Wine making kits can make wine making easier. They can eliminate the concern of whether or not you have everything you need to get started and the trouble of needing something important when you're in the middle of a process. Most wine making kits contain a step by step manual, all the tools and equipment you need to produce a small batch of wine which usually includes all of the following: a plastic fermenter with lid a plastic carboy with stopper, an airlock, a hydrometer, siphoning equipment, all necessary tubing, a bottle filler, corks and a corker and sanitizer. Ther fermenter is nothing more than a large plastic six to eight gallon bucket. All of the tools are relatively simple to use and extremely beginner friendly.

Your home wine making kits will also come with some basic cleaning items to properly clean your equipment to continued use. These are various sized bottle brushes and sanitizers. The only thing lacking from these kits is the wine grape. You must purchase your grape of choice for this process. Or you can try other types of fruit. You'll also need plenty of wine bottles. You can either collect them or purchase them in bulk online. Expect to drop about $150 on a kit. Other expenses, like the grapes and wine bottles, will vary. It's an expensive procedure but the outcome will be a great blend if you follow the instructions carefully.

If you expand your wine making to a larger scale operation you may want to eventually purchase a crusher and a press. These can run in the thousands of dollars but you will save money in the long run by doing this work yourself. These kinds of wine making equipment kits are really for the serious home wine maker than for a hobbyist. A crusher doesn't have to be an expensive piece of equipment. You can easily find one for under $200. But it depends on how much wine you are looking to produce. Something in this range will require several crushings if you extensive plans. This process can take days. If you chose something that can take on large amounts of grapes at once, it will be more expensive, yes, but will get the job done in much less time. An industrial crusher can run up over $1500.

An alternative to the crusher is the wine press. These are available in the mid hundreds as opposed to the crusher. They gently press the grapes to extract the juice rather than crushing them and splitting seeds and stems like the grape crusher can do. The press allows for free run juice and a purer wine must. You can purchase two kinds of presses: the bladder press and the ratchet press. With the ratchet press the juice runs down the slats of the barrel container as you tighten the ratchet. It will be a heavy flow at first until the main juice has naturally been pressed from the grapes but as it slows you just tighten the ratchet more and more until there is no more flow.

The bladder press uses a bladder that fills with water and puts pressure on the grapes until the juice is extracted. This way is a little easier than the ratchet press and wine makers tend to go this route over the other. Whatever wine making kits you choose, making your own wine is a rewarding experience.

This video explains the wine making kit and process. It's part of a series. Enjoy.