Arbor Wine and Beermaking

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Plastic Primary Fermenter: A plastic bucket with a tight fitting lid and airlock that is used in the initial/first stage fermentation of beer or wine.
Secondary Fermenter: Usually a 5 gallon glass bottle, also called a carboy, that is airtight when fitted with an airlock and stopper where beer or wine can be stored for long periods of time for aging and clarifying.
Airlock: A plastic cylindrical device with a cap that is either a one piece unit with triple bubbles or a three piece unit with a plastic insert. The airlock is filled halfway with water to allow carbon dioxide to escape without letting the bacteria in the air to get back in.
Carboy: A glass bottle in various sizes usually referring to a 5 gallon size, however, they are available in sizes ranging from 2.8 up to 14.5 gallons (called a demi-john) used in home brewing or wine making for secondary or single stage fermentation.
Carboy Brush: A long handled brush that is specifically bent in order to clean 5 gallon glass bottles (carboy).
Carboy Handle: A handle that is clamped to the neck of a 5 gallon (or larger) glass bottle (carboy) making moving the carboy easier and safer.
Bottle Brush: A brush that comes in various sizes to clean beer bottles, wine bottles, gallon jugs, etc.
Jet Bottle Washer: A device that attaches to a sink faucet or garden hose that sprays a high pressure jet of water into beer/wine bottles or carboys in order to clean and rinse them.
Bottle Capper: A device that installs caps on bottles. The most common type is a double lever capper as opposed to a bench capper.
Hydrometer: A device that is used to measure the amount of sugar in beer or wine. This instrument will tell the brewer the amount of potential alcohol in the finished wort or must.
Floating Thermometer: A thermometer gives an accurate reading of the wort/must (beer/wine) temperature while floating in the liquid itself.
Strip Thermometer: An adhesive strip that can be attached to either the primary or secondary fermenter in order to get an accurate temperature reading.
Siphon Tube or Racking Tube: Stiff plastic tube with a pointed tip on the bottom designed to assist in the moving of beer or wine without disturbing the settlement.
Siphon Hose: Flexible (food grade) tubing used to move beer or wine.
Siphon Clamp: A clamp that is slipped on the siphon hose and when clamped will stop the flow of liquid.
Bottle Filler: A device used to fill bottles that is about 12" long made of stiff plastic tubing that has a spring loaded shutoff valve.
Bottling Bucket: Usually a 5 gallon plastic bucket with a spigot attached that is used to mix priming sugar with beer and then bottle beer from the spigot.
Corker: A device used to insert a cork in wine bottles. There are different types of corkers available. Hand corkers are used when bottling a small amount of wine and floor corkers are used for bottling large quantities.
Malt Extract: The basic ingredient used in beermaking which is either a thick sugary syrup or dry powder prepared from malt.
Hops: Used in beermaking to give it either an aroma or bitterness. Available in pellets, leaf, or hop plugs (compressed leaf hops).
Light, Amber or Dark: When referred to by beer makers, this means the color of the beer only.
Brewing Sugar: Refers to corn sugar which is glucose (also called dextrose), a sugar which is 100% fermentable. Also called priming or bottling sugar because it ferments quickly in the bottle and produces carbonation in the bottle.
Must: The liquid solution is called must before it is fermented into wine.
Wine Concentrate: An amount of concentrated wine grape juice that is sufficient to produce wine.
Wort: The liquid solution is called wort before it is fermented into beer.
Yeast: Used to convert natural sugars into equal parts of alcohol and carbon dioxide in wine and beermaking.

Selected Books

The Complete Joy of Home Brewing: A beer brewing book written by Charlie Papazian. This book is sometimes called the "brewer's Bible". A good book for the beginner or as a handy reference guide for the more experienced brewers.
Brewing Quality Beers: A very good book for the beginning brewer, concise and well written by Byron Burch.
The Encyclopedia of Home Winemaking
The Art of Making Wine: A good beginner's wine making book by Stanley F. Anderson with Raymond Hull. Excellent book for beginner's whether from concentrates or grapes.