons of wort!
	Stirrer that attaches to your power drill. Saves wear and tear on your arms! A very important tool to add oxygen to your wort before starting fermentation.
	Self adjusting deluxe model Bench Capper - Raise the handle and the unit will slide up and down the shaft, which is spring loaded, to easily accommodate any bottle from 4’ to 12’. Great when using 12 and the larger 22 oz bottles.

Now that you have the supplies and equipment you need, we'll show you how to prepare, clean and sanitize your equipment in readiness to make some beer!

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