Ready for Crush! (a little early)

[ibglowin]

Thanks for the info and pic Rich. Funny how these things are all painted up different! Seems no two are alike!

 

[rrawhide]

wow Mike
you are in the big times now - lookin' good and it will work well tooooo - no more handcranking for you.


Congratulations


rrawhide

 

[ibglowin]

Ha! Good to see you back on the boards Rick!

You remember how I "crushed and destemmed" 200lbs last year, right?

No way I was going through that nightmare again!

 

[Wade E]

With that much I will say you will probably want a motor unless you want some serious Pythons like I have (LOL, just kidding!!!) I myself just bought a bog brute that takes up the whole underneath of the crusher at Walmart for about $15 and literally everything falls right in. The first time I used it I had a smaller one that we had here and it was a PITA and stuff was falling out of every corner. Mike. I guess they changed colors awhile but both pcs I have are identical to yours, well maybe with the exception of mine being gold plated!!!

 

[robie]

Great purchase, Mike. You are definitely set up, now.

 

[ibglowin]

I think I am "all in" as they say!

Great purchase, Mike. You are definitely set up, now. 

 

[ibglowin]

OK I give up what the heck is a "Bog Brute" !

I myself just bought a bog brute that takes up the whole underneath of the crusher at Walmart for about $15 and literally everything falls right in.

 

[ibglowin]

Would this work underneath the Crusher if it was raised up enough to rest agains the bottom?

Brute Tote

 

[rrawhide]

oh mike - i do remember all the whining, complaining, yelling and cussing not counting the extra strengh motrin and the chiropractor!!! No more of this fun for you and I sure am happy for you - This should all work well you. You might figure out how to mount/set the totes on a movable platform. Make one for each tote and when full just move out of the way. You will probably ferment in them too so off to the fermentation area. Then you will not have to lift anything for awhile.


Good luck and let me kn0w how you decided to do this.


take care


rick

 

[grapeman]

Use that tote for pressing into. It is low enough to get under the press and will hold quite a bit. Then either dump every few gallons or pump it into your desired holding vessel depending on if it a red or white.

 

[ibglowin]

Thats the plan since it is a nice rectangular shape, should catch all the grapes and juice. Now to see If I can find any locally.....

 

[Runningwolf]

Thats the plan since it is a nice rectangular shape, should catch all the grapes and juice. Now to see If I can find any locally.....

Good luck. After Christmas you can't go into any big box store that isn't filled to the gills with them. I bet Lowes or HD would have something.

 

[Wade E]

That size should do well. I think I use a chair under the Tote to get it very close so as not to splash and make much of a mess.

 

[FL Steve]

I have a pretty good sized crusher and got tired of trying to find someone to help me move it. I do all of my rough processing in my 100 year old Jennings barn that we used to keep hay and wagons in when we had cattle. I have plenty of space. Mine is motorized and it is really heavy.

I built a stand out of 4x4's and 2x4 cross pieces and the crusher sits on top of the cross pieces and I leave it there.

A friend that has a small winery has the same setup and gave me another idea. I got some of those large casters, I think they have to be 4 inch wheels or better (you can tell I am a precision builder) and put together a cart like the movers use, only on steroids. I then went down to my local farm supply and bought a couple of those 100 gallon Rubbermaid livestock tanks. The tank sits on the cart and I slide the whole thing under the crusher. I can push it all over the barn but veerrry carefully. The tank is actually a little longer than the crusher so I have a piece of plastic to divert the stems into a wheelbarrow that sits at the end. Works like a charm. I had two of them filled to the very top last fall and had to scramble so now I have another.

 

[Rocky]

Wow, Steve. How much wine do you make? Sounds like last Fall you made between 100 and 200 gallons. What fruit are you using? Grapes or other fruits?

 

[FL Steve]

actually it was 185 gallons, i gave away about half a ton of dechaunac and about 400 lbs of baco

all grapes, used to buy them but now....I got to get control of myself!

 

[ibglowin]

Will this set up work? Covers ~85% of the length of the bottom and the entire width. How do the crushed grapes come out the bottom on this thing when in use? All spread out from one end to the other or one place mostly? I can find bigger containers but this was the biggest Brute that I could find that was food grade. All the others were much cheaper of course. I had these shipped from US Plastics and they were not cheap!

 

[grapeman]

Mike that should catch most of the grapes but there will be mixed jacks and grapes coming out a little- past that and before the end where the stems come out. That's why the chutes, either boughten or homemade slope down from the end towards your catch bucket/fermenter.

 

[ibglowin]

Sounds like a job for a little Duct tape and some heavy duty clear plastic sheeting then.

Thanks Rich!

 

[FL Steve]

When I first started using mine I had a plastic "curtain" that I dropped inside the top of my container like a shower curtain so that the grapes did not splash out. it worked but what a mess. I also have a short little curtain at the end where the stems come out, to assure that they don't bounce back into the must but go down into the wheelbarrow. You probably won't make such a mess unless you can really crank that thing. That is the good thing about manual power. Mine probably runs a little fast but I never really tried to change it.