I have a cab sauv in a 30 gallon Blichmann wineeasy and it's ready for pressing. I am going to use the piston press. Last time I used it the pomace was still pretty wet after pressing. Is there a tip for getting more from the pressing with the piston or should I just put the wet pomace in my bladder press and press it some more after the wineasy is done?.
Pressing with the Wineasy
- Thread starter WineHombre
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I have 4 of the wine easy presses and the vacuum pump was designed for 14psi, or 1 bar of pressure. A bladder press will typically go up to 2 bar. And a basket press can go up to 5 bar. Working within those limitations, you can wait between presses with the wine easy, with low risk since its a sealed system so long as you keep the press in place. Waiting 30min-2hr between presses will allow for more tannin / juice extraction. You can also tape your pump fittings with stainless steel thread tape to prevent air leakage and get the most from your pump. Not the cheap vinyl plumbers thread tape. This is true for both liquid and gas stainless NPT fittings.
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After using the Press piston, I scooped the pumace out of the Wineasy and put it in a bladder press and got 4 more gallons from it. So what your saying is that it's normal and I should just leave it uder pressure for longer snd it will extraxt the additkonal juice?
4 gallons is alot. My pomace is fairly dry whenever Im done and I rarely go more than 2 presses. Something doesn’t seem right about that. Honestly, sounds like something may be wrong with your pump. Another issue could be if the false bottom was placed upside down it would prevent your press from working correctly.
I had the pressure plate with the metal tabs pointing up towards the false bottom. When I cleaned it up the false bottom was covered in seeds and there was a pool of wine still in the bottom. The piston did move down and was flush against the grape bed. But it was pumping air into the wine that was in the carboy.
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Install is correct on pressure plate. Are you using the Blichmann vacuum pump? What pressure reading are you getting? Mine is modified slightly, but I typically get at least 600 mmHg on gauge when pressing. Also, are you including stems with grapes?
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Yes. I am using the pump that cane with it. I didnt look to see the pressure. I dis drain 6 gallons out of the fermenter free run before running the piston. Maybe that was too much as when I seated the piston it was on the grape cap and not liquid. I had 20 gallons of must (,4 5 gallon buckets) and was expecting at least 12 gallons. Maybe that was too much?
I just looked at my vintage tracking sheet. I’ve pressed over 40,000 pounds of grapes with my wineasy, since I started in 2013. It does a good job on fermented reds and my pressings are dry to my satisfaction. Not as dry as you can get with a basket or hydraulic press, but good enough.
I have found the press not doing a satisfactory job on whites (pump not strong enough) or reds that I used an enzyme on (the must clogs the screen).
I’ve been using my All-In-One bottler to power the press the past few years, mostly out of convenience.
I have found the press not doing a satisfactory job on whites (pump not strong enough) or reds that I used an enzyme on (the must clogs the screen).
I’ve been using my All-In-One bottler to power the press the past few years, mostly out of convenience.
Do you have a picture of your set-up? Something sounds wrong.
After all the free-run comes out, you will the evacuate the air and co2 out of the must as the poison begins to do its thing. Is that what you were experiencing?
Ah. I have used Lallzyme EX on the last batch so maybe that is the issue. I have the all in one wine pump as well.
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I drained out 6 gallons of free run wine and the inserted the piston with the pump and it drew out more wine until it started pulling air out into the Carboy. It was about 9 gallons and the must was still really wet. I then scooped the must into a bladder press and got about 13 gallons total.
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Do you have a picture of when you were pressing?
No. But it was set up properly.
Curious when you do whites, are you running your grapes through a crusher / destemmer first or going straight to press?
Yes, crushed, destemmed, but the wineasy is not capable of exerting the pressure that other presses can. For fermented reds, I think the yield loss is minimal and makes for a better wine. For whites there is a significant yield loss due to the tightness of the skins and the ability of the berries to retain their juice when not broken down by fermentation.
This is a nice mod! I noticed that when I dont have the mason jar type container, and plug directly to pump, I'm able to get 600 mmHg. But with the mason jar, the needle jumps alot between 400 and 500 and cant get higher than 550.
I thought my pump was faulty, but think the tubing setup that came with it is not the best.
The pummace is still fairly moist, but I'm able to finish sooner and not let the pump run for too long...
Where did you pick up the parts for you mod ?
I almost forgot that the pump came with that mason jar and cheap filter that always got wet. This vaccum trap was $100 but makes the pump so much better:
https://shop.gastmfg.com/aa672k-vacuum-trap/
It works great and Ive never had liquid enter my pump since getting this trap. I have 2 of these.
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I figured out what my issue was. I freaked out when bunches of air was sucked into my wine not realizing it was CO2. I also didn't let it sit for 20 minutes and them restart the pump. It got up above 600 on the pump gauge this time and I was able to draw just short of 14 gallons from 200lbs of Sangiovese today which seems good to be about right. The pumace was pretty dry. I am donng another 200lbs that fermented in a brute trash can this evening. Interested to see how the yeild is different with the bladder press I will be using compared to the winewasy.
