seb ) wrote:
I receive today my bladder press and i have few questions about their
utilisations ;

1) Can i press even if i only fill half the bladder or even less ?

2) Can i press frozen grapes in it ?

3) What is the risk with the bladder rupture from the stem ? I have a
crusher/destemmer but it usually let 20% left stems.

Thanks so much,
Séb

Hi Seb,

You need to fill the press completely full, so if you have half as
many grapes as you need for a full pressload, you should inflate the
balloon to fill up half the space before you start loading the
press. You do not want empty space at the top, as it will cause the
balloon to "mushroom out" and break. If you end up with too little
must to fill the press, you can use pomace from a previous
pressload.

And yes, you can press frozen grapes with the bladder press. We
used to (before we got an old Howard movable plate press) use our
basket presses to make our icewine. We'd go up to four bar without
any problem.

And no, there's no chance of rupturing from the stems. You want to
make sure you're not loading any clips or staples or clippers in
there, but regular old stems won't hurt it any.

Good luck!!

Dave
************************************************** **************************
Dave Breeden