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

• 7.9 gal Food-grade plastic bucket and lid- Used for primary fermentation and bottling.
• Spigot for plastic bucket (optional) - Can be used to drain the wine into the carboy, instead of siphoning and can be used to bottle your wine.
• 6-gallon glass or Better-Bottle carboy - Used for secondary fermentation and aging.
• 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.
• Hydrometer - A device that measures specific gravity, sugar, and potential alcohol.
• Vinyl tubing - Used for racking (transferring) wine from one vessel to another. Can be use with the racking cane, auto-siphon, bottle filler and/or spigot.
• Plastic spoon or paddle to stir your wine.
• Curved cane and racking tip or Auto-Siphon - Used in conjunction with the vinyl tubing to siphon the wine out of the carboy.
• Cleanser - A chemical used to clean your equipment.
• Sanitizer - A chemical used to sanitize your equipment.
• Wine bottles - You'll need around 30 bottles (750 ml size) for most kits. Save cash by getting empties from your friends and recycling your own!
• New Corks (Used corks will leak) - To keep the wine in and the oxygen out.
• Corker – A device to insert the cork into the bottle. (Not required if you plan to use screw top bottles.)
• Wine Thief - A device used to obtain a sample of wine from a carboy (for testing) without having to tip the carboy and pour it out.
• Test tube or the Wine Thief/Test Jar combo - To hold your wine and hydrometer while you test for the Specific Gravity (S.G.)

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

• Drill Mounted Stirrer - Attaches to your power drill. Saves wear and tear on your arms!
• Carboy Brush - Carboys are hard to clean without one of these!
• Bottle Rinser (Vinator) - sprays cleaner and sanitizer into bottle. Greatly reduces time to sanitize your bottles.
• Bottle washer - attaches to kitchen faucet to allow you to rinse your bottles and carboys.
• Bottle Washer Adapter - Fits Kitchen Tap so you can fasten your bottle washer to the faucet.
• Bottle Drainer - Used to allow your bottles to drain after you have cleaned and sanitized them.
• Floor Corker - Makes corking an easy one-person operation.
• Carboy Handle - Attaches to neck of carboy to allow a good grip on the carboy and reduce the chance of dropping it.
• Capsules - Usually made from foil or plastic, these are used to encapsulate the top of the bottle. Keeps dust and dirt from the crevice where the cork and the bottle meet.

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

• Wine Kit - Choose your favorite red or white! All of our wine kits contain the basic chemical additives you'll need (such as yeast, bentonite, isinglass or chitosan, etc.)
• Water – If you like the taste of your tap water, it will be fine to use; otherwise, use bottled water. (Don't use water with high sulphur content or water that has been through a salt softener). Depending upon the type of wine kit used, you will need anywhere from 1 to 5 gallons.