This was the first season i am making wine from fresh grapes. I
orderd and picked about 600lbs of grapes.

-300lbs of Chancellor Grapes (grown in PA)
-300lbs of Lodi, CA Cabernet grapes.

The one lessen learned is that I need to get a real press.

I had planned on using the 3 bucket press that you can find in these
groups and on the web. I had that pre-made and was counting on this
to work. Well in actuality it failed for me miserably. The primary
reason it failed for me was that the buckets would not come back
apart..But, there was the problem with the must spilling over the top,
and the whole floor jack act.
For my, it was all bad.


I went to plan B.

For me, i made a jig outta oak that opens and closes like a book. Its
3 ft tall and 4 feet long "book". Basically this press has a hinged
end, and at then end, some oak slats about 1/8" apart, and some 4' oak
boards that i used for leverage.

Basically i just hang a nylon bag of skins over the fermenter and then
use this press to squeeze the skins....I release the skins, fold them
over, and re-squeeze.

i got about 2 std colanders full of grapes into each bag.
Anyway, here is my ad-hoc press. It worked 'ok' for me.

Hopefully next year i will have a #45 basket press.

http://bocephus.spaces.live.com/phot...4B344340E!280/