Feet are relatively soft, so the stems are not really damaged crushing
with feet. It works, but it might be good advice to put bread bags
over the feet to keep the skin from drying out... If the wood is
green it just bends and goes with the flow (bad pun); if it's browner
and more mature it's not an issue anyway.

I have destemmed and crushed 200# by hand and it takes a lot of time;
200 pounds in a crusher stemmer is done in a few minutes. By hand is
available 24/7, so more often than not that's what I do.

I have an old press I have never put back together, maybe this year.
Usually I use a few 6 gallon pails as my press, one to catch the wine,
one with a bunch of 1/8" holes in it for the press basket, another one
on top as the press mechanism. I just stand in it; it looks goofy but
the wine comes out fine all the time. You can't over press with
something this primitive and there was no cost involved, it's all from
scrap and a little more labor...

Regards,
Joe

....We don't have a mechanical crusher so my sister,
> > wife, and wine making partners girlfriend wash up and jump into 44 gallon
> > food grade trash cans and crush about 12-18 inches of grapes at a time. When
> > the grapes are properly crushed the stems separate easily and we just scoop
> > them out by hand. I have not noticed any harsh flavors in the wine and Jeff
> > Cox's book "From Vines to Wines" says he recommends this method for smaller
> > batches because it is fun. I agree and am planning to make 1000lbs of
> > cabernet the same way this season.
> >
> > -Alex
>
>
> Alex, the problem is not the stem himself. The problem is that you
> will damage the stem when you crush first with a crusher and you will
> get some harsh tannin for this reason and only if the stem are "green
> stem", ie. not fully mature wood. There is not problem (and it's the
> best way of adding natural tannin) with adding stem back to the
> primary fermenter if they had not been mechanically crushed. The way
> you are doing it is a very good technique for the wine and a funny
> traditionnal way