Homemade wine press I made

[wood1954]

Looks great

 

[Steve Wargo]

Just finished and used my homemade press and it worked like a champ. You can’t see from the pictures but in the outer bucket is a 5 gallon with many holes Drilled into it and a clean paint straining bag folded over over the skins under the press plate. Also there’s adjustable feet under the legs to allow angling for the just to run towards the valve on the rubbermaid. This creates Lots of pressure from the jack between the top and section so if you make one use lots of reinforcement strappings, L brackets, gussets, etc. between to joints so they don’t flex/separate, learned that after the first use.
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Very cool.

 

[winojoe]

Necessity is the mother of invention!

 

[gerryd]

very impressive..

did you just happen to have an 8 ton jack?
do you think a smaller unit would work?

 

[E-man]

I didn't have a bottle jack yet for auto projects so I got a larger one that would serve a more dual purpose role. I'm pretty certain a smaller one (2 ton) would work just fine for the press though. One area I think could use improvement is to either make or get a true basket for pressing vs the bucket which is tapered and bulges quite a bit when under pressure.

 

[David Violante]

My bucket does the same thing. I was considering a stainless steel one, but it keeps going back into shape. I'm going to add a stainless pot with a spigot to mine, that the strainer bucket sits in. I keep getting these small streams going out everywhere. I also like that yours has the ability to lean or angle forward so the juice gathers at the front instead of pooling in the pan. I'm teased a bit about the car jack on mine being from a Subaru... I'm going to have to find an emblem now for it... Nice job on yours again~ Good luck!

 

[ttaje16]

I know a bit off topic, but does anyone have a DIY crusher / Destemmer they care to share pics of? I am currently using a milk crate and a potato masher and it is really too much work, but not about to pay the price for a new one.

 

[balatonwine]

You may not want to use black locust wood for contact with food, as all parts of the plant contains toxic compounds that may leach into your wine upon contact:

More on black locust toxicity

Better basket material: Oak, or Beech wood

 

[wood1954]

Actually the staves are thoroughly coated with polyurethane, I don’t think there will be a problem for as little time the juice is in contact with the wood.

 

[jackl]

Here is a dual purpose apple/wine press I made around 8 years ago. I have a lot of apple trees as well as a small vineyard. The device consists of a stainless steel sink, new garbage disposal and a press with a basket I made from red oak. The cut up apples are placed in the sink. The disposal macerates the apples which are then deposited in the basket lined with a nylon fruit press bag. I then slide the basket forward and use a hydraulic jack to press the juice from the apples. Then I take the pomace and use it as fertilizer in my garden. For grapes, I run them through my crusher,remove the stems and then put them in the nylon bag for pressing. Works like a charm! I always clean and sanitize everything with Starsan.

 

[wood1954]

Very cool, looks like it works great

 

[kmk]

Here is a dual purpose apple/wine press I made around 8 years ago. I have a lot of apple trees as well as a small vineyard. The device consists of a stainless steel sink, new garbage disposal and a press with a basket I made from red oak. The cut up apples are placed in the sink. The disposal macerates the apples which are then deposited in the basket lined with a nylon fruit press bag. I then slide the basket forward and use a hydraulic jack to press the juice from the apples. Then I take the pomace and use it as fertilizer in my garden. For grapes, I run them through my crusher,remove the stems and then put them in the nylon bag for pressing. Works like a charm! I always clean and sanitize everything with Starsan.
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Wow, looks great. Thanks for sharing. Good job!

 

[balatonwine]

Actually the staves are thoroughly coated with polyurethane, I don’t think there will be a problem for as little time the juice is in contact with the wood.

Polyurethane does indeed "solve" the issue.

But I was considering more a traditional press design, which would not need any wood preservatives on the staves. To each their own.