Pressing grapes on a small scale
I’ll admit that I’m no expert (yet) when it comes to making wine. But here’s one lesson that I learned that I felt was worth sharing with others.
When it comes down to pressing your grapes, you may not need to buy or rent a press. In the fall of 2005 I made my first batch of wine from fresh grapes. I purchased about 100# of Frontenac grapes from a local vineyard and got them started fermenting sometime in late September. A few days later, I happily plunked down something like $60 to rent a grape press. It was one of the ratcheting type presses. I took it home and proceeded to scoop the grapes and skins into it from the primary fermenter. What I soon realized is that there was not nearly the volume of grapes/skins there for the press to actually be able to do it’s thing. After a few frustrating moments (and thoughts about pouring $60 down the drain), I began to scoop the skins back out and into a cheesecloth bag that I have. I then squeezed the bag over the primary for a while alternately opening the bag up, fluffing up the pomace and squeezing again. This worked just fine and I now know I won’t be renting a press for any small volume batches of wine I make.
sparty Said,
October 1, 2006 @ 12:49 am
I’m not sure WHO wrote about their experience of squeezing 100 lbs of grapes by hand through a cheesecloth, and the ‘lesson’ learned to save $60 the next time they make a small batch of wine by not using a press; that said, I have a suggestion from many years of experience of making wine at home…before you put grapes into a press, the most important thing to do is run your grapes through a stemmer/crusher.
This removes most of the stems, separating them from the grapes. Admittedly, this starts to get messy, and you should put the crushed grapes into a foodgrade plastic pail, then dump that into the press basket, but NOT before putting a fine mesh press bag into the basket of the press. The bag catches the pomace inside as you press, and once you cannot press out any more juice, the pomace has been collected neatly inside the press bag as a ‘cake’, or as I sometimes like to call it, a hockey puck (usually when I’ve been pressing for awhile and if late in the night might be getting a bit goofy).
This method will certainly save you time, and maximize the amount of grapes you get juice from, with very few ‘left over’ grapes that do not break. If you do not have access to a stemmer/crusher, get a flat, wide, pail or tray (anything from Tupperware to Rubbermaid) and use a potato masher or other similar object to manually crush the grapes before putting them into the press, after removing as many of the stems as you can by hand. It also helps to put a layer of the stems on the bottom of the press bag before putting the crushed grapes in, as it provides a layer of air underneath, and allows space for the juice to run through, and out of the press. It also allows you to unscrew the auger a bit to allow that space to refill with air before you apply more pressure by turning the auger back down onto the contents of your press. Your ‘must’ will then be free of seeds, skins and stems in the carboy.
Seeing as you spent $60 to rent a piece of equipment you might need again, I think it makes more sense to buy a quality stainless steel press, usually about $200. After 4 small batches of wine, it will have paid for itself, and properly cleaned and maintained, will last for years. There are many supply companies, but one you could check out is The Grape and Granary. I have bought several supplies from them online, and everything has arrived on time and undamaged via UPS. Certainly your time is worth more than the dollars you spend doing something that is not efficient in man hours spent.
Hope these insights and recommendations are helpful to you, and will make your homewinemaking more enjoyable!
Am starting my 31st vintage this year, and though ‘only’ 53 yrs old, realize we all need to simplify our approach to experiencing a most wonderful hobby!
Greg Smerdon
gregs531@juno.com
In the heart of the Finger Lakes of New York State
don Said,
October 2, 2006 @ 10:07 am
Sparty:
Point(s) well taken. I appreciate the input of someone with the vast amount of experience you obviously have.
A couple things I probably failed to make clear in my description of the pressing problem I had were that 1) the grapes (red) were already crushed and destemmed and 2) the press I rented was one of the ratcheting types and it could only ratchet so far before the ratchet handle hit the top edge of the pressing basket. I did not have enough pomace to reach that level in the press. Nor would the wood blocks supplied with the press have given sufficient height to allow it to work. It was my mistake for not looking the thing over before renting it. When I buy I press, I probably won’t buy a ratcheting press. Thanks for the tip about Grape and Granary! I’ll check them out.
Don
don@grapelog.com
http://www.grapelog.com