Versatility of 80l bladder press - need advice

[Rocktop]

Hi all, I need some advice.
I have my eye on a used 80l bladder press.
My question is, can it press batches as small as 100lbs grapes?
Depending on variety I will do presses between 100lbs and 1000lbs batches.
Can it do this range effectively ?

Thank you,
RT

 

[mainshipfred]

Hi all, I need some advice.
I have my eye on a used 80l bladder press.
My question is, can it press batches as small as 100lbs grapes?
Depending on variety I will do presses between 100lbs and 1000lbs batches.
Can it do this range effectively ?

Thank you,
RT

I have a 40 that takes about 250 lbs to fill. The bladder press is still relatively new to me but I was once told the press should be full so take it for what it's worth. Recently I helped someone press 60 lbs of blueberries and had to substantially inflate the bladder first.

 

[Rice_Guy]

In a commercial operation dealing with underfill, one of the tricks is to partially empty the press, then recharge. If you are dealing with single batch pressing you could accomplish the same thing by putting a lining of maple (clean flavor wood) staves on the inside to reduce the effective diameter.

My question is, can it press batches as small as 100lbs grapes?

 

[Rocktop]

Interesting , I read about staging multiple varietal presses to add to the bulk, but hadn’t thought of staves to take up space. Yes the 100lbs would be single varietal pressed so would need to make that work. For the staves would they be placed against the bladder? Would it need to be a solid ring , ie staves edge to edge?

For the smaller batches I assumed I could partially fill the bladder and then fill with fruit. What happens negatively if you press with less than 50% full?

Thank you.

RT

 

[Ajmassa]

For the smaller batches I assumed I could partially fill the bladder and then fill with fruit. What happens negatively if you press with less than 50% full?

Thank you.

RT

yeah this is the process i read to do if not at capacity. Otherwise gives an uneven press, pushing a thin layer up the sides from the loaded bottom. Not sure it that’s actually a bad thing, just more functional to have the basket pressed evenly i guess. I’ve only used one once, rented an 80L and I had it full. Helluva toy. I’m sure you’ll thoroughly enjoy it.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I would not have blocks on the bladder. In concept I would have them on two/ three nylon roads like a train track, such that you have half or third inserted and wedge the last in to make it self supporting. At that point start filling the fruit. If you are close like ninety percent mixing pea gravel in and pressing.
Commercial units are horizontal. Another trick is that they have several cycles as press/ relax, which might not work in a vertical format. Note right side along wall.

 

[SLM]

Buy it!

I bought a used 80L and it has been great so far the few times I've used it. I've pressed as little as 50 pounds, yielded 3.7 gallons juice. Yes the skins were concentrated on the bottom and I might have been able to squeeze a little more out using the tricks mentioned here but all in all they were pretty dry. Next time I do a small batch I will do a second press with a pre-loaded bladder to see how much wine I threw away.

p.s.- I put wheels under mine which makes it way easier to move around.