# Post your Crush Day Photos!!!



## JohnT (Sep 21, 2017)

Now that Crush Season is upon us, how about we all share our good times by posting some of your best crush day photos??

I will post a link to this thread in both the "general" and "from grapes" forums.


----------



## Boatboy24 (Sep 21, 2017)

As 'crush' implies a wine beginning with grapes, why don't we put this thread in the "From Grapes" forum?


----------



## JohnT (Sep 21, 2017)

I posted the link (to this) there.


----------



## 4score (Sep 21, 2017)

Cabernet Sauvignon most recently crushed. Let me find a pic ...


----------



## 4score (Sep 21, 2017)

And my granddaughter helping with our Tempranillo


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 21, 2017)

Macrobins full of red must with an adorable grandaughter mixing- that's one great picture!


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 22, 2017)

Love this idea for a thread. I hope many more post. 
Well I got my grapes a good bit earlier than most. Took many pics though I wish I took even more. Only my 2nd grape batch being the shotcaller- 288 lbs Tuscan field blend. Crush was 2 wknds ago and pressed last wknd. 


My order sitting pretty in S. Philly


My buddy helping uncrate and take measurements


The "sorting table". Mental note: need some sort of makeshift ledges next year. Because grapes are ROUND!


Each lug got its own bucket


This doesn't come close to representing the full scale of the mess that was made


8 lugs in 8 pails and 1 juice bucket ready to hump down the steps


The end of a hard days work


As you can see I had a couple lugs that had some stubborn grape guts 


How cool is the bladder press!? 80L and worked out perfectly. 


Totally shooting from the hip. I have no clue what I'm doing. Making a huge mess but we had a blast


Pressed ready for glass. About 20 gal from 28 gal of must. 

I hope i see many more Crush day pics as they happen. It's fun to see everyone's different setups, small medium or large. I'm always curious to see how other people do their grapes. And good luck to all who are about to be starting their batches soon.


----------



## pgentile (Sep 22, 2017)

Nice shots who was the photog? Like the set up and operation.


----------



## NorCal (Sep 22, 2017)

Cabernet Sauvignon


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 22, 2017)

We've already been following along with your (NorCal) different crush photos over the last couple weeks. Love seeing full macrobins. With those massive quantities it's easy to take notice. Impressive. 

And pgentile, my badass iphone7 was the photog!' And one of the many curious neighbors snapped the pic of us fumbling with press cake.


----------



## balatonwine (Sep 22, 2017)

I could never leave that much uncovered must/juice as shown in the photos so far. 

It would be full of fruit flies in minutes.


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 22, 2017)

No different for me either. I had lids on everything right away after crush and also after press. Just took em off for the photos. 
I had a big green plastic bag for the outside of the press. But I didn't use it so I could see what was doin. 
Also had to keep a fan constantly blowing across the primaries because of flies too. They're brutal!


----------



## 4score (Sep 22, 2017)

Ajmassa5983, What is the make/model of that 80L bladder press? What was your final ratio of pounds of grapes to fermented wine out of the press? Nice pics!


----------



## Stressbaby (Sep 22, 2017)

Here are pics from the first wine of the season, Vignoles. They really could have used a few more days on the vine but they aren't my vines and my invitation window for picking was narrow. About 90#, should end up with 5+ gallons. And yes, I topped them up.


----------



## sour_grapes (Sep 22, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> Love this idea for a thread. I hope many more post.
> Well I got my grapes a good bit earlier than most. Took many pics though I wish I took even more. Only my 2nd grape batch being the shotcaller- 288 lbs Tuscan field blend. Crush was 2 wknds ago and pressed last wknd.



Thanks for posting that, Bustleonboy. I have been unsure of exactly how I was going to transport my crushed grapes around -- then, from your post, I realized: 5 Gal buckets! I will buy a bunch of food-grade 5 gal. buckets forthwith.


----------



## Boatboy24 (Sep 23, 2017)

sour_grapes said:


> Thanks for posting that, Bustleonboy. I have been unsure of exactly how I was going to transport my crushed grapes around -- then, from your post, I realized: 5 Gal buckets! I will buy a bunch of food-grade 5 gal. buckets forthwith.



They transport quite well right in the lugs. Unless, of course, you're not buying by the lug. But yes, buckets work well. And as a winemaker, you can never have too many. I have a few from Lowe's, and always save the bucket when I buy juice.


----------



## sour_grapes (Sep 23, 2017)

Boatboy24 said:


> They transport quite well right in the lugs. Unless, of course, you're not buying by the lug. But yes, buckets work well. And as a winemaker, you can never have too many. I have a few from Lowe's, and always save the bucket when I buy juice.



Even _crushed_ grapes? I admit to not knowing WFT I am talking about here,  never having done this. In particular, I do not know exactly how the grapes for our group purchase will be transported, i.e., in lugs or not. My understanding of the delivery day is that we will all go to one guy's house, the truck meets us there, we use his crusher/destemmer, and take our C/D grapes home. A friend who has done this before said he used his fermenter to transport last year, but it was awkward, so he is using buckets this year.

I do have 2 or 3 buckets from juice and fermenting buckets, but I think I will need about 6 or 7. I am buying 200 lbs. of fruit.


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 23, 2017)

Backyard to glass! Love the 4x4 leg extensions on the press Baby. What a great wine room too. I want that drain. 
@4score, that was a rental. It's an 80L Marchisio hydro (bladder) press. It's tough to give a review since I don't have much to compare to- kinda jumped in head first with that one. But in my professional opinion- it's the bees knees. 
Started with 288 lbs crushed to about 28 gallons of must. Just about 21 gal of wine out the press. I didn't rack any liquid to glass prior to pressing, I put it all through. Left the cake slightly wet accidentally. Could have pressed out even more. Didn't wanna push it though. 
Paul, don't assume anything. I'm just wingin it man. I did what I HAD to do- crush outside-ferment in basement- press outside-back to basement. And made it work. Is it ideal? Beats me. But it worked. And @boatboy, I'm assuming you missed "crushed" grapes.  
Hoping this weekend brings more Crush day pics.


----------



## anthony (Sep 23, 2017)

Not grapes, but I was gifted some cherries from the Flathead Valley and crushed them two weeks ago.....


----------



## cmason1957 (Sep 23, 2017)

sour_grapes said:


> Even _crushed_ grapes? I admit to not knowing WFT I am talking about here,  never having done this. In particular, I do not know exactly how the grapes for our group purchase will be transported, i.e., in lugs or not. My understanding of the delivery day is that we will all go to one guy's house, the truck meets us there, we use his crusher/destemmer, and take our C/D grapes home. A friend who has done this before said he used his fermenter to transport last year, but it was awkward, so he is using buckets this year.
> 
> I do have 2 or 3 buckets from juice and fermenting buckets, but I think I will need about 6 or 7. I am buying 200 lbs. of fruit.


Go to Home depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Menards, and buy yourself a 20 gallon trash can. They have many colors. I like the gray, myself. Really put 200 lbs C/D grapes in it. Plenty of room for cap. Look for NSF somewhere on the can. Use a dolly to move it around.


----------



## pgentile (Sep 23, 2017)

My second crush day was almost three weeks ago, not new photos, but I thought my high tech crushing and destemming would be a good contrast to these lower tech ops previously posted. The first shot includes my custom made Italian 2x4 crusher and American made stainless manual destemmer.


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 23, 2017)

How much work is involved with that? Seems like it would be a lot. Especially working solo. 
When I was a kid the old timers would use a wooden hand crank crusher right into the open barrel to ferment, stems and all. Nice and easy. 
In May we removed the grapes off the stems of before crushing. In 45 mins i barely made a dent. 2 more helpers still took another hour. For 1.5 lugs. 
This time I rented the crusher and fished out maybe 90% of the stems by hand after crushing. Less work, but still work. 
Still trying to find my way-- each batch is a whole new learning experience.


----------



## pgentile (Sep 23, 2017)

288 lbs(biggest crush to date) kicked my butt this year even though half was done on Saturday and the half on the following Wednesday. Now I do less upfront than my first all grape batches. The first batches I did were destemmed by hand and then crush via 2x4. Had help of 3 family members then still took a couple hours. Now I do it solo and put whole clusters in fermenters and crush with 2x4 and then over the next few days pull out the stems during punch downs as the grapes come off easy. No vegetal characteristics imparted so far.

But in the spring, and going forward, I will be either renting or buying a C/D and/or press.


----------



## sour_grapes (Sep 23, 2017)

Thanks, Craig, but I am a bit confused. A 20 gallon trash can won't fit 200 pounds of _water_ let alone berries. Also, I cannot fit that (upright) in my car, nor can I lift it.

I have a food-grade 55 gallon drum (and dolly) that I was planning to ferment in, and was planning to use the buckets to schlep into and out of. Of course, I don't mind buying, say, a 32 or 44 gallon Brute, but that doesn't solve my transportation problem.


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 23, 2017)

The buckets worked great for me. We've saved all our juice pails over the years, so I've got an absurd amount on hand. One can never have enough buckets! A lug fit a 5 or 6 gal bucket perfectly. 
And I'm pretty sure he didn't realize your crushing and fermenting at different locations. Take pics!


----------



## Boatboy24 (Sep 23, 2017)

sour_grapes said:


> Even _crushed_ grapes? I admit to not knowing WFT I am talking about here,  never having done this. In particular, I do not know exactly how the grapes for our group purchase will be transported, i.e., in lugs or not. My understanding of the delivery day is that we will all go to one guy's house, the truck meets us there, we use his crusher/destemmer, and take our C/D grapes home. A friend who has done this before said he used his fermenter to transport last year, but it was awkward, so he is using buckets this year.
> 
> I do have 2 or 3 buckets from juice and fermenting buckets, but I think I will need about 6 or 7. I am buying 200 lbs. of fruit.



Then yes, you're in the bucket business. For the last few years, that is exactly what I've done. Show up with empty, closed buckets that have half a cup or so of KMeta solution, then dump it out before the crushed grapes go it.


----------



## cmason1957 (Sep 23, 2017)

Here's a few pictures from what my wife and I did today. Picked up 200 lbs of St. Vincent and 300 lbs of Chambourcin. My wife and I are going to make the St. Vincent and half the Chambourcin into rose. We spent about four hours after we got home pressing the rose.


----------



## Arne (Sep 27, 2017)

sour_grapes said:


> Thanks, Craig, but I am a bit confused. A 20 gallon trash can won't fit 200 pounds of _water_ let alone berries. Also, I cannot fit that (upright) in my car, nor can I lift it.
> 
> I have a food-grade 55 gallon drum (and dolly) that I was planning to ferment in, and was planning to use the buckets to schlep into and out of. Of course, I don't mind buying, say, a 32 or 44 gallon Brute, but that doesn't solve my transportation problem.



I bought some 10 gal. trash cans from Home depot this year. They should work good for transporting, just don't fill them all the way or they are going to be pretty heavy. Also the lids do not fit that tight. Biggest problem with them was we had to order them thru the store, so you do not get them right away. Arne.


----------



## cmason1957 (Sep 27, 2017)

It is true that 200 lbs of grapes won't fit into a 20 gallon trash can. I had three 20 gallons and one 30 gallon trash can. That just barely fits in my Honda CRV. Two in the backseat, two all the way in the back. I had about 100-150 lbs in each trash can and that is just about the limit of what my wife and I can muscle into and then out of the car. That plus a dolly to move them from driveway to basement for fermenting. The lids fit tight enough and they weren't full enough to worry about sloshing, although we did have some discussions about what might happen if we had to slam on the brakes.


----------



## NCWC (Sep 27, 2017)

2017 Begins


----------



## Ajmassa (Sep 27, 2017)

Loving this thread


----------



## ceeaton (Sep 27, 2017)

Ajmassa5983 said:


> Loving this thread



Yea, everyone looks like they are having fun but me....chose to skip grapes this Fall since I'm low on carboy space and time. Oldest heading to San Antonio early next week, get a butt check later next week (colonoscopy due to cancer in family history). Have plenty to bottle but very few clean bottles. Working on that. I'll live vicariously through the rest of you, keep posting those images!


----------



## Boatboy24 (Oct 1, 2017)

Round 1 today - 3 lugs each of Lanza Merlot and Malbec. Hopefully round 2 next weekend - Eldorado Pinot Noir and Amador Gold Cab Franc.


----------



## JohnT (Oct 1, 2017)

Awesome bb. I especially like the two kid-power motor on your destemmer.


----------



## FTC Wines (Oct 1, 2017)

We hand de stemmed & crushed 6 lugs today, 2 more tomorrow. Slow going but perfection! Roy


----------



## Kraffty (Oct 1, 2017)

Nice job. 6 lugs was our breaking point for hand destemming. Time to look for a machine. Good job!


----------



## FTC Wines (Oct 1, 2017)

I hear you Krafty, the 6 lugs took almost 8 hrs to de stem & crush. Will look for a machine for next year! Roy


----------



## JohnT (Oct 3, 2017)

A few photos from last weekend's crush


----------



## Boatboy24 (Oct 3, 2017)

Did you build a hopper extension for that new C/D?


----------



## JohnT (Oct 3, 2017)

The extension came with it


----------



## JohnT (Oct 3, 2017)

Here are a couple more


----------



## grapeman (Oct 3, 2017)

All the pictures and setups look great. They all exhibit what this forum is all about - sharing and having a great time! Keep up the great work.


----------



## Kraffty (Oct 5, 2017)

I'm going to have to get a bunch of those aprons for next year. Great idea, beats having to change cloths after moving a bunch grapes all day!
Mike


----------



## JohnT (Oct 5, 2017)

Kraffty said:


> I'm going to have to get a bunch of those aprons for next year. Great idea, beats having to change cloths after moving a bunch grapes all day!
> Mike


 
They are also really great for punching down after work. No need to change clothes.. 

My advice is to get the ones that have long strings, long enough to wrap around and tie up in the front.

Also order twice as many as you need. A number of them disappear after each crush.


----------



## vernsgal (Nov 9, 2017)

Wow it's been a while I guess since I've been on again.When did the site change? I'm lost lol. I did see this post and actually get to add to it. This was my 1st time helping at a winery. 1st we picked, then de-stemmed, then through the press. It was fun. I'm watching and taking notes now through the rackings, tasting...


----------

