Post your Crush Day Photos!!!

[JohnT]

Now that Crush Season is upon us, how about we all share our good times by posting some of your best crush day photos??

I will post a link to this thread in both the "general" and "from grapes" forums.

 

[Boatboy24]

As 'crush' implies a wine beginning with grapes, why don't we put this thread in the "From Grapes" forum?

 

[JohnT]

I posted the link (to this) there.

 

[4score]

Cabernet Sauvignon most recently crushed. Let me find a pic ...

 

[4score]

And my granddaughter helping with our Tempranillo

 

[Ajmassa]

Macrobins full of red must with an adorable grandaughter mixing- that's one great picture!

 

[Ajmassa]

Love this idea for a thread. I hope many more post.
Well I got my grapes a good bit earlier than most. Took many pics though I wish I took even more. Only my 2nd grape batch being the shotcaller- 288 lbs Tuscan field blend. Crush was 2 wknds ago and pressed last wknd.

My order sitting pretty in S. Philly

My buddy helping uncrate and take measurements

The "sorting table". Mental note: need some sort of makeshift ledges next year. Because grapes are ROUND!

Each lug got its own bucket

This doesn't come close to representing the full scale of the mess that was made

8 lugs in 8 pails and 1 juice bucket ready to hump down the steps

The end of a hard days work

As you can see I had a couple lugs that had some stubborn grape guts

How cool is the bladder press!? 80L and worked out perfectly.

Totally shooting from the hip. I have no clue what I'm doing. Making a huge mess but we had a blast

Pressed ready for glass. About 20 gal from 28 gal of must.

I hope i see many more Crush day pics as they happen. It's fun to see everyone's different setups, small medium or large. I'm always curious to see how other people do their grapes. And good luck to all who are about to be starting their batches soon.

 

[pgentile]

Nice shots who was the photog? Like the set up and operation.

 

[NorCal]

Cabernet Sauvignon

 

[Ajmassa]

We've already been following along with your (NorCal) different crush photos over the last couple weeks. Love seeing full macrobins. With those massive quantities it's easy to take notice. Impressive.

And pgentile, my badass iphone7 was the photog!' And one of the many curious neighbors snapped the pic of us fumbling with press cake.

 

[balatonwine]

I could never leave that much uncovered must/juice as shown in the photos so far.

It would be full of fruit flies in minutes.

 

[Ajmassa]

No different for me either. I had lids on everything right away after crush and also after press. Just took em off for the photos.
I had a big green plastic bag for the outside of the press. But I didn't use it so I could see what was doin.
Also had to keep a fan constantly blowing across the primaries because of flies too. They're brutal!

 

[4score]

Ajmassa5983, What is the make/model of that 80L bladder press? What was your final ratio of pounds of grapes to fermented wine out of the press? Nice pics!

 

[Stressbaby]

Here are pics from the first wine of the season, Vignoles. They really could have used a few more days on the vine but they aren't my vines and my invitation window for picking was narrow. About 90#, should end up with 5+ gallons. And yes, I topped them up.

 

[sour_grapes]

Love this idea for a thread. I hope many more post.
Well I got my grapes a good bit earlier than most. Took many pics though I wish I took even more. Only my 2nd grape batch being the shotcaller- 288 lbs Tuscan field blend. Crush was 2 wknds ago and pressed last wknd.

Thanks for posting that, Bustleonboy. I have been unsure of exactly how I was going to transport my crushed grapes around -- then, from your post, I realized: 5 Gal buckets! I will buy a bunch of food-grade 5 gal. buckets forthwith.

 

[Boatboy24]

Thanks for posting that, Bustleonboy. I have been unsure of exactly how I was going to transport my crushed grapes around -- then, from your post, I realized: 5 Gal buckets! I will buy a bunch of food-grade 5 gal. buckets forthwith.

They transport quite well right in the lugs. Unless, of course, you're not buying by the lug. But yes, buckets work well. And as a winemaker, you can never have too many. I have a few from Lowe's, and always save the bucket when I buy juice.

 

[sour_grapes]

They transport quite well right in the lugs. Unless, of course, you're not buying by the lug. But yes, buckets work well. And as a winemaker, you can never have too many. I have a few from Lowe's, and always save the bucket when I buy juice.

Even crushed grapes? I admit to not knowing WFT I am talking about here, never having done this. In particular, I do not know exactly how the grapes for our group purchase will be transported, i.e., in lugs or not. My understanding of the delivery day is that we will all go to one guy's house, the truck meets us there, we use his crusher/destemmer, and take our C/D grapes home. A friend who has done this before said he used his fermenter to transport last year, but it was awkward, so he is using buckets this year.

I do have 2 or 3 buckets from juice and fermenting buckets, but I think I will need about 6 or 7. I am buying 200 lbs. of fruit.

 

[Ajmassa]

Backyard to glass! Love the 4x4 leg extensions on the press Baby. What a great wine room too. I want that drain.
@4score, that was a rental. It's an 80L Marchisio hydro (bladder) press. It's tough to give a review since I don't have much to compare to- kinda jumped in head first with that one. But in my professional opinion- it's the bees knees.
Started with 288 lbs crushed to about 28 gallons of must. Just about 21 gal of wine out the press. I didn't rack any liquid to glass prior to pressing, I put it all through. Left the cake slightly wet accidentally. Could have pressed out even more. Didn't wanna push it though.
Paul, don't assume anything. I'm just wingin it man. I did what I HAD to do- crush outside-ferment in basement- press outside-back to basement. And made it work. Is it ideal? Beats me. But it worked. And @boatboy, I'm assuming you missed "crushed" grapes.
Hoping this weekend brings more Crush day pics.

 

[anthony]

Not grapes, but I was gifted some cherries from the Flathead Valley and crushed them two weeks ago.....

 

[cmason1957]

Even crushed grapes? I admit to not knowing WFT I am talking about here, never having done this. In particular, I do not know exactly how the grapes for our group purchase will be transported, i.e., in lugs or not. My understanding of the delivery day is that we will all go to one guy's house, the truck meets us there, we use his crusher/destemmer, and take our C/D grapes home. A friend who has done this before said he used his fermenter to transport last year, but it was awkward, so he is using buckets this year.

I do have 2 or 3 buckets from juice and fermenting buckets, but I think I will need about 6 or 7. I am buying 200 lbs. of fruit.

Go to Home depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Menards, and buy yourself a 20 gallon trash can. They have many colors. I like the gray, myself. Really put 200 lbs C/D grapes in it. Plenty of room for cap. Look for NSF somewhere on the can. Use a dolly to move it around.