My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
now growing grapes!

She's asked for a crusher for Christmas. I hate to spend big money,
since there's a good likelyhood this will follow past follies, but I
don't want to get something that isn't right either.

There are small stainless crushers for under $200, and all the wooden
ones seem to be labeled fruit crushers, and she's only interested in
doing grapes.

Is stainless the wrong way to go? would a "fruit crusher" work well
for grapes (the one with the hydraulic jack looks good because I know
she will tire of turning handles or cranks, so if I get something with
a handle or crank I'll end up trying to mount a motor on it later).

Any thoughts/recommendations appreciated. I've looked on Ebay and
currently nothing out there other than some big thing they guy won't
ship.

Thanks in advance.

I have a small crusher with a SS bin but the drum is cast metal with
food grade paint. It is sufficient for several hundred pounds of grapes
with two people working to hold the bin, feed the grapes while the
other cranks. If she is going to use it just for whites, then you would
not need to de-stem the grapes. I assume you have access to a press as
well.
Steve Cisler
nospamgoingjag wrote:
> My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
> now growing grapes!
>
> She's asked for a crusher for Christmas.

Uh oh, I think I'm in trouble. I thought a crusher was a press.

Is there two different things to get? She will be doing only whites.

On 14 Dec 2006 15:26:32 -0800, wrote:

>I have a small crusher with a SS bin but the drum is cast metal with
>food grade paint. It is sufficient for several hundred pounds of grapes
>with two people working to hold the bin, feed the grapes while the
>other cranks. If she is going to use it just for whites, then you would
>not need to de-stem the grapes. I assume you have access to a press as
>well.
>Steve Cisler
>nospamgoingjag wrote:
>> My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
>> now growing grapes!
>>
>> She's asked for a crusher for Christmas.

If you make a lot of wine both a crusher and press would be nice.

Are you handy with tools and woodworking/finishing? Now that the
season is over you could keep an eye on ebay for some vintage stuff
that would clean up.


Steve
Oregon


On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:31:54 -0500, nospamgoingjag
> wrote:

>My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
>now growing grapes!
>
>She's asked for a crusher for Christmas. I hate to spend big money,
>since there's a good likelyhood this will follow past follies, but I
>don't want to get something that isn't right either.
>
>There are small stainless crushers for under $200, and all the wooden
>ones seem to be labeled fruit crushers, and she's only interested in
>doing grapes.
>
>Is stainless the wrong way to go? would a "fruit crusher" work well
>for grapes (the one with the hydraulic jack looks good because I know
>she will tire of turning handles or cranks, so if I get something with
>a handle or crank I'll end up trying to mount a motor on it later).
>
>Any thoughts/recommendations appreciated. I've looked on Ebay and
>currently nothing out there other than some big thing they guy won't
>ship.
>
>Thanks in advance.

Definately a worthwhile investment that will hold- but only if you buy
it on the secondary market.

I picked up my crusher/press for 200$ (250?) just prior to this season.
A coworker welded the broken cast iron part back together for me. I
figure I can resell it when / if I ever have enough time to build my
own again for about the same price- it's a HUGE press.

The Crusher is something I could definately build myself. There's a
few articles out there- I won't be able to get them to you for a few
weeks or so, the easiest is a couple of cherry 'crusher' spindles
(looks like a star) and a bin. Add a crank and they work just fine.

The press a number of people have been kind enough to contribute ideas
for me to look at- and there's MANY great designs I've seen- but unless
you have a good shop and easy access to SS 316 (or 304 if you want to
save a few bucks) you're talking a minimum of 80$ in hardware and 150$
in wood to do it.

If she's started growing grapes you'll have a few years before you need
to get all this together- a small cheese press might be able to handle
the load you've got. You didn't mention quantity of grapes to press-
12 lbs to gallon. My 18" diamater basket press can handle about 3 lugs
of grapes (fermented red skins) or 2'ish crushed whites.

Good luck... let me know about your woodworking skills!

(ps- craigslist.org is the best place to watch).

Jason
nospamgoingjag wrote:
> My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
> now growing grapes!
>
> She's asked for a crusher for Christmas. I hate to spend big money,
> since there's a good likelyhood this will follow past follies, but I
> don't want to get something that isn't right either.
>
> There are small stainless crushers for under $200, and all the wooden
> ones seem to be labeled fruit crushers, and she's only interested in
> doing grapes.
>
> Is stainless the wrong way to go? would a "fruit crusher" work well
> for grapes (the one with the hydraulic jack looks good because I know
> she will tire of turning handles or cranks, so if I get something with
> a handle or crank I'll end up trying to mount a motor on it later).
>
> Any thoughts/recommendations appreciated. I've looked on Ebay and
> currently nothing out there other than some big thing they guy won't
> ship.
>
> Thanks in advance.

I think you are using the wrong term. I believe what you are describing is
a press. A crusher or a stemmer crusher is a device that separates the
stems from the grapes and breaks the grape skins. The press is a device the
presses the juice out of the grapes. By the way, do not try to press grapes
that have not been crushed. You will break your press and get little juice.
The skin must be broken first.

Anyway, both items are fairly expensive and both can be rented if you are
near enough to a winemaking store. I strongly recommend renting until you
are definitely hooked on this hobby. I rent a stemmer crusher when I need
one. They are the more expensive item. I have a small press with a
stainless steel basket and a porcelain coated base. It cost less than $100
and works great when I ferment on the pulp and then press the juice. It can
handle 4 to 6 gallons of must per load counting free run. But making white
wine from grapes is a different matter. There you must press before you
ferment. My press would likely be inadequate. You would probably want one
of the larger wooden ones. A good one would cost several hundred and you
probably should consider renting it as well before you are committed long
term.

But then some people really like to jump into a new hobby with both feet.
;o)

Ray

"nospamgoingjag" > wrote in message
...
> My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
> now growing grapes!
>
> She's asked for a crusher for Christmas. I hate to spend big money,
> since there's a good likelyhood this will follow past follies, but I
> don't want to get something that isn't right either.
>
> There are small stainless crushers for under $200, and all the wooden
> ones seem to be labeled fruit crushers, and she's only interested in
> doing grapes.
>
> Is stainless the wrong way to go? would a "fruit crusher" work well
> for grapes (the one with the hydraulic jack looks good because I know
> she will tire of turning handles or cranks, so if I get something with
> a handle or crank I'll end up trying to mount a motor on it later).
>
> Any thoughts/recommendations appreciated. I've looked on Ebay and
> currently nothing out there other than some big thing they guy won't
> ship.
>
> Thanks in advance.

nospamgoingjag wrote:

> Uh oh, I think I'm in trouble. I thought a crusher was a press.
>
> Is there two different things to get? She will be doing only whites.

If she is only doing white then just get a press to start with. Whole
bunch pressing gives better juice, but you cant get as much into the
press as whole bunches.

Remeber it will take 3 or 4 years to get a decent crop from the grapes
that she is growing. You could encourage here to may wine straight from
grape juice. There are suppliers which will ship juice in 5gal pails.

>
> On 14 Dec 2006 15:26:32 -0800, wrote:
>
>
>>I have a small crusher with a SS bin but the drum is cast metal with
>>food grade paint. It is sufficient for several hundred pounds of grapes
>>with two people working to hold the bin, feed the grapes while the
>>other cranks. If she is going to use it just for whites, then you would
>>not need to de-stem the grapes. I assume you have access to a press as
>>well.
>>Steve Cisler
>>nospamgoingjag wrote:
>>
>>>My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a kit and she's
>>>now growing grapes!
>>>
>>>She's asked for a crusher for Christmas.

I'm with Ray on considering renting a press; you could find a local
homebrew /winemaking shop and get her a gift card instead of a brand
new press. Good used ones can be had for around $100. I'm sure you
can find her several toys there if you describe how much she is doing
and what she already has. If you are good with antiques there are
crusher/ presses out there but they haven't been made for a LONG time,
at least that I am aware of.

A crusher is nice but not as necessary as a press when making whites.
As others have said, it's can't be a 'dinky' press either unless you
crush first because you need more force to crack a bunch of un-crushed
grapes than most people would think, it's like you are trying to
compress jello in plastic baggies. The idea with a white is to get the
juice (must) out as quickly as possible, so if a crusher is used it's
usually followed immediately by pressing. She will end up getting
about a gallon per vine down the road; her grapes won't make very good
wine for a few more years as has also been mentioned. That means you
have some time to determine what is right for her.

I do small batches of grapes (less than 200# total) without a real
press; I crush by hand and use (3) 6 gallons buckets as a press. The
bottom bucket catches the juice, the center bucket has a bunch of 1/8"
holes for the juice to come out of and the top bucket is the ram.

I have a hundred year old press in my garage in pieces, I never get
enough time to reassemble it.

Joe

nospamgoingjag wrote "My wife made one successful batch of Chardonnay from a
kit and she's
> now growing grapes! > She's asked for a crusher for Christmas. I hate to
> spend big money,
> since there's a good likelyhood this will follow past follies, but I don't
> want to get something that isn't right either."

Sounds like she wants a crusher...not a press. You've had lots of good
advice on the subject. I also grow grapes like your wife and have
accumulated a good assortment of equipment over the years. I make wine from
several hundred pounds of grapes each year. I use a simple hand cranked
grape crusher to break the grape skins. Even for hundreds of pounds of
grapes this is adequate if you make wine as a hobby. Then I destem the
crushed grapes by rubbing them over a 2-mesh ss screen that I've mounted on
a wood frame. For a simple crusher go to piwine.com and check out their
"painted manual cursher ~ $168." This is what I use and it's adequate.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

Thanks so much for all the advice, you have saved me and my wife a lot
of grief.

I'll go with keeping my eye out on ebay and/or building something. I'm
pretty decent at woodworking and welding (not a cabinet maker but I
have the tools).

I'm going to pick up a couple of more books which she clearly needs or
else she would have had a better idea of what to ask for. I've
already told her not to expect a crusher or press. As pointed out
there are lots of other related things I can give her. She still
needs to make some more "easy" batches before she gets into doing her
own. So I'll get some sterlizer and corks etc.

I have to give her credit for having started the grapes a few years
ago, so she actually might have some plus the vine that's been here
for 40 years has been pruned up and should provide better fruit.

Thanks again for all the help, it saved me money and my wife from
disappointement. Iin fact she ws happy when I gave her all the info I
received here.

If anyone has plans for recommendations that they would prefer to
email, feel free to send them to

goingjag at yahoo dot com

I put nospam in front of my name but I think the bots strip that out
and get me anyway!

Happy Holidays to all and happy good cheer making!

If she doesn't have a floor corker yet that might be a good place to
start. The Portuguese corker has a lot going for it; you may want to
look at that. If someone tells you it has plastic jaws and brass is
better, that isn't necessarily correct. These jaws compress the cork
and that is all they do. I use both natural corks and have used all of
the synthetics and all work well in this corker.

The only drawback it has is it doesn't handle normal 375 ml bottles
without placing a shim on top of the bottle holder. I just use an old
carboy cap as a shim, others use hockey pucks or a hunk of wood. You
should be able to find a brand new one for around $50 US. If she is
using a hand corker now this would get you an attaboy, maybe two...

Joe

Yes, the press and the crusher are nice and perhapse necessary, but the
floor corker is a tool to love. It would be a great gift.

Ray

"Joe Sallustio" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> If she doesn't have a floor corker yet that might be a good place to
> start. The Portuguese corker has a lot going for it; you may want to
> look at that. If someone tells you it has plastic jaws and brass is
> better, that isn't necessarily correct. These jaws compress the cork
> and that is all they do. I use both natural corks and have used all of
> the synthetics and all work well in this corker.
>
> The only drawback it has is it doesn't handle normal 375 ml bottles
> without placing a shim on top of the bottle holder. I just use an old
> carboy cap as a shim, others use hockey pucks or a hunk of wood. You
> should be able to find a brand new one for around $50 US. If she is
> using a hand corker now this would get you an attaboy, maybe two...
>
> Joe
>