[Dans]

Hi all,

Have been brewing in 1gallon demijohns for a few years now and we were thinking of making wine in bigger batches.

Anyone have any advice about equipment. Seen some 5gallon carboys, but some are normal plastic, some PET, some glass and I have no idea what is best.

Also unsure if I need a bigger pot to kick it all off in. Normally I start it in a stock pot and transfer to demijohn once the yeast is going. Could I start in several stock pots and then transfer to a 5 gallon carboy, or does is it better to be one batch from the start. Thanks!

Dans - who has a wedding to brew for!

[Olly398]

Good for you! I am a novice brewer, only started this year, but I've done beer, cider and wine in 5-gallon ish batches.
 
For heating liquid I use a stainless steel burco boiler - these can be picked up quite cheaply on ebay. It has been great and I can easily recommend one. It'll boil 5 gallons from cold in 20 minutes if necessary. People make DIY boilers from plastic buckets with kettle elements in, which are apparently safe...
 
I then use plastic 5-gall fermenting buckets with lids, all bought 2nd hand, readily available. Light, easy to handle, easy to clean. For longer fermentation I rack into 1-gall demi-johns.
 
For storage, I recycle glass and PET bottles, and also have some plastic kegs.
 
I would use whatever I could find, subject to it being:
- the right size
- easy to clean and sterlise
- sealable with an airlock (for fermentation)
- able to hold pressure where necessary (i.e. conditioned drinks)
 
Some links to some of the stuff I've done, which shows some of the equipment if you are interested:
 
13 gallons of cider
3.5 gallons blackberry wine, and
three types of all grain beer. Written about one of them here.
 
 

[SteveHants]

My boiler is an old tea-urn I got off e-bay.