There are so many more pieces of homemade wine equipment than can be described in one post. It’s important to understand each piece of homemade wine equipment, how it functions, and whether or not a particular piece of equipment is needed in your home winemaking practice. Today, you’ll be introduced to three important pieces of equipment: the Copper Tun Heating Pad, the Transfer Pump, and the Steam Juicer.
Copper Tun Heating Pad:
The Copper Tun Heating Pad, while not a required piece of homemade wine equipment, is a piece of equipment that once you try, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t used it before. This piece of homemade wine equipment is fantastic for those that don’t have good regulation of heat within their work space, and who often run into trouble with stuck or slowed fermentations due working in temperatures too low for the yeasts to perform efficiently. The Copper Tun Heating Pad keeps the must at an appropriately warm temperature without overheating the wine yeasts. This device works with both plastic and glass fermenters and has the ability to heat musts from between 10 and 20 degrees F.
Transfer Pump:
The Transfer Pump is a highly efficient piece of homemade wine equipment that will make the racking of your wine significantly easier than doing it by hand. This piece of homemade wine equipment runs on electricity, and has the ability to transfer between 1 to 3 gallons of wine every minute. Another nice feature of this piece of homemade wine equipment is that there is both an on/off switch and a variable flow adjustment dial to allow you to have more control over how fast you rack your wine from one vessel to another.
Steam Juicer:
The last piece of homemade wine equipment for today is the Steam Juicer. This piece is not as common in home winemaking, but those that use it claim that it has contributed significantly to their home winemaking practice. Basically, the Steam Juicer is a mechanism for extracting the juices out of fruits or vegetables. Many, if not all, of you are familiar with extracting juice from fruits or vegetables using the press, and the Steam Juicer is just another way to achieve the same end result.
The Steam Juicer acts similar to a steamer in your kitchen, by using the power of steam heat to break down the tough skin exterior and release the juice components into a central collector. Different from your standard kitchen steamer, the Steam Juicer has a spout attached to it so that you may drain off the juices in order to proceed with the winemaking process.
Other Winemaking Equipment Guides from the past:
• Winemaking Equipment Guide: Airlocks, Refractometers & Filters
• Winemaking Equipment Guide: Hydrometer, Fermentation Carboys & Bottle Corkers
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.
Have to disagree on the steam juicer as it will dilute the juice as opposed to a press which will not add water to the juice