Wine Tools
Your winemaking
numbers.
Sugar, acidity, sulfite, and ABV — the calculators here cover grape, fruit, and country wines so your readings guide every stage from crush to cork.
The workflow
One calculator for every step of wine
What these wine tools cover
Winemaking revolves around a handful of critical measurements: sugar at crush, gravity through fermentation, acidity for balance, and sulfite for stability. Get those numbers right and the wine practically makes itself.
These calculators share the same gravity and ABV math as the brewing tools but are tuned for winemaking ranges — higher starting gravities, Brix-first workflows, and sulfite dosing by pH.
Learn
Wine guides
FAQ
Common wine questions
A primary fermenter (food-grade bucket), a glass carboy with airlock, a hydrometer, siphon tubing, potassium metabisulfite, bottles, corks, and a corker. A press or straining bag is needed for grape wines. Most equipment overlaps with beer brewing.
Use a refractometer to read Brix directly, or a hydrometer to read specific gravity. The Brix converter translates between the two scales. Typical wine grapes are harvested at 22–26 °Brix (about 1.092–1.110 SG).
Malolactic fermentation (MLF) is a bacterial conversion where sharp malic acid becomes softer lactic acid. Nearly all red wines and some whites undergo MLF to round out acidity and add body. You inoculate after primary fermentation with a culture like VP41.
Add about 50 ppm at crush, then 25–50 ppm at each racking and before bottling — the exact amount depends on pH. Lower-pH wines need less sulfite. Use test strips or titration to measure free SO₂ before bottling.