They are probably talking about pressing when going from primary to
secondary. During primary, the fermentation breaks down the crushed grapes
and you get a lot of free juice with solids in in. When you fill your
press, the juice runs through and is called free run juice. Then you press
the solids. Some people keep free run separate from pressed juice. I do
not.

If you are making white wine and are pressing grapes that have been crushed
but not fermented you will have much less free run juice and it will take
more fillings to press out the same amount of final juice.

Don't make the mistake some make and try to press whole grapes. It don't
work! They must be crushed first.

Ray

"Don S" > wrote in message
om...
> I think google ate my posting...
>
> So a 25 cm in diameter by 33 cm high (usuable height of 13 in)
> press is adequate for a couple of 23l carboys of wine. When
> someone says one press will fill a 23l carboy are they filling
> the press with grapes and completely pressing out or are they
> pressing one load, opening the press up again and adding more
> grapes and pressing again? In other words, the first would be
> one full load completely pressed, the second would be a couple
> of loads squeezed down and more added before fully pressing.
>
> Don

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:43:21 GMT, "Ray" > wrote:

>Don't make the mistake some make and try to press whole grapes. It don't
>work! They must be crushed first.

Why? what happens?




email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
please respond in this NG so others
can share your wisdom as well!

"Dave Allyn" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:43:21 GMT, "Ray" > wrote:
>
> >Don't make the mistake some make and try to press whole grapes. It don't
> >work! They must be crushed first.
>
> Why? what happens?

Your juice yield will be pitifully low because many of the berries will
remain unpopped.

Tom S

Dave Allyn > wrote in message >. ..
> On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:43:21 GMT, "Ray" > wrote:
>
> >Don't make the mistake some make and try to press whole grapes. It don't
> >work! They must be crushed first.
>
> Why? what happens?
>
>
>
>
> email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
> please respond in this NG so others
> can share your wisdom as well!

Think about it... If you haven't crushed them, they're going to act
like little water balloons when pressure is applied, and you're going
to lose and waste alot of the juice. Plus you'll still have over 50%
of them with the skins still intacked and not broken. Crush first,
press later.

RogerK

"RogerK" > wrote in message
om...
> Dave Allyn > wrote in message
>. ..
> > On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:43:21 GMT, "Ray" > wrote:
> >
> > >Don't make the mistake some make and try to press whole grapes. It
don't
> > >work! They must be crushed first.
> >
> > Why? what happens?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
> > please respond in this NG so others
> > can share your wisdom as well!
>
> Think about it... If you haven't crushed them, they're going to act
> like little water balloons when pressure is applied, and you're going
> to lose and waste alot of the juice. Plus you'll still have over 50%
> of them with the skins still intacked and not broken. Crush first,
> press later.
>
> RogerK

Crushing first and then pressing is certainly a more efficient process, but
grapes can be pressed without crushing. It just takes longer and is more
work. Many premium white wines are made by whole cluster pressing, and
grapes are not crushed when making Champagne.
lum

Agree with the above and I have even heard of people getting small yields so
they keep putting more and more pressure on until the pore press blows up.

Ray

"Dave Allyn" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 00:43:21 GMT, "Ray" > wrote:
>
> >Don't make the mistake some make and try to press whole grapes. It don't
> >work! They must be crushed first.
>
> Why? what happens?
>
>
>
>
> email: dallyn_spam at yahoo dot com
> please respond in this NG so others
> can share your wisdom as well!