If you’re going to follow any of our wine, cider, or mead recipes then it will be helpful to have some basic equipment. Today we’re going to list the usual basic equipment (including alternatives to the standards) and processes so that you can be familiar with the terminology in recipes and decide what is necessary for you.

Let’s dive right in:

Equipment

Fermentation Vessels

This is a standard fermentation bucket. It can be used for primary fermentation – and is also sometimes used for secondary fermentation.

For primary fermentation, you can use any sterile bucket that is able to hold the volume of wine, cider, or mead you want to make. If you’re going to use it for secondary fermentation, it will also need a lid with an airlock.

This is a demijohn, also called a carboy. it is used for secondary fermentation – and also sometimes for primary fermentation and ageing.

Airlocks

These are airlocks. During fermentation, yeast consumes sugar and gives off carbon dioxide. The purpose of an airlock is to allow carbon dioxide to escape while keeping air and external nasties from getting in.

If you don’t have an airlock, a balloon with a single pin-prick in it can serve much the same purpose.

Hydrometer

This is a hydrometer. It’s not vital unless you want to know the ABV of your end drink, but it can be handy for other things too, like telling if your fermentation is ‘stuck’.

To use a hydrometer, just put it (weight side down) in the supplied tube; draw off a little of your must (with your syphon – or a clean dedicated turkey baster) and fill the tube until the hydrometer floats freely (spin it to release any air bubbles attached and make sure it isn’t touching the sides. Then read the number that sits level with the top of the liquid.

You will want to do this at the start of your fermentation, and at the end. You will need to record the readings from both to work out the ABV. You can use a calculator like this one by BrewersFriend, or calculate it by minusing the start gravity from the finish gravity and dividing this figure by 7.362. So if the starting point for your wine is 1.080 and this ferments down to 0.990. The drop is 90 points. 90 divided by 7.362 is 12.23% ABV. If you want an in-depth explanation, check out this page by Meadmkr.

Syphon

This is a basic syphon. It is used for drawing liquid out of your demijohn and transferring it into a new one during racking.

If you will be making wine/cider/mead on your own we would recommend getting one with a pump in the line to make things easy on yourself. With this type, you fill the line with clean water, insert the straight end in the demijohn (on a counter) and the tap end in a container below (on the floor) and let gravity pull the liquid through. We have figured out that inserting a straw in the tap end and simply sucking the air through is much easier and allows for tasting during racking – once the tube is filled with liquid, turn the tap off, remove the straw, and you still have a sterile tap to put into the receiving container.

Terms

Must

Must is the name given to the result of the freshly pressed fruit, usually a mixture of juice and fruit body.

Primary, Secondary, or Second Fermentation?

There can be some confusion over primary versus secondary versus second fermentation, so let’s clarify what these stages are:

Primary Fermentation

This stage starts as soon as you add your yeast to the must. During this stage, the yeast multiplies quickly. The reason for this is because the yeast population has an ideal environment with a large supply of sugar, nutrients, and oxygen.

You know you’re in the primary stage because there’s a lot of visible activity; often a lot of foam on top of the must and your airlock will be bubbling like crazy.

These first three to five days are the most active stage of fermentation. Up to 70 percent of the end total alcohol is produced in this stage. Once this super active period ends we have moved into secondary fermentation

Secondary Fermentation

After a while, things start to slow down because the oxygen has been depleted and the bulk of the sugar has been used up. Due to these factors, the yeast population is no longer expanding- in fact, things are getting hard for the yeast. Higher alcohol levels affect the yeasts ability to multiply and even survive, and many cells die off (settling at the bottom of the fermenter).

Secondary fermentation lasts one to two weeks. A much slower stage if compared to the initial three to five days of primary fermentation. The foam will slowly vanish as tiny bubbles break at the surface of your wine. Your airlock will now be bubbling every 30 seconds or so.

There is no identifying event that separates the primary stage from the secondary stage. When it happens depends on the fruit type, sugar levels, yeast type, temperature, etc. In other words, you just have to watch your airlock or the level of activity at the surface

Second Fermentation

This is where some people get confused, a second fermentation is not secondary fermentation.

A second fermentation is where leftover or added sugar restarts alcoholic fermentation. This can happen if a wine is back sweetened before all the yeast has died.

Second fermentations usually happen by accident, except when making sparkling drinks.

Back-Sweetening

This is where more sugar/honey is added to the wine/mead once it has finished fermenting for the purpose of making the drink sweeter. Remember that the yeast has eaten most/all of the sugar during it’s lifetime, so many drinks are dry by the end of secondary fermentation. There are exceptions to this, but let’s keep the info simple for now.

Step-Feeding

There is such a thing as too much sugar for yeast. Too much sugar in any liquid can act as a preservative, meaning yeast will have a more difficult time fermenting. This is why sugar syrups do not spoil at all. The sugar concentration is so extreme that nothing can touch it.

If you are aiming for an average ABV for the wine/mead you are making, step feeding is not something you need to worry about. It is usually when a brewer is aiming for an extra high ABV that step feeding comes into play.

The game is to find the fine balance between two preservatives, sugar and alcohol, supplying just enough sugar to keep the yeast alive for as long as possible without pushing the preservative factor over the limit for yeast. At the start of primary fermentation, this simply means do not have a sugar concentration so high that it preserves the liquid and the yeast can’t get to work; start with enough sugar for an average ferment, let the yeast consume most of the sugar, then add a bit more sugar. Later, levels of alcohol (also a preserver) increase, which add to the difficulty the yeast has in completing its fermentation process. This makes the fermentation all that more sensitive to the sugar concentration levels, so the amount of sugar added has to decrease over time until eventually, the preservative effect of the alcohol level means the yeast can’t ferment any further.

Stuck Fermentation

This simply means the process of fermentation stopped before it should have. We won’t go into too much depth here because it’s a big topic to dive into, but here are some examples of why a fermentation may get ‘stuck’.

Stuck before it even started

• Yeast quality (eg. the yeast was too old) or amount (too little used)
• Insufficient oxygen in the must.
• Wrong temperatures.
• Too much sugar.

Started off fine but stopped bubbling before it’s ready

• Temperature dropped.
• Airlock seal isn’t tight.
• Problem with yeast..
• Lack of nutrients to promote growth.

Things to try

• Move ferment to warmer place.
• Give it a stir to get the yeast back into suspension.
• Rack off old yeast and pitch some fresh yeast in.
• Add energiser (see additives section below).
• If dry, add sugar.

Racking

Racking wine simply means siphoning off the liquid; leaving the sediment at the bottom, or the fruit floating in it, behind.

Remember after primary fermentation, when cells started dying and settling to the bottom of the vessel? This gives us one of the reasons to rack the wine – we don’t want to pick up any unpleasant flavours from the dead yeast.

Another reason is if you have done a fermentation with fruit still floating inside, eventually that needs to come out.

Additives

This is an area where we’ve seen the most variation in opinion online about whether they are necessary to use. We don’t use many so we’ll keep the explanations short.

Acid Control

Some reasons to use acid:

• Generally speaking, some acid is desired (even if it’s not technically required to reproduce and convert sugar into alcohol and CO2) by the yeast.
• Acids contribute to taste; not only the crispness most wines possess to varying degrees, but also to complex flavors developed during aging.
• Acids affect the appearance of wine; aiding colour intensity and clarity.
• Perhaps most important to us is their ability to stop, or at least hinder, the growth of many potentially harmful microorganisms that would spoil the wine itself.

Here is a rundown of the three acids usually used:

• Mixed Acid / Acid Blend – As the name suggests acid blend is a mix of acids, most commonly; citric, tartaric and malic acid. The mix of acid is often the quickest and easiest way to have a balanced acidity (without too much of any one type) if you are unsure of the acid content of the fruit you are making wine with.
• Tartaric acid – is important for the overall acidity or tartness of a wine. It also plays a role in the stability and the colour of the finished wine.
• Malic acid – is found in nearly all fruits and berries and is most akin to a tart green apple which has higher amounts of malic acid.
• Citric acid – is found in citrus fruits and adding this to wine will give the wine a citrus-like acidity.
• De-acidifiers – to reduce the acid in wines that are too sour or mouth-puckeringly sharp calcium carbonate is used. It is powdered chalk that is added to the must and neutralises the excess acid. The acid forms tiny crystals that sink to the bottom of the vessel and the wine can be racked off.

We use is citric acid because we use it for other things so it’s not a specialised ingredient we’d have to get. You can also use lemon (one lemon = approx 1 teaspoon of citric acid).

Enzymes

• Pectic Enzyme – breaks down the pectin structure (present in all fruit) that cause ‘pectin haze’ which cannot be fined or filtered easily. Breaking down pectin alao means more juice and flavour compounds can be extracted from the fruit.

Finings

Substances added to the wine that flush out certain elements which may cause a wine to look hazy or affect its aroma, colour or bitterness.

Examples are:

• Kieselsol – derived from silicon dioxide or silica, it is negatively charged and causes the positively charged particles such as yeast, proteins and haze causing compounds to bind together and sink to the bottom. After 24 hours of adding Kieselsol to a wine, Chitosan is added.
• Chitosan – derived from chitin, it is positively charged (it works in a similar but opposite way to Kieselsol), this binds negatively charged particles in the wine together. Creating clumps that fall to the bottom and leave a clear wine behind.
• Bentonite – is a type of clay, its particles are highly absorbent and negatively charged. When mixed with water, it binds to positively charged particles floating in the wine which are the cause of the haziness. It is generally used quite sparingly as it has the ability to strip out not just haze but also aroma and flavour compounds as well as reducing colour. 
• Gelatin – is positively charged and is quite a strong fining so not much is necessary. It has the ability to strip out tannins and astringency from red wines so may be used when the wine is overpowering.
• Isinglass – works in a similar way to gelatin. More commonly used in the production of cask beer but still a very effective fining for clearing wine. 

It should be noted that wines fined with gelatin or isinglass cannot be labelled as vegetarian-friendly. Although there is very little of either fining in the finished wine as the finings are left behind with the sediment and lees when the wine is racked off.

Nutrients

Nutrients are used to keep the yeast growing, reproducing, and fermenting sugars. Fermentation nutrients are generally classified as sources of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, minerals and vitamins. If there are insufficient nutrients in the wine then the yeast can be slow to reproduce or ferment and can stall before fermentation is complete. We use raisins for this job but there are specific nutrients available too:

• Di-ammonium Phosphate (DAP) – is most commonly sold labelled simply as yeast nutrient. It is primarily a source of nitrogen which can be lacking in wine musts. 
• Yeast Energizer – a blend of additives that promote yeast health and provide a range of nutrients and compounds required by the yeast. Different manufacturers use different blends but most often yeast energizers will include Di-ammonium Phosphate (see above), yeast hulls (yeast cells that have died which contain all the building blocks to be reconstituted into new yeast cells), Magnesium Sulfate (combines with DAP & other nutrients in the must to promote quick fermentation), Vitamin B Complex (a mixture of vitamins required for yeast health and often lacking in some wine musts).

Sanitisers

Some people use things like Campden tablets to sanitise their equipment. We just wash with soapy water, rinse well, then swirl with boiling water.

Stabilisers

Potassium sorbate acts as an inhibitor of yeast growth and is added to the wine before bottling to prevent the wine from refermenting in the bottle, or before back-sweetening. We don’t use it.

Tannins

Wine tannin (or tannic acid) is a reddish-brown powder or liquid additive. Tannins are found in fruits to varying degrees, fruit like grapes have lots of tannins in the skins as do apples and elderberries. Some fruit, however, have very little tannin and adding wine tannin can brings some benefits, such as pronouncing flavours and aiding wine stability resulting in wines that age well compared to low tannin wines. We use a shot of black tea if needed.