Fresh grapes is the best way to go

[JohnT]

I typically get 54 liters for 5 lugs of grapes (or 10.8 liters / 2.85 gallons per lug).

I priced the grapes at $40, but most grapes are priced under $40 (they ranged from 32 to 38 for most varietals last year).

 

[Pumpkinman]

John, a typical kit yields ~6gal of wine and obviously after racking you end up with roughly 5.5 give or take.
With 2 lugs of grapes I heard you barely make 5 gallons when pressed and after racking it will be less.

Varis, if getting those most "gallons" for your buck is your goal, then yes, I'd stick with kits if I were you. If making the best possible wine that you can is the goal, grapes are the way to go.
I've made real good wine from Juice Buckets, and decent wine from the few kits that I've made, but nothing like the wine from fresh grapes, but I do understand that some cannot afford the equipment necessary and some don't have the space to store it.
This season I got 10 gallons of Cab Sav from 5 lugs, plus 3 gallons of 2nd run, and 12 gallons of Sangiovese from 6 lugs, plus 5 gallons of 2nd run that I made into a rose'.

 

[Boatboy24]

I only have one batch under my belt, but my 108lbs of Petit Syrah grapes have been whittled down to about 6.25 gallons. By the time I'm done, I'll have 6 gallons, but will have probably had to top up with at least one bottle of commercial during barrel aging. My first press, mind you and I was trying not to kill the grapes with the press. That said, I paid $55/lug. This was for Amador Gold grapes. Not having any experience with whole grapes, I opted to get the higher end grapes to make up for my lack of experience. If I recall correctly, the "regular" grapes were about $46 per lug.

 

[JohnT]

Boatboy,

Those grape prices are rather High. I get mine from Corrado's in NJ and I pay noway near that. I also pick up the grapes myself, so there is no freight. $40 is just about top of the mark for quality grapes.

 

[Boatboy24]

Boatboy,

Those grape prices are rather High. I get mine from Corrado's in NJ and I pay noway near that. I also pick up the grapes myself, so there is no freight. $40 is just about top of the mark for quality grapes.

I'm looking for another source, but haven't found one yet. Sadly, I have to drive two hours each way just to get these.

 

[TicinoVintner]

$400-500 for a winepress? With the book mentioned above which is actually called home built winery you could build one for around 50-80 bucks. Even if you don't want to build a press a $100 one works just as well. It's a press, it doesn't need to be extravagant. Of course I am not sure of the prices in the U.S but here in Europe where everything tends to be more expensive one can easily find a suitable press for around $100, even on Amazon.

 

[JohnT]

TV,

That is the price for an imported Italian wine press. You are correct, you could build one much cheaper and many of the members here have done just that.

 

[sdelli]

When I researched using grapes I thought that I found that 100-120 lbs of grapes, depending on variety and water content, were required to make 6 gallons.

About 6% to 7% average yield to juice.....

 

[Pumpkinman]

Jim,
I got real decent pricing from M&M, the grapes that I got were nothing short of amazing, and I believe that we paid between $35.00 -$48.00 per lug depending on the grape.

 

[Paulc]

These last couple years I have used my hands to press...grab a softball sized hunk of cap and squeeze it to baseball sized until no more cap remains, then let wine settle before racking. I don't get the yield I "ought" to but then I use the pressed skins for 2nd wine...I am on my 4th vintage now and only just this holiday got a proper press. For only one or two buckets of frozen must, or 200-300 lbs of fresh grapes you don't need the press or the crusher/destemmer. Don't let the lack of "proper" gear stop you. You can always bu the tools to get a better yield or do larger batches once you know you like the process.

And I'm not going back to kit wines. No offense to anyone but they just aren't the same in my opinion.

Paul

 

[JohnT]

You really need to decide how much money you are willing to spend VS how much of a pain in the neck the process will be. I have seen a homemade press made with two 5 gal buckets for about $10. I have also seen a press made from a "dugout" log, a long 4 inch branch, and a length of chain for about $2.

I like the fact that I have a proper press. I can take off the free run juice and also the "light press" juice as the main wine, but also can press "every-last-friggin-drop" and keep that one separate (it tends to be much more bitter due to the additional tannins in hard-pressed juice). as a result, my wine yields are as high as they possibly can be and I toss away only a hard pack cake of skins. I like knowing that I get my money's worth.

BTW, my press is electric with a hydrolic motor. It can press to 350 bars and will process a ton of grapes at a time. I sank a lot of $$$ into it and am very glad I did!

 

[Pumpkinman]

John, I agree, you really need to get the proper equipment, it is necessary.
I will agree in advance to those that are going to post, telling me that they can make their own equipment and get the job done, but, how efficient is it going to be? The yields will suffer, and as john said " I like knowing that I get my money's worth."

As with any hobby, it really depends on what you want to get out of it, and how much are you willing to invest in it, not only money, but time as well.
I'm a type A personality (most tell me that this doesn't come as a shock to them...lol), I want to learn everything, I'm not satisfied with a little, I want to try everything and challenge myself to do better!

If your wine making selection is based upon the estimated cost per bottle, you might be better off buying cheap bottles of wine, just the time we invest alone jacks up the price per bottle to the point where it really isn't cost effective, but for me it isn't about the cost per bottle, it is about the experience.

Making wine kits is fine, if that is what you can make due to time and space constraints, then that is a perfect solution, at least you can make wine and enjoy the fruits of your labor, the same goes for wine made from juice buckets, I've made some real nice wine from them, I've learned to tweak them thanks to a few people that shared their knowledge, and if you can get the chance to make wine from grapes, I highly recommend it, at least once.

 

[sdelli]

Call me crazy but... For some reason I get sicker the next day after drinking kit wine then natural wine made from grapes. Not a hang over but just wacked out. I am thinking maybe a reaction to all the additives a kit puts in.....

 

[MarLac]

I've been making wine with juice buckets for some time and this past fall I decided to try a small batch with fresh grapes.
So I bought 2 cases of Merlot and 1 case of Cabernet Sav to blend it all.

I admit it, not having the proper equipment to make wine with grapes is a PAIN IN THE REAR....

But at the end, what a nice reward, the wine from fresh grapes, after I put through MLF is nice, nice flavor, color, smell and taste.

It is young but what a difference compared to juice buckets.

For some peeps, juice buckets may yield good or better results, but for me I'd definitively use fresh grapes moving forward if I can and whenever possible depending on equipment.

Hi... I live in Midland, TX and nothing is fresh here except cattle. Everything is trucked in. Where did you buy your fresh grapes from?

 

[geek]

Hi... I live in Midland, TX and nothing is fresh here except cattle. Everything is trucked in. Where did you buy your fresh grapes from?

From my LHBS.

 

[DirtyDawg10]

If you are worried about the cost of a press just use your feet like the good ol' days...and on the plus side I have heard that feet can add a lot of mouth feel to your wine

 

[DirtyDawg10]

OK so that started out as a joke but the more I thought about it I bet these could be cleaned and sanitized pretty easily...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TWHPD6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Then you just need a brute trash can or something to stomp around in.

 

[sour_grapes]

I have heard that feet can add a lot of mouth feel to your wine

Well, I certainly put my foot in my mouth pretty often, especially after drinking wine; haven't paid much attention to the mid-palate structure during those moments, however....

 

[manvsvine]

For most home winemakers renting presses and crushers makes a lot of spence for gear you need only once a year. Most charge less than $40 a day .

Getting grapes crushed and stemmed by your supplier makes spence too depending on volumes some do it for free and some charge 1-5 dollars a lug , vs 800 for an electric crusher stemmer.

Presses can be had fairly cheap , I bought a number 35 basket press 10 years ago for 200 dollars I just sold it for $250 . A number 35 handled a tonne and a half in a few hours easy and could be used for small batches too.

A wine club could be started by combining funds to buy a press and crusher , you could do group crushes and presses then people take their carboys home to do mlf .

 

[JohnT]

This is what happens when my niece shows up late on crush day. Had her scrub her feet with soap/water, then had her plunge them into a k-meta bath.

Had a chance to taste the wine a number of weeks ago. It is quite nice.