Hi folks. after too many years for crushing and destemming nearly 1500
lbs of grapes by hand, my friend and I have decided to buy an
automated stainless steel crusher destemmer. I noticed that there are
different versions out there, and some have variations such as
different shaped hoppers and such, but since this is going to cost us
about $1300 I wanted to get the input of the group as to whether there
was anything I should be thinking about before purchasing.
thanks
Marc

On Dec 30, 8:59*pm, wrote:
> Hi folks. after too many years for crushing and destemming nearly 1500
> lbs of grapes by hand, my friend and I have decided to buy an
> automated stainless steel crusher destemmer. *I noticed that there are
> different versions out there, and some have variations such as
> different shaped hoppers and such, but since this is going to cost us
> about $1300 I wanted to get the input of the group as to whether there
> was anything I should be thinking about before purchasing.
> thanks
> Marc

Marc,
I still do it by hand with an apple crusher, don't do that... The one
Presque Isle lends onsite works really well. I'm sure if you called
them they would tell you whose it is and give you pros and cons of
what is out there.

Joe

wrote:

> Hi folks. after too many years for crushing and destemming nearly 1500
> lbs of grapes by hand, my friend and I have decided to buy an
> automated stainless steel crusher destemmer. I noticed that there are
> different versions out there, and some have variations such as
> different shaped hoppers and such, but since this is going to cost us
> about $1300 I wanted to get the input of the group as to whether there
> was anything I should be thinking about before purchasing.
> thanks
> Marc
$1300 is a lot of money. Is it motor driven?
The hand crank versions work well and it is cheaper and does not take that
long or require that much strength to operate. I process about the same
amount of grapes with my hand crank stemmer destemmer.

One thing I would get is a stainless steel stand with a chute. St. Pats of
Texas sells them. Make sure you get the right leg length to allow for a
fermenter to fit underneath.