You don't need fancy equipment for this really... Wine has been made for thousands of years without autosiphons and special wine fermenters!
Apfelwein Ghetto Style:
Homer bucket and lid: $4 (yes these are #2 plastic so they are safe to use)
#2 drilled stopper and 3pc airlock: $2
Saved, rinsed and sanitized juice bottles: FREE
Large funnel: you probably already have one, if not: $2
Small funnel: you probably already have one, if not: $1
Campden tablets: $2
4 gallons apple juice: $16
2# corn sugar: $4
1 pkt wine yeast: $1
Drill a 5/8" hole in the lid for the airlock.
Crush two campden tablets and add to a 1 gallon jug of cool water. This will be your sanitizing solution. Clean all equipment which will touch your wine or juice well with soap and water and rinse well with hot water. Then rinse with the sanitizing solution last.
Ferment in the bucket until fermentation dies down, about 2 weeks. Then gently pour the fermented wine into the sanitized saved juice bottles through your sanitized funnel, leaving 1/2" space at the top of each bottle. Tighten down the caps and then back them off 1/2 turn so gas can escape. Let sit until clear, 2-4 weeks and you have still wine.
If you want carbonated Apfelwein, you will need to buy a capper ($20) and some caps ($2), and have plenty of non-screwtop type beer bottles on hand to fill the batch, about 12 per gallon of wine. Or, you can use Grolsch-style flip tops, no capper required. Add 4oz of corn sugar to the bucket and slowly pour the contents of each bottle into the bucket (try to avoid splashing). Stir gently with a sanitized spoon to dissolve the sugar. Then use a small sanitized funnel and sanitized measuring cup or drinking glass dipped in the bucket to fill each sanitized bottle.
It's so easy even my cave dog could do it.
