Crushing setup and free-run juice

[Earldw]

I will be crushing about 200 pounds of deep red muscadines, half to be used for white wine and the other half for red. I have never crushed 200 pounds of grapes before so does anyone see any issues with my setup in the picture? I took the top off of a 140 qt cooler and set the crusher on top. I also have a 7 gallon bucket at the drain to collect free run juice.

The second question, is there any difference between free-run juice and pressed juice? As much as I’m crushing, I will probably get enough free-run to make a 5-gallon batch of white wine and save myself from pressing. On the other hand, would I be cheating my red wine out of the good stuff?

Thanks,

 

[salcoco]

if both have been fermented the pressed juice may have more tannins then the free run.

 

[crushday]

The crusher is going to slip all over the plastic surface of the cooler. I would run a strap and fix it down a bit...

There is a big difference between free run and pressed juice. FR isn't going to have most of the tannins and phenols from the skins and seeds that pressed will. If it were me, I would perform the free run white project first - get that out of the way. Secondly, I would crush the red wine and add the pomace (skins and seeds) from the white free run project to the red wine. That's going to give you a much fuller red wine. More color too...

After the red wine fermentation, I would keep the free run and pressed wine separate and blend to taste as I suspect the pressed wine will have more tannin than normal given the addition of the white pomace.

Overall, looks like a great project. Good luck and exercise patience...

 

[Earldw]

The crusher is going to slip all over the plastic surface of the cooler. I would run a strap and fix it down a bit...

There is a big difference between free run and pressed juice. FR isn't going to have most of the tannins and phenols from the skins and seeds that pressed will. If it were me, I would perform the free run white project first - get that out of the way. Secondly, I would crush the red wine and add the pomace from the white project to the red wine. That's going to give you a much fuller red wine. More color too...

After the red wine fermentation, I would keep the free run and pressed wine separate and blend to taste as I suspect the pressed wine will have more tannin than normal given the addition of the white pomace.

Overall, looks like a great project. Good luck and exercise patience...

Thanks Crushday, good info. Think I will crush what I have, drain off 5-gallons of free run for the white and what’s left makes the red.