A fairly cheap press from Harbor Freight.

[ibglowin]

I bought my #30 Press brand new. Wood parts were not sealed and no directions or instructions saying you needed to seal. The wood gets stained for sure but as long as you rinse it after use it will air dry just fine. Each Fall I soak the wood parts in a tub with Iodophor solution (no rinse) for 10-15 minutes, let dry for 10-15 minutes, spray the metal catch pan with some sulfite spray, wipe down. PRESS!

 

[LittleBearGameFarm]

Sounds good Mike, Thanks

Next step I guess is to get some frozen musts coming

 

[LittleBearGameFarm]

Press worked good. I did create somewhat of a false bottom to help the juice run but I don't think it would have been needed. Also, I didn't have any up lift on the basket. Took the pressed grapes then and started another kit

 

[ibglowin]

Looks good, but no need for the strainer. You want all that goodness to go into the wine. That helps create the mouthfeel. You will be racking it off down the road but every little bit helps increase your flavor and mouthfeel.

 

[LittleBearGameFarm]

Agreed Mike - Learned that last night

That thing would plug with pulp in about 5 seconds and then I was just dumping it in anyway. I wanted it there to catch any seeds or large pulp but didn't have that problem.

Thanks!

 

[LittleBearGameFarm]

Question - I introduced Wyeast 4007 MLB last night. So, I'm guessing I don't want to rack this again (off the lees) until after MLF is complete? I've read to stir it a couple times a week during MLF. I've left the carboys a little lower than I typically would have because the must wasn't completely fermented dry yet (sg 1.001). Should I top these up or is it OK to leave it down a couple inches during MLF?

Also, I'm guessing I can use any comparable wine to top up with as long as I didn't use sorbate in it if I do top up prior to MLF completion?

Thanks!

 

[ibglowin]

LOL, you learn fast that its a losing game to try and filter while pressing! It just slows you down and it doesn't help you in any way. Even seeds and skins will all work themselves out at rackings down the road. Just think of this step as the first step in a long process of clearing your wine. Its a big departure from making a wine from a kit where you basically have one real racking of gross lees. This is the "aha" moment where you realize that kits can't compete really against a wine made from 100lbs of skins, seeds, small stems. Everything is goodness down the road!

 

[LittleBearGameFarm]

The thing that impressed me the most was the smell, unreal! Such a sweet mouth watering smell with the cabernet grapes and even sweeter with the merlot. Can't wait to see how the flavor evolves throughout the process.

I added a WE Chilean Malbec kit to the cabernet skins and a WE Petite Verdot kit to the merlot skins. After having the grapes smell in my mind, the kit smell was terrible except in the background I got some of the skin smell. Kits may be a thing of the past for me!

 

[cmason1957]

You should top up just like you would as if fermentation was completely fine, which it mostly is.