So what equipment is really required to make wine?

I'd like to get into making some wine, but I feel in the dark about what, exactly, it takes to make it.

I have the equipment for making beer:
2 6.5 gallon carboys
3 5 gallon carboys
1 bottling bucket

I purchased a 6 gallon carboy upon hearing that I'd need it.

Is there anything else I'd need? I keep seeing all this other stuff like filters and stuff.

wine and mead making even more so than beer is as simple or complicated as you want to make it. you can make wine with little more than a garbage can a length of tubing and some old wine bottles and corks, but in addition to the stuff you have I would recommend an hydrometer and a wine thief for taking samples. I would also get a good sanitizer plus some campden tablets, new corks for bottling, maybe a wine clarifier (sparkolloid is my favorite). good ingredients are more important than most equipment though. what kind of wine are you looking to make?

schneemann said:

I'd like to get into making some wine, but I feel in the dark about what, exactly, it takes to make it.

I have the equipment for making beer:
2 6.5 gallon carboys
3 5 gallon carboys
1 bottling bucket

I purchased a 6 gallon carboy upon hearing that I'd need it.

Is there anything else I'd need? I keep seeing all this other stuff like filters and stuff.

Click to expand...

I don't filter any of my wines, so I would say you don't need anything like that. I think that in many ways, wine is "easier" than beer. You just need to have more patience!
What are you hoping to make? A wine kit generally has everything you need for 6 gallons of wine (a 6 gallon carboy is really a necessity for that, though) and makes pretty darn good wine. You'd need a corker of some sort (your LHBS may rent them) and that's about it. If you want to make "country wines', check out some of my recipes. I often use a one gallon jug (like a Carlo Rossi wine jug, with a #6 stopper and airlock) to make one gallon batches of different wines. Aside from a few assorted recipe items, you should have everything you need, if you have some racking tubing and a hydrometer.

My favorite winemaking website seems to be down right now, but I'll post a link when it is back up. Winemaking is like anything- it can be simple, or it can be very complex. A simple country wine, though, like my apple juice wine, can be easy and drinkable quickly.

Check out this link and scroll down to the how to for wine kit making.

http://homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=74778

I made my first batch of wine with a one gallon Carlo Rossi jug, a #7 stopper, and an airlock.

Thanks for the responses everyone. It looks like I have everything I need for the most part

You will love making wine... the only suggestion I have is to spend the money and buy the best wines kits you can afford. The least expensive kits produce un-memorable wines... drinkable but only so-so. The more expensive kits make good wines and some come right in the plastic bucket fermenter to be used.

from what I've seen, you need alot less equipment to make wine. I still only vaguely understand all the steps beer must go though and the equipment you need to use.