pressing grapes

[IPA]

Hi
I am an experienced brewer but I have recently planted 20 vines and perhaps this year or certainly next there will be enough grapes to start making wine. Can anyone give me advice on how to extract the juice without spending a fortune on a press?
Thanks in anticipation.

 

[evanvine]

Can anyone give me advice on how to extract the juice without spending a fortune on a press

The only way is to build your own press, you will also need to build a grape crusher (same principle as an apple scratter).

 

[tonyhibbett]

The cheapest way to crush grapes is with your bare feet. You can then use a nylon straining bag and wrist power to separate the juice from the pomace. However this bit is hard work if several gallons are involved. Even secondhand presses are expensive and building your own, using beech or the right kind of oak is not only even more expensive, but impossible because you can't get the wood at any price. With only 20 vines, you won't need one. However, there are a number of co-operative local wineries springing up which offer processing facilities.

 

[tonyhibbett]

A press will give up to 20% more juice than by wringing through a bag, which hardly justifies the cost unless you are processing very large quantities, which you won't get from 20 young vines. However, you can get 50% more wine by adding water (at 50% of the volume of juice from the first pressing) to the pomace, leaving it for 2 days, pressing again and adding enough sugar to make a light wine of around 9% abv.

 

[IPA]

Hi Tony
Many thanks for the info and I have sent you a PM regarding grape varieties.

 

[wezil]

Even secondhand presses are expensive and building your own, using beech or the right kind of oak is not only even more expensive, but impossible because you can't get the wood at any price.

Just found some on Ebay!! But I thought the price was a bit steep, and oak is tough stuff to cut (blunts tools really quick)! However I have seen plans to make a press from two plastic buckets (fv type) don't think they would do much heavy work, but might be worth a try. Or even oak or beech faced plywood might work. As I believe it's supposed to be varnished anyway the type of wood might not actually be that important, The import of any flavour is going to be minimal due to the time it spends in contact with it will be so short. (standing by for incoming flack)! :lol:

 

[evanvine]

Why the insistence on beech or oak?
My press is made from some unknown red hardwood, it has performed admirably for years!

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

Beech and oak are both food-safe hardwoods. Beech is used for things like cocktail sticks, for example. Many (though not all) other woods contain toxins, are too high in tannins, are inflexible so difficult to work (this being the problem for redwood) &/or cause undesirable changes to colour, flavour or smell.

 

[asd]

Hi,

I see you are in France! If you're planning to stay there, and you have 20 vines, I would invest in a medium sized basket press ( I would guess they are cheaper there) - or the neighbours might have one - or there may be some sort of communal setup.


Simon.

 

[evanvine]

You begin to wonder if it's safe to brew at all! :shock:

 

[Tim_Crowhurst]

You begin to wonder if it's safe to brew at all! :shock:

Well, alcohol is a poison.

(But then, so too are vitamin A, salt and water if you consume enough - and it's not difficult to do so.)

 

[tonyhibbett]

Hi,

I see you are in France! If you're planning to stay there, and you have 20 vines, I would invest in a medium sized basket press ( I would guess they are cheaper there) - or the neighbours might have one - or there may be some sort of communal setup.


Simon.

Indeed. In many parts of France, largely due to property inheritance laws, the vineyards are tiny and depend on local co-operative wineries to process the grapes. I have heard of people turning up on bikes with a few bags of grapes.

 

[wezil]

Beech and oak are both food-safe hardwoods. Beech is used for things like cocktail sticks, for example. Many (though not all) other woods contain toxins, are too high in tannins, are inflexible so difficult to work (this being the problem for redwood) &/or cause undesirable changes to colour, flavour or smell.

I know of few woods that are directly toxic to us. And Beech is used as it is quick growing and easy to machine with little waste. Oak is high in tannins (hence oak casks to add flavour) And which of the many variety's of oak is best? (American is one of the most common),as well as being hard to work and about as flexible as concrete! Teak would be good (close grained, doesn't absorb liquid but again hard to work. And pine resin (redwood) is put in barrels of retsina to flavour it. And the must should be in the press for as little time as possible thus minimising the chance for off flavours etc. The books I've read on the subject recommend varnishing the press for easy cleaning, so they are also less likely to absorb off smells and flavours anyway (Im going to be building one for my blackberry crop and im going to be varnishing it, I rung 20kg through muslin last year, and Im never doing that again)! And if flexibility is a concern what about making the press square? (much easier, if less traditional). Maybe a post could be started with plans and piccys of peoples presses, to help those with less than good DIY skills to use as ideas?

 

[evanvine]

Good post wezil!
I warm up Vaseline and paint the parts of my press that the juice comes in contact with.
Not for safety reasons, it's just to stop leaks!!

 

[tonyhibbett]

My press is made from a fire hydrant.It works on the same principle as the old Boots fruit press, but with a much higher capacity. I assumed the drum was stainless steel but was wrong! I tried to get it galvanised, or stove enamelled or powder coated, all food safe, but couldn't get anyone to do it. I considered Hammerite, which is not food safe. In the end I used plastic spray paint primer and several top coats on the drum and pressure plate.
English grown grapes tend to be high in acid and if you are processing a lot in small batches, like me, contact time can be quite prolonged.
Apart from the high cost, the only new oak I could get was Tasmanian, an unknown factor. English oak is too bitter. French and American is perfect. You can get old oak half barrels from garden centres for £35. The press frame can be made of any wood.
When I moved in to my house, I inherited a mangle and top loading washing machine. If I still had them, I could have used the former to crush the grapes and the latter as a centrifugal juice extractor.
I quite agree that hand wringing 20kg is not an experience I wanted to repeat either. In the end, my secondhand press cost £70 and ended up with 60 bottles of wine that year. I also used it to extract another 20% of apple juice out of the ejected pulp from the electric juicer (not suitable for grapes), so it was worth the expense. I could have hired one for £35, plus about £8 for petrol to collect and return it. The cost of building one would have been over £200 using only partly oak and not including the hydraulic jack.

 

[Moley]

Maybe a post could be started with plans and piccys of peoples presses, to help those with less than good DIY skills to use as ideas?

There are a few if you search for Press in titles only (show results as topics), but many of the old photo links have since been broken and I didn't find anything particularly helpful.

Mine is made from 3x2 softwood with a rigid board underneath, an old baking tray with one corner bashed to form a spout, a offcut of 1" thick nylon (can't remember where the hell I got that from) and a bottle jack:

There are quite a few presses on ebay and prices seem reasonable, here's a 12 litre for £76 inc. UK carriage: >click<

 

[danb]

I made one up last year out of bits I had lying about so cost nothing to build apart from a couple of hours of my time. the parts to contact apple juice I covered in visqueen and sterilized first. although this year I will be building a bigger press hopefully using a 8kg stainless washer drum as the basket as I conveniently have one on the garden. and will be using a motorized scratter using the motor from the washing machine instead of food processor.

 

[Crastney]

I built a cider press myself, and had photo's online on Webshots, but this company became Smile, and then for some reason they've inadvertantly deleted all 7500 odd of my photo's, so all of my photo links will be broken.

 

[Cononthebarber]

I made wine last year in France with the vines there growing in the garden. I froze them for a week then let them defrost and then used a muslin cloth to wring out the juice, I got a demijohn full of juice which made some pretty decent wine at almost no cost...you don't need to spend a lot to get a good result :thumb:

 

[tonyhibbett]

Love the bit about the baking tray. Had to do the same myself. Nice bit of metal bashing recycling which actually works and costs nothing! Shame the wine wasn't much cop, even after 18 months maturing. Tastes a bit wierd, like me. As they say: wierd in, wierd out! Well they don't actually say that, but you know what I mean.