Mead making equipment.

Mead Making Equipment List (in progress…)

Equipment	Description
	Bubbler airlock with rubber bung. An extremely important addition to your Mead making equipment. It allows gases which build up during fermentation to “bubble” out into the open air, while liquid inside the lock prevents any bacteria from gaining access to the fermenting Must.
	Carboy with Bubbler airlock. The Carboy will hold your Must during the fermentation process. As the yeast does its work, the cloudy Must will begin to clarify. The Bubbler airlock will continue to vent gases to the outside during fermentation. When the bubbles slow down or stop, the fermentation process is complete.
	Hydrometer. A hydrometer measures the difference in gravity (density) between pure water and water with sugar dissolved in it. You “float” a hydrometer in your Must to gauge the conversion of sugar to ethanol by the yeast. Just remember not to expose Must too frequently to outside air or risk contamination of it by bacteria.
	Yeast Nutrient. One of the nutrients naturally lacking in most wines is nitrogen. Having sufficient nitrogen in the fermentation allows yeast to reproduce more readily. The higher the rate of reproduction, the higher the wine’s rate of fermentation. Nitrogen also helps the yeast to produce higher levels of natural enzymes, which means your wine will clear and age quicker. Having plenty of nitrogen will also increase the yeast’s tolerance to alcohol. Yeast nutrient supplies nitrogen to the yeast in the singular form of a phosphate.
	Fermentation Buckets. The fermentation bucket (or pale) is used at the beginning of the wine/beer/mead making project. Mash or Must is fermented in a sealed pale with an airlock on top. After a week or so, the contents can be siphoned off into a Carboy where the fermentation process will continue.
	Conical Fermenter. Advertised as less work, less expensive, and more fun, the Inert Polyethylene plastic never changes the taste. Easy to Clean and Sterilize. No need to transfer wort or wine to a secondary fermentation vessel. Fermenter design and exact shape positions the yeast while convection does the rest. Dead yeast cells will drop to the bottom and are removed quickly and easily (about 30% are alive) for disposal or reuse. Valves including the 1/2″ racking port threads are located on the side cone just above the settled yeast level. The port valve is for sampling, specific gravity reading and, of course, racking to bottles and kegs. The valve at the apex of the cone is for filling the fermenter and draining dead yeast. Carboys, plastic buckets, converted kegs and stainless are history. Click on the image on the left to learn more (and to see a detailed picture).