How many lbs of grapes fit in a 40 liter bladder press?

[WineHombre]

I was able to get this bladder press for $500 from Aliexpress. Its a 10.6 gallon 40 liter press. Has anyone used one? How many pounds of grapes can you press at once with it? Will it hold 200lbs?

 

[sour_grapes]

It will not fit 200 lbs.

A gallon of water weighs ~8.3 lbs. The density of grape must will be a little different, but not vastly. 200 lbs of water would be about 24 gallons.

 

[WineHombre]

It will not fit 200 lbs.

A gallon of water weighs ~8.3 lbs. The density of grape must will be a little different, but not vastly. 200 lbs of water would be about 24 gallons.

An ok. So I will have to plan for 2 pressings then on my 200lb batch

 

[winemaker81]

An ok. So I will have to plan for 2 pressings then on my 200lb batch

It's likely to be 3 pressings.

 

[WineHombre]

It's likely to be 3 pressings.

This math seems off. Doesnt make sense. I did a 200 gallon batch with my 5 gallon press and it took 3 pressings. Yeild was 13 gallons 9 was free run and only took up 20 gallons of my fermenter. There was plenty of room for the cap to form.

 

[winemaker81]

This math seems off. Doesnt make sense. I did a 200 gallon batch with my 5 gallon press and it took 3 pressings. Yeild was 13 gallons 9 was free run and only took up 20 gallons of my fermenter. There was plenty of room for the cap to form.

I went by Paul's math. If 200 lbs is 24 gallons and your press holds 10.6 gallons, then it will take more than 2 pressing to do it all.

 

[TurkeyHollow]

This math seems off. Doesnt make sense. I did a 200 gallon batch with my 5 gallon press and it took 3 pressings. Yeild was 13 gallons 9 was free run and only took up 20 gallons of my fermenter. There was plenty of room for the cap to form.

I believe this is probably the closest to my experiences. I press 200 lbs in a single go with my #45 basket press. I pressed my white after crushing (some press whole) and if you have free-run, you can't really account for the volume of skins with partial juice contained within them.

 

[psenechal]

I had just under 800lbs of grapes that were crushed and fermented. When I pressed in an 80 liter bladder press it took me 5 presses, but the last one wasn’t filled all of the way. I did fill the other 4 almost to the top.
So I would say just under 200lbs per press in an 80 liter which would be about 100lbs in a 40 liter.
Make sure you start the press with an empty bucket if that’s what you are transferring with. On my press runs with the 80 liter I was getting about 7 gallons of juice, so I had to swap the 5 gallon buckets in the middle of the press. That was a major pain!

 

[WineHombre]

Thanks for the tip! I will have multiple carboys sanitized and ready.

 

[mainshipfred]

I've been meaning to respond to this as I have a 40L bladder press. The basket is 13.5 x 18.5 which is 11.5 gallons. I don't know where the 10.6 as advertised gallons comes from unless they somehow take the bladder into consideration. I think the amount of grapes you can press depends on how much free run you have. Some are going to have more free run than others. The other factor might be the skin thickness. This weekend I'll probably be pressing 300 lbs of Nebbiolo which appears to have very thin skins and a high free run amount. I'll post what I come up with when it's done. I could possibly be pressing 250 lbs of a thicker skinned Tannat which appears to have a lesser free run amount. From memory though I do believe I have presses close to 200 lbs in a single press.

 

[WineHombre]

I've been meaning to respond to this as I have a 40L bladder press. The basket is 13.5 x 18.5 which is 11.5 gallons. I don't know where the 10.6 as advertised gallons comes from unless they somehow take the bladder into consideration. I think the amount of grapes you can press depends on how much free run you have. Some are going to have more free run than others. The other factor might be the skin thickness. This weekend I'll probably be pressing 300 lbs of Nebbiolo which appears to have very thin skins and a high free run amount. I'll post what I come up with when it's done. I could possibly be pressing 250 lbs of a thicker skinned Tannat which appears to have a lesser free run amount. From memory though I do believe I have presses close to 200 lbs in a single press.

Good to know. I would love to hear what you find out.

 

[mainshipfred]

I just pressed the 300 lbs of Nebbiolo. Keep in mind they were thin skinned and due to all the rain we had prior and during harvest (not a result of Helen). I believe the juice content was higher than normal. Not my preference but it is what I had to work with.

Any how, all 300 lbs fit in the press and it could have taken more. WineHombre, if this is your first time using one I might recommend partially filling the bladder. You want to make sure the skins are all the way to the top so the bladder doesn't expand against the basket.

The Tannat is not quite ready to press yet, probably tomorrow or Tuesday. I believe it will have a different result due to the thicker skins.

 

[WineHombre]

I just pressed the 300 lbs of Nebbiolo. Keep in mind they were thin skinned and due to all the rain we had prior and during harvest (not a result of Helen). I believe the juice content was higher than normal. Not my preference but it is what I had to work with.

Any how, all 300 lbs fit in the press and it could have taken more. WineHombre, if this is your first time using one I might recommend partially filling the bladder. You want to make sure the skins are all the way to the top so the bladder doesn't expand against the basket.

The Tannat is not quite ready to press yet, probably tomorrow or Tuesday. I believe it will have a different result due to the thicker skins.

I have a smaller 5 gallon bladder press I have used before. Just started doing larger batches. I am doing a Sangiovese today which is also thinner skins. I have 200lb in a Brute. I was able to pull 14 gallons off of 200lbs that were in my Wineasy so I am thinking it may fit. I will post what I find out tonight when we press.