If you are a newbie to making wine you are probably faced with an overwhelming number of different beginner wine making kit options. Which one to buy is always a question that is asked and if you ask the wrong person, can sometimes cost you a bit of money.

Of course if you ask the owner of a beer and wine making store which beginner wine making kit they are going to try to sell you one of the most expensive ones. Why? Because that’s their job, and they are going to tell you that you need all of these gadgets to make wine.

So what do you actually need in a beginner wine making kit? Actually, you don’t really need a lot. You need a place to ferment your wine, and then a place to age it. In most beginner kits, you are going to get a plastic fermenter and either a glass or a plastic place to age your wine (this is also where the wine will go through secondary fermentation). An enterprising wine making shop owner is going to try to convince you that you need to age in oak to get a more mellow and mature wine. Sure, oak barrels are great, but as a beginner, you don’t need them right away.

If you are going to bottle your wine in individual 750ml bottles, you are going to need bottles. When choosing what bottles you are going to bottle in, you are going to need to choose between screw caps, synthetic corks and real cork. Screw caps are the easiest, but you need to make sure that you choose the one that you want to use in the future. If you are already a big wine drinker, you can save some money by keeping your old bottles and refilling those. Just make sure to wash them out after finishing them.

When mulling over your beginner wine making kit options, remember that simple is sometimes the best option.