Tater wrote:
> On Sep 13, 3:51 pm, Send an Instant Message The Builder's Studio
> > wrote:
>> are? I cannot afford a press and no one locally rents them as far as
>> I know (and probably cannot afford to either). Grapes, what are the
>> options? Ferment like other fruit and squeeze a bag? Pros and cons
>> (3-5 gallon batches).
>>
>> Thanks!
>
> OOOHHH! OOOHHHH!!
>
> hunt around for an applesauce maker. the one I got is like a funnel
> made of screen with a wooden handle crusher. I really want to find the
> crank type and try that. used it for plums, took the mashed stuff and
> put it in a bag and picked out the skins and added them too.. did a
> great job of getting the majority of the pulp off the pits. it should
> work just as well for small batches of grapes.
>
> Did two 5 gallon batches so far, really wears out the arm though. I am
> planning on mutilating a meatgrinder to see how that works. I need
> to make it sloppy enough to not crush the pits, yet tight enought to
> squeeze the pits apart from the fruit.
>

I've used a hand crank, three inch inside diameter meat grinder to press
red wine off the skins/seeds.

An epoxy paint coated one or heavy duty plastic one would be suitable
for use with wine. If it is the tin-coated cast metal meat type of
grinder, the acidic wine will slowly dissolve the tin coating, so that
would not be a good choice.

You only need a small amount of back pressure to squeeze out the wine.
I used a 16 ounce yogurt plastic container to create my back pressure.
The shallow taper of the yogurt container provided just the right amount
of back pressure for squeezing out the wine. Left a dense, wrung out
pomace, and this gentle pressing kept the seeds from being crushed/ground.

I almost entirely cut out the bottom of the yogurt container, leaving a
heavy "bead" of plastic at the bottom for strength. I attached the
container to the meat grinder by its top lip (using a home-made adapter
plate) instead of a grinder plate.

It's not really quick at pressing, but for a few gallons at a time it's
not too tedious. Not sure I'd buy a meat grinder for this purpose;
they're not cheap.

Gene