I plan on doing 20-30 gallons of red this fall..
Something I can let age for some time...

I have a press and a crusher, but no destemmer.

Since I don't have to get 100% of the stems, how effective is using a stem rake?

I have a 50gal stainless drum I plan on crushing and fermenting into.
I shold have pleny of room to get a rake in there.

Any suggestions?

Pete wrote "I have a press and a crusher, but no destemmer."

Pete - Same situation here at my place. I crush and then rub the stems over
a piece of 2-mesh stainless steel cloth. This keeps the stems out and lets
the grapes fall through. It's a lot of work...crushing only takes a few
minutes but getting the stems out takes longer. Wish I had bought the
crusher-destemmer machine but I got cheap.

That said I believe the best wine I've made was back when my wife crushed
the grapes by foot. Then we separated the stems like mentioned above. My
crusher has rubber parts that crush the grapes and is pretty gentle on the
seeds but I believe foot crushing results in a must that makes better wine.
Probably not true but it's still fun to make wine that way.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

I got mine free....

it has cast iron rollers...



"William Frazier" wrote in message ...
Pete wrote "I have a press and a crusher, but no destemmer."

Pete - Same situation here at my place. I crush and then rub the stems over
a piece of 2-mesh stainless steel cloth. This keeps the stems out and lets
the grapes fall through. It's a lot of work...crushing only takes a few
minutes but getting the stems out takes longer. Wish I had bought the
crusher-destemmer machine but I got cheap.

That said I believe the best wine I've made was back when my wife crushed
the grapes by foot. Then we separated the stems like mentioned above. My
crusher has rubber parts that crush the grapes and is pretty gentle on the
seeds but I believe foot crushing results in a must that makes better wine.
Probably not true but it's still fun to make wine that way.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA