Wine Equipment You Didn't Know You Needed for Under $30

Every winemaker has carboys, siphons and hoses, a hydrometer or something to measure sugar content, and a good corker. But there are a few other handy tools that you may not know you need.

A Funnel

A simple, plastic funnel like this one is super-handy to have when adding back-sweetener or stabilizers into your carboy. The mouth of a carboy, even a large one, is still pretty narrow, and this funnel sits right into the mouth without falling through, making it easy to pour in additives.

It's also useful for transferring wine directly into bottles. Although, for the most part, I use a bottle siphon (or the tool I'm about to mention next), a funnel is useful for adding small amounts of wine into bottles, for instance, when you're topping off bottles that aren't quite full.

A funnel costs less that $5 and helps prevent spills and messes when moving liquids around. It's one of the most inexpensive and useful tools you can add to your collection of wine equipment.

A Carboy with a Spigot

Solid plastic or glass carboys are fine, but having one or two of these carboys with a spigot, kind of like a faucet, at the bottom is useful for quick racking or even bottling and runs about $20-30.

Racking is the process of transferring wine from one carboy to another, which you'll do a couple of times while your wine is finishing, either to move the wine off of any sediment that's fallen or after clearing and just prior to bottling. The spigot allows you to do this without siphons and hoses. Simply place the spigot carboy above your new carboy, open the spigot and wait for the wine to empty.

Additionally, the same process can be used for bottling, when you don't want to use a bottle siphon. Hold your empty, sanitized wine bottles under the spigot, open and fill.

Ideally, the spigot should be removable for cleaning and sanitizing, because sediment will collect inside the spigot as the wine sits.

Cleaning Brushes

There are several types of cleaning brushes you'll want to add to your wine equipment. A carboy cleaning brush large enough to touch the bottom and sides of the carboy is essential for removing sediment and stains from the inside. A good carboy cleaning brush costs $15-30, depending on the size you need.

Other assorted brushes for around $3-5 a piece, are handy for cleaning bottles, especially if you reuse them, and for getting sediment and stains out of hard-to-reach places, like that spigot mentioned above.

For a small investment, you can add a few simple tools like these to your collection to simplify and streamline your wine making process.