are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
(3-5 gallon batches).

Thanks!

On Sep 13, 3:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
> wrote:
> are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
> I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
> options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
> (3-5 gallon batches).
>
> Thanks!

OOOHHH! OOOHHHH!!

hunt around for an applesauce maker. the one I got is like a funnel
made of screen with a wooden handle crusher. I really want to find the
crank type and try that. used it for plums, took the mashed stuff and
put it in a bag and picked out the skins and added them too.. did a
great job of getting the majority of the pulp off the pits. it should
work just as well for small batches of grapes.

Did two 5 gallon batches so far, really wears out the arm though. I am
planning on mutilating a meatgrinder to see how that works. I need
to make it sloppy enough to not crush the pits, yet tight enought to
squeeze the pits apart from the fruit.

On Sep 13, 1:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
> wrote:
> are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
> I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
> options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
> (3-5 gallon batches).
>
> Thanks!

Crusher: Do a search on the group, I think some people had used
homemade contraptions for this.

Pressing: Bag or pantyhose work fine for small amounts like yours. For
the reds I make at home, I ferment the normal way and then press
through pantyhose. It's a bit of a PITA but definitely doable. I could
afford a press but live in condo so it's pretty much out of the
question...

Pp

Yeah to echo what Pp said... I just did a single gallon of wine with
the grapes off my father in law's vine. I did them like any other
wine more or less. Crushed them up in a straining bag and kept the
skins in. 5 days into fermentation the juice had a great colour and I
hand pressed the bag till there was almost no juice left in there,
then chucked the seeds and skins away... Its richly coloured and
tasty now, having finished fermenting more or less so i cant
complain...

Jim


On Sep 13, 11:27 pm, pp > wrote:
> On Sep 13, 1:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
>
> > wrote:
> > are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
> > I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
> > options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
> > (3-5 gallon batches).
>
> > Thanks!
>
> Crusher: Do a search on the group, I think some people had used
> homemade contraptions for this.
>
> Pressing: Bag or pantyhose work fine for small amounts like yours. For
> the reds I make at home, I ferment the normal way and then press
> through pantyhose. It's a bit of a PITA but definitely doable. I could
> afford a press but live in condo so it's pretty much out of the
> question...
>
> Pp

Get a hold of a 1x6 about 8 feet long. Cut it in half, and join one
end of each with a door hinge or a piece of flexible heavy cloth,
canvas maybe, old jeans leg material....whatever, with short dry wall
screws.

Use that to smash the grapes in a bag, panyhose, laundry bag for SWMBO
delicates (oops). It gives you tremendous leverage and you don't get
tired at the end of the run like you do with hand sqeezin'.

OR

I built a lever press from 2x6 and 4x4 and a 2'x2' piece of plywood I
had laying around. Works GREAT and fast! Driiled a 5 gallon pastry
bucket full of holes for the basket use a larger size nylon mesh bag
for the grapes. This year I'm putting a windlass (kind of) with a
stop on the end of the lever so I can leave it to press while I get
other stuff ready.

Steve
Oregon



..


On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:53:59 -0700, jim > wrote:

>Yeah to echo what Pp said... I just did a single gallon of wine with
>the grapes off my father in law's vine. I did them like any other
>wine more or less. Crushed them up in a straining bag and kept the
>skins in. 5 days into fermentation the juice had a great colour and I
>hand pressed the bag till there was almost no juice left in there,
>then chucked the seeds and skins away... Its richly coloured and
>tasty now, having finished fermenting more or less so i cant
>complain...
>
>Jim
>
>
>On Sep 13, 11:27 pm, pp > wrote:
>> On Sep 13, 1:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
>>
>> > wrote:
>> > are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
>> > I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
>> > options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
>> > (3-5 gallon batches).
>>
>> > Thanks!
>>
>> Crusher: Do a search on the group, I think some people had used
>> homemade contraptions for this.
>>
>> Pressing: Bag or pantyhose work fine for small amounts like yours. For
>> the reds I make at home, I ferment the normal way and then press
>> through pantyhose. It's a bit of a PITA but definitely doable. I could
>> afford a press but live in condo so it's pretty much out of the
>> question...
>>
>> Pp
>

On Sep 14, 12:32 am, spud > wrote:
> Get a hold of a 1x6 about 8 feet long. Cut it in half, and join one
> end of each with a door hinge or a piece of flexible heavy cloth,
> canvas maybe, old jeans leg material....whatever, with short dry wall
> screws.
>
> Use that to smash the grapes in a bag, panyhose, laundry bag for SWMBO
> delicates (oops). It gives you tremendous leverage and you don't get
> tired at the end of the run like you do with hand sqeezin'.
>
> OR
>
> I built a lever press from 2x6 and 4x4 and a 2'x2' piece of plywood I
> had laying around. Works GREAT and fast! Driiled a 5 gallon pastry
> bucket full of holes for the basket use a larger size nylon mesh bag
> for the grapes. This year I'm putting a windlass (kind of) with a
> stop on the end of the lever so I can leave it to press while I get
> other stuff ready.
>
> Steve
> Oregon
>
> .
>
>
>
> On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:53:59 -0700, jim > wrote:
> >Yeah to echo what Pp said... I just did a single gallon of wine with
> >the grapes off my father in law's vine. I did them like any other
> >wine more or less. Crushed them up in a straining bag and kept the
> >skins in. 5 days into fermentation the juice had a great colour and I
> >hand pressed the bag till there was almost no juice left in there,
> >then chucked the seeds and skins away... Its richly coloured and
> >tasty now, having finished fermenting more or less so i cant
> >complain...
>
> >Jim
>
> >On Sep 13, 11:27 pm, pp > wrote:
> >> On Sep 13, 1:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
>
> >> > wrote:
> >> > are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
> >> > I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
> >> > options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
> >> > (3-5 gallon batches).
>
> >> > Thanks!
>
> >> Crusher: Do a search on the group, I think some people had used
> >> homemade contraptions for this.
>
> >> Pressing: Bag or pantyhose work fine for small amounts like yours. For
> >> the reds I make at home, I ferment the normal way and then press
> >> through pantyhose. It's a bit of a PITA but definitely doable. I could
> >> afford a press but live in condo so it's pretty much out of the
> >> question...
>
> >> Pp- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Crushing is easy, use your hands or feet (put bread bags on your
feet). Everyone asks me if I use my feet to crush grapes like it's an
awful idea. If you wash first and protect your feet it's actually the
safest cheapest way to crush grapes. it's next to impossible to crack
a seed with your feet.

I finally rebuilt my press but a bucket full of 1/8' holes was what I
used for the last 5 years. I used another bucket at the ram and
placed all of that in a third to catch the must.

Joe

Tater wrote:
> On Sep 13, 3:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
> > wrote:
>> are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
>> I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
>> options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
>> (3-5 gallon batches).
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> OOOHHH! OOOHHHH!!
>
> hunt around for an applesauce maker. the one I got is like a funnel
> made of screen with a wooden handle crusher. I really want to find the
> crank type and try that. used it for plums, took the mashed stuff and
> put it in a bag and picked out the skins and added them too.. did a
> great job of getting the majority of the pulp off the pits. it should
> work just as well for small batches of grapes.
>
> Did two 5 gallon batches so far, really wears out the arm though. I am
> planning on mutilating a meatgrinder to see how that works. I need
> to make it sloppy enough to not crush the pits, yet tight enought to
> squeeze the pits apart from the fruit.
>

I've used a hand crank, three inch inside diameter meat grinder to press
red wine off the skins/seeds.

An epoxy paint coated one or heavy duty plastic one would be suitable
for use with wine. If it is the tin-coated cast metal meat type of
grinder, the acidic wine will slowly dissolve the tin coating, so that
would not be a good choice.

You only need a small amount of back pressure to squeeze out the wine.
I used a 16 ounce yogurt plastic container to create my back pressure.
The shallow taper of the yogurt container provided just the right amount
of back pressure for squeezing out the wine. Left a dense, wrung out
pomace, and this gentle pressing kept the seeds from being crushed/ground.

I almost entirely cut out the bottom of the yogurt container, leaving a
heavy "bead" of plastic at the bottom for strength. I attached the
container to the meat grinder by its top lip (using a home-made adapter
plate) instead of a grinder plate.

It's not really quick at pressing, but for a few gallons at a time it's
not too tedious. Not sure I'd buy a meat grinder for this purpose;
they're not cheap.

Gene

I've been working on a concept for a home winepress. Check out
http://www.knology.net/~erwincm/WinePress.jpg to see a photo
rendering. It collapses into a 6 gallon Home Depot bucket, weighs less
than 15 lbs, and is constructed entirely of FDA approved UHMW plastic
and stainless steel. It generates over 1200lbs of force from the dual
trigger handles. I'm building protos now and plan to market them one
day if they work well. Only problem is they probably will cost the
same as a conventional small press due to low quantity fabrication and
expensive raw materials. It's a fun little project...

Charles Erwin


On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:51:49 -0700, Send an Instant Message The
Builder's Studio > wrote:

>are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
>I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
>options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
>(3-5 gallon batches).
>
>Thanks!

Thanks for the input so far. I'm trying to figure what way to go...
the I Love Lucy method or squeeze until by fingers cramp!

With grapes, aside from not wanting to crush seeds, can you press too
much? I would assume not!

ANd where does it stand on adding extra pectin enzyme to break down...
I've done that in a limited fashion with other fruits, but is there a
max?

Thanks!

Anyone?

THanks!

----



On Sep 20, 4:00 pm, The Builder's Studio >
wrote:
> Thanks for the input so far. I'm trying to figure what way to go...
> the I Love Lucy method or squeeze until by fingers cramp!
>
> With grapes, aside from not wanting to crush seeds, can you press too
> much? I would assume not!
>
> ANd where does it stand on adding extra pectin enzyme to break down...
> I've done that in a limited fashion with other fruits, but is there a
> max?
>
> Thanks!

On Sep 24, 12:45 pm, The Builder's Studio >
wrote:
> Anyone?
>
> THanks!
>
> ----
>
> On Sep 20, 4:00 pm, The Builder's Studio >
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Thanks for the input so far. I'm trying to figure what way to go...
> > the I Love Lucy method or squeeze until by fingers cramp!
>
> > With grapes, aside from not wanting to crush seeds, can you press too
> > much? I would assume not!
>
> > ANd where does it stand on adding extra pectin enzyme to break down...
> > I've done that in a limited fashion with other fruits, but is there a
> > max?
>
> > Thanks!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

There is a point at which further pressing becomes counterproductive
even if you avoid crushing the seeds. You won't reach this point if
you're pressing without major equipment.

Too much pectic enzyme will basically liquefy the grapes - this can
make the must harder to press and will result in a lot of gross lees.

Pp

On Sep 24, 3:52 pm, pp > wrote:
> Too much pectic enzyme will basically liquefy the grapes - this can
> make the must harder to press and will result in a lot of gross lees.

aha! thats what all that stuff is in the secondaries of my plums! been
having losses of about 1/6 that i was about to post here, but this
answers it.

BTW, first batch is starting to look ruby red, about 4 more months to
go before bottling.

True, gross lees are a consideration, but I was thinking more along
the lines of chemical reactions or taste or smell.



On Sep 24, 6:45 pm, Tater > wrote:
> On Sep 24, 3:52 pm, pp > wrote:
>
> > Too much pectic enzyme will basically liquefy the grapes - this can
> > make the must harder to press and will result in a lot of gross lees.
>
> aha! thats what all that stuff is in the secondaries of my plums! been
> having losses of about 1/6 that i was about to post here, but this
> answers it.
>
> BTW, first batch is starting to look ruby red, about 4 more months to
> go before bottling.