First Press

[rrawhide]

Mike
This is for you and others with similar needs - good luck all.


This is the first press that I made for small batches of grapes. First of all I hand destemmed and then crushed in a bucket and then to the press:


Goofy looking but it works.

then we crush with the handy dandy 2x4 crusher pounder masher-up thingy

then press with the handy dandy muscle/arm powered hardwood press thingy

drill lots of holes in a bucket/pail/tote thingy

put bucket full of holes into a tray with a drain hose out the end and press away. Make sure you have a carboy or ? to catch the wine. IF you could figure a way for the hose to come out bottom it would be better because you always have a resivour when you come out of the end.

I sometimes used a fruit bag and put the must into it before pressing or just press right on the grapes. I have really pressed down on this and have never had a problem with anything breaking since I used hardwood (oak). I also inserted a larger 'foot' inside pail when first pressing that went under the 'foot' attached to the leg.


Spray everything with your sanitizer before starting.


Thissure isbasic but works for small requirements. You get most of the juice that you can get with this,


Looking forward to the motorized crusher/destemmer and ratchet press this year.


rrawhide

 

[Runningwolf]

Sooo Mike how do you feel about your press now! Rick thanks for sharing those pictures. That press was pretty neat.