Fall 2018 crush and pictures.

[Gypsy509]

This is all I have to offer this year. Like John I planned on skipping this year, unlike John my plans didn't change. My few grapes didn't cooperate anyway and I only had about 10 lbs. of my own Cabernet Sauvignon to do anything with, so......
CABERNET GRAPE JELLY!!!!! Crushed, cooked and bottled the same day, no bulk aging here my friends.

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Those grapes are pretty!

 

[FTC Wines]

Ok, We HAND de-stem & crush. Picked our grapes up Sunday & did 2 lugs, then 3 lugs on Monday & Tuesday. Also did 4 juice pails. I built a press a few years so pressing will be easier! Roy ps think we need a de-stemmer/crusher asap!!

 

[Gypsy509]

Few pictures taken outside the wine cellar in Sarasota, Fl.View attachment 51409 View attachment 51410 View attachment 51411 View attachment 51413

 

[Gypsy509]

Few pictures taken outside the wine cellar in Sarasota, Fl.View attachment 51409 View attachment 51410 View attachment 51411 View attachment 51413

 

[Gypsy509]

More to come at the pressing

 

[stickman]

@Gypsy509 Those look like some nice grapes you have there.

 

[Gypsy509]

@Gypsy509 Those look like some nice grapes you have there.

Thanks ....we had a lot of leaves and raisins though so hopefully we got rid of most ...

 

[FTC Wines]

Gyspy, I assume you got your grapes from Vince Pardo. We picked up our s Sunday in Riverview. Look at the post prior to yours. We hand de-stemmed and crushed ours. 8 lugs. We are in N. Ft. Myers & our Mom lives in Gulf Gate area of Sarasota. Love your crusher!! Roy

 

[Gypsy509]

Gyspy, I assume you got your grapes from Vince Pardo. We picked up our s Sunday in Riverview. Look at the post prior to yours. We hand de-stemmed and crushed ours. 8 lugs. We are in N. Ft. Myers & our Mom lives in Gulf Gate area of Sarasota. Love your crusher!! Roy

Yes we have been purchasing grapes from Vince for over 20 years now. Do you go to the Italian Festival in Ybor ? We enter the wine contest every year and have won once or twice.

 

[Gypsy509]

Gyspy, I assume you got your grapes from Vince Pardo. We picked up our s Sunday in Riverview. Look at the post prior to yours. We hand de-stemmed and crushed ours. 8 lugs. We are in N. Ft. Myers & our Mom lives in Gulf Gate area of Sarasota. Love your crusher!! Roy

We bit the bullet last year and bought this crusher Save a lot of time destemming LOL.

 

[Jbu60]

 

[Dom Lausic]

 

[Dom Lausic]

Our crush day for the 2018 season! Was a great one! 24 cases in total. 100L of Pinot Noir & 100L of the Croatian family recipe. Grenache, Zinfandella, Alicante & Carignane.

 

[porkchopmessiah]

just want you all to know I have crush envy....hopefully some day ill be doing it like you all...kudos and nice work!

 

[Bts]

just want you all to know I have crush envy....hopefully some day ill be doing it like you all...kudos and nice work!

You can always do a small batch without the equipment. Just did my first all grape batch that way and it wasn't too bad. 3 lugs of Valdepena(really california Tempranillo). Manually crushing/destemming is fairly tedious and took at least an hour per lug, but it's easy enough. I made a bucket press for 3 bucks(borrowed normal 5 and 6 gal buckets to act as press and base/juice resevoir plus another 5 gal that I drilled a ton of holes in as the strainer). I was pleasantly surprised to get a bit over 8 gallons of wine (7ish of free run plus 1.3 to 1.5 pressed). Taste is much more big and tannic than the couple cheap/mid kits and buckets I've done. More like the JRS En Primeur trio red I've got aging, which is very promising. I was going to do 2 lugs for a 5 gal batch but upped it to 3 because I was worried about yield with the bucket press, but I could have easily done 2 for a lower time commitment and still filled the 5 gal carboy.

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[jgmann67]

We discovered Washington Winemakers this year. They do grapes and buckets as a fundraiser for a nursing home. Pricing was good, quality was very good. Bonus, they had self serve crushing/destemming available for free. The two hour drive was worth every penny.

I only got 4 lugs and a bucket of Central Valley CA OVZ. But I am very happy.

 

[mainshipfred]

Ok, We HAND de-stem & crush. Picked our grapes up Sunday & did 2 lugs, then 3 lugs on Monday & Tuesday. Also did 4 juice pails. I built a press a few years so pressing will be easier! Roy ps think we need a de-stemmer/crusher asap!!

So you do it like I do. Ferment in smaller quantities. Do you use different yeasts in each bucket? Ran out of buckets and had to buy 2 more. Lids are just loosely placed on top

 

[celladwella]

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Mac60

Question for you. How many 36lbs cases of grapes crushed can fit into one of those I’m assuming 350liter / 92 gal fermentation Tub’s?

 

[FTC Wines]

Fred, We use the same yeast because we mix up the 3 buckets into one barrel plus top off wine. We save the buckets, from juice pails of past years, in the attic so we have plenty of buckets. I also use loose lids & towels to cover the fermenting buckets.
Mac, We crushed 4 lugs which filled 3 - 6 gal buckets to the 5 gal mark. From that15 gals of must we hope to have 10-11 gals of wine. Will know in a few days. Roy

 

[Mac60]

Mac60

Question for you. How many 36lbs cases of grapes crushed can fit into one of those I’m assuming 350liter / 92 gal fermentation Tub’s?

I have put 21, but that's pushing it and the caps starts to come close to the top, 19 cases is what I maxed out in each was perfect no overflow about 6" left to the top with cap pushing up.
Mike