Equipment

[Gerry Congleton]

Hopefully this is a simple question. I’m beginning by trying to make a one gallon kit of wine. I’m not sure what size containers I need for this smaller amount. Thank you!!

 

[cmason1957]

You will need a primary bucket, size isn't really important, but 2 or 4 gallons is probably correctly sized. And a 1 gallon demijohn/carboy for aging

 

[Gerry Congleton]

Thanks cmason1957. I was hoping to hear the info you gave me.

 

[Scooter68]

If you want to do this on the cheap - visit your local recycling center. Look for Carlo Rossi 4 liter wine "Jugs" they are perfect, free and ... 7 oz more than 1 gallon - that doesn't really require much if any adjustment in your process. What it does do is nice on bottling day. After you fill 5 bottles of wine (also from the recycling center), you'll have about 7 oz of wine left to treat yourself on bottling day.

 

[Gerry Congleton]

Scooter68, Sounds like a great idea, both for 1 gallon brewing and gathering needed wine bottles. With a recycle center nearby, I can easily find out what is available. Thanks!

 

[Scooter68]

Yeah, it's the best way to go and generally what I do is once I start a batch of wine, that's when I start gathering bottles. Once you get the hang of it you learn which brands labels come off easy and which you want to leave in that bin. I have about a dozen 4 liter carboys and of course it's also a good idea to look for smaller glass bottles with the same size cap. 1.5 liter, 1/2 gallon, 20 oz, 16 oz, they all come in handy at one time or another.

 

[Gerry Congleton]

Thanks again. Great information!!

 

[jgmann67]

You should get a bung for your 1 gallon jug and an airlock. There will still be a ton of co2 in your wine when you transfer your wine from the primary to secondary. If you put a solid cap on it... bad things will happen. Bad, geyser-like things.

 

[bstnh1]

I personally stay away from picking up bottles at the recycling center. Never know what's been in them. I get most of mine from a local winery that hosts big events like weddings and usually has a boatload of empty bottles. I also ask those I give wine to to return them to me. Most do and often give me empties from those they buy.

 

[Gerry Congleton]

You should get a bung for your 1 gallon jug and an airlock. There will still be a ton of co2 in your wine when you transfer your wine from the primary to secondary. If you put a solid cap on it... bad things will happen. Bad, geyser-like things.

You should get a bung for your 1 gallon jug and an airlock. There will still be a ton of co2 in your wine when you transfer your wine from the primary to secondary. If you put a solid cap on it... bad things will happen. Bad, geyser-like things.

jgmann67, Thanks for the info.

 

[Gerry Congleton]

I personally stay away from picking up bottles at the recycling center. Never know what's been in them. I get most of mine from a local winery that hosts big events like weddings and usually has a boatload of empty bottles. I also ask those I give wine to to return them to me. Most do and often give me empties from those they buy.

bstnh1, I think I will ty the recycling center and just be very selective. It seems with thorough cleaning and sanitizing it should be safe. Thanks for your input.

 

[salcoco]

you will need a hydrometer and a siphon sized for a gallon . airlock with bung size #6 or 6.5 for post fermentation.

 

[Scooter68]

bstnh1, I think I will ty the recycling center and just be very selective. It seems with thorough cleaning and sanitizing it should be safe. Thanks for your input.

Pretty easy to tell if a bottle has had something nasty in it. A LARGE number of folks on here use recycled bottles. By the time you soak labels off, wash, rinse, sanitize, store until needed, the re-sanitize before use, the bottles will be fine. Once or twice I saw bottles at the center that had been used for shipping/storing some chemical with a long long name on it - Yeah those I passed by.

But this is glass we are talking about - very little chance of anything remaining on the glass that can't be detected by the nose and cleaned with good housekeeping practices. I actually have more concern about the label remover solutions that are petroleum based. I had a citrus based cleaner but even that requires a good dishwashing detergent cleaning then rinsing.

As you've said - 'being selective.' Works fine.

I've also found numerous other glass containers for other uses like holding my pH meter in-between tests. Latest find was a 6 oz bottle (HEAVY GLASS) labeled Apple Pie 100 Proof. Works great for storing the Star-san as I'm doing clean-up of hydrometer, wine thief etc then discard the used star-san.

 

[Gerry Congleton]

To All, I have received a lot of good information. I have brewed beer before, but was concerned about the size of containers for brewing just a 1 gallon batch of wine.
Thanks to all of you!!!

 

[mtnlivn]

I personally buy the Rossi jugs with wine included for around $13, make sangria, and use the jug for small batches. Easy that way i don’t have to worry about something other than wine being in the jug.

 

[Scooter68]

I personally buy the Rossi jugs with wine included for around $13, make sangria, and use the jug for small batches. Easy that way i don’t have to worry about something other than wine being in the jug.

I am impressed !

And you must be the ultimate 'lurker' - member since 2012 and this is your First message

 

[mtnlivn]

Try to never let any wine go to waste. If I could keep it from going to waist too I could die happy. Could change my screen name to “mtnlurkin”. Or not

 

[CabSauv]

Some of the best advice I ever got on this forum was this: Skip the 1 gallon stuff and just get yourself a standard 6 gallon wine making kit, you'll end up making more wine anyway. You can get equipment kits anywhere from $70-$150 depending on the quality or at a minimum get yourself a 6 gallon bucket, hydrometer/measuring tube, siphon, and a 6 gallon carboy. The cost for the rest of the equipment and chemicals/sanitizers is pretty minimal.

 

[Gerry Congleton]

Some of the best advice I ever got on this forum was this: Skip the 1 gallon stuff and just get yourself a standard 6 gallon wine making kit, you'll end up making more wine anyway. You can get equipment kits anywhere from $70-$150 depending on the quality or at a minimum get yourself a 6 gallon bucket, hydrometer/measuring tube, siphon, and a 6 gallon carboy. The cost for the rest of the equipment and chemicals/sanitizers is pretty minimal.

I was going to make that point. I wanted to start with a one gallon batch and then to up the ante to a 6 gallon batch. I don’t know if can drink enough to have enough bottles available by the time I brew 6 gallons.
I’m looking forward to getting involved in this project.
Again,

Thanks to ALL of you for your help.

 

[Boatboy24]

I personally stay away from picking up bottles at the recycling center. Never know what's been in them. I get most of mine from a local winery that hosts big events like weddings and usually has a boatload of empty bottles. I also ask those I give wine to to return them to me. Most do and often give me empties from those they buy.

I hear ya. A gallon of Carlo Rossi costs about ten bucks, IIRC. Grab some of that and make some sangria. Then keep the bottle.