Making Brewing Equipment
December 29, 2011 by
Filed under Home Brewing
Wine Making Equipment: Tools in Making Red and White Wines
Author: Jean Kokus
Agriculture and the love for good food gave birth to the practice of wine making. Good cuisine becomes better when wine is used as an ingredient or drank as accompaniment in dinners, formal or informal. Mesopotamians, Chinese, and Europeans have been making wine thousands of years even before Christ was born. Several archaeological finds exhibit different wine making equipment that were used by ancient civilizations like amphorae, bottles, and ladles. Wine making has not only existed for trade and commerce but done by a lot of people for reasons of personal consumption. When you make your own wine you could decide on its taste, color, texture, and age. You could even customize its packaging. Wine making is not only economical but very interesting and life-affirming. Imagine the delight that you behold in the eyes of friends and family when they get to drink your homemade wine.
White and Red Wines
White wines are made by separating the grape extracts from the skin right after pressing. Little contact between the extract and skin must be observed. This could be done by using any wine making equipment that could filter or strain the skin while the juice is poured into a barrel. The color of white wines vary because of the shades of color of the grapes used and fermentation period. Some of the famous white wines are Champagne, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, and Chardonnay. They all make great opening drinks in dinners and banquets. Lighter colored ones are called light-bodied and those with deeper shades are called full-bodied.
Red grapes make red wine. Deep purple and blue grapes make wines in similar shades too. Right after the pick and extraction, red grapes extract must placed in a wine making equipment such as a barrel or tank where they would absorb the pigments and other aspects of the skin. The longer the marinade sits, the redder the wine would be. The longer the fermentation period is, the longer is the contact of the juice with the skin. Red wines are classified according to the tannins or red skin pigment present. Light-bodied red wines have fewer tannins and leave lesser presence on the tongue. They feel like water when drank. A good example of this is Beaujolais Nouveau. Full-bodied red wines have the highest alcohol and tannin levels. They are heavier on the palate and with stronger taste. A Bordeaux and Super Tuscans are good examples of full-bodied red wines. Merlot, Shiraz, and Chianti are considered as medium-bodied red wines. Red wines could also be made from cherry, plum, strawberry, raspberry, raisin, gooseberry, and boysenberry.
Wine Making Equipment at Their Best
You could produce your own version of Champagne or Bordeaux at home. You need the grapes or fruits that you would use as the primary materials and a good set of wine making equipment that would make your home-based production cost efficient and easier. Log on to The Grape and Granary and see for yourself the best wine making equipment that you could fine in the planet such as barrels, racks, bottling implements, bottles, funnels, crushers, pressers, fermenters, and straining bags. They are all very user-friendly and affordable.
Is nano technology used at all for making amateur communications equipment?
Radio Hams are famous for home brewing equipment. Do they use nano technology at all these days?
Companies that make amateur gear use surface mount devices (SMD), real small ICs because they got $100,000.00 manufacturing gear like wave soldering machines to work with that stuff. I have hand soldered a few SMDs. I have read a few articles of those who have techniques for it, but those don’t include the SMDs that have pads on the bottoms which is the domain of wave soldering. I prefer to stick to DIP configurations.
For most brews yes. That is not to say always as I have made beers with my RIMS and refrigeration controlled temperature brews that were not the favorite in tastings against or even all extract brews. It has do to with control of aspects that affect the beer.
I see a conversation revolving around brewing equipment broken down to three concerns: economy, control, and need.
Taking the last topic first none of us need the expensive “fancy” equipment to brew great beer. I should have said WANT. An exception would be a person with physical limitations.
Control over the mash temperatures better insures the convertion rates we calculate for our recipe. I can control with confidence the diastic convertion within 1 degree F. From my results I can determine if an adjustment is required for better results.
For the fermentation, I know what temperatures my yeast produce the desired flavors and attenuation. So by having control within 2-3 degrees of the target I know I am in a good range to produce the desired results.
Tranfering is so much easier with pumps.
Economically it is not feasible for the vast majority of home-brewers. We can not recover the cost ever. But since it is a hobby we may consider it in much the same way a skier or a boater must. They do not spend thousands of dollars expecting a return on their investment but rather the pleasure or the hobby-activity. We too would be best to think of it this way as well. The ease of brewing, the prestige of the advanced equipment, and hopefully the results pay for itself.
**In addition it adds to the ease of brewing. No lifting heavy pots full of grain. No slippery glass carboy. In addition it seems to be a natural progression for homebrewers to upgrade their equipment. Just press a button and open a valve. -Nice.-
Does the custom manufactured brewing equipment make better beer?
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Some of the best beer made is homebrew. It’s not really that hard either.
As far as equipment goes, homebrewers generally do 5 gallon batches. The equipment you would need can be purchased as a ‘starter kit’ from your local homebrew shop, or online at http://www.midwestsupplies.com or http://www.austinhomebrew.com .
As far as knowledge goes, check out http://www.howtobrew.com and http://www.homebrewtalk.com//index.php?referrerid=11145 the best two online sources there are. I would also recommend you pick up a copy of Charlie Papazian’s book ‘The Complete Joy of Homebrewing’, the quintessential bible of homebrewing.
Feel free to email me if you need help or have any further questions.
There’s more to it than a simple bucket with a whole. While you could gather the individual parts you need, you’d be better of buying a kit.
Try: http://www.maltose.com
Is it an achievable dream to brew your own *nice* beer? Quality like in pubs where they have microbreweries?
Or would it be a tremendous amount of effort and outlay. I’ve tried making home-brew before, and it was *awful*! How hard would it be to buy some proper, small scale, brewing equipment and follow a recipe to the letter? Would I need a lot of in-depth knowledge of the brewing process?
is there a way to make your own basic brewing equipment?
all it is is a 5 gallon bucket woth a couple holes drilled in them!, and they want $60-$70 for it! is there any plans to make them?
I’d recommend a partial grain batch first so you can find your feet. With a proper recipe, partial grain can be every bit as delicious as all-grain.
Here’s a checklist:
Stirring Spoon
Brewpot
Thermometer
Specialty Grain Bag
Can Opener
Whole Leaf Hop Bag
Hydrometer and Test Vial
Funnel
Carboy (with stopper and airlock)
Siphon
Bottles
Bottle Caps
Bottle Capper
Bottle Brush
Bottling Bucket (preferably with a valve at the bottom)
Bottle Filler (just a plastic tube you connect to the bucket)
You want a recipe? How about Sam Calagione’s for a Licorice Stout:
Preboil “Tea”:
4.5 Gallons Water
Grain bag
9 ounces crushed black patent malt
6 ounces crushed roasted barley malt
2 teaspoons gypsum
Boil
9.9 pounds dark liquid malt extract (or 8 pounds of dry)
(65 Min)
1 pound light dry malt extract
(65 min)
3 ounces Fuggles hop pellets
(60 min)
1 ounce shredded licorice root
(20 min)
1 tsp Irish Moss
(20 min)
0.5 ounces Willamette hop pellets
(10 min)
0.25 ounce Fuggles hop pellets
(End of boil)
In Carboy:
Cool water to fill to 5 gallon mark
Fermentation:
Yeast: White Labs WLP004/1084 Irish Ale Yeast
OR WLP001/1056 American Ale Yeast
Bottling:
5 ounces priming sugar
Initial Gravity:
1.084
Final Gravity:
1.020
Target ABV:
8%
What equipment do I need to brew some stout.?
I would like to make my first beer brewing experience a good one, with a good beer, so naturally stout comes to mind. (preferably an all grain batch)
I have brewed other beverages before but beer is a horse of a different color.
So I would just like a complete equipment list.
Please no links or suggestions to pre-made kits. I already have a lot of equipment. I just want a checklist.
Thanks in advance