Homemade grape press

SmokinFF · Post by **SmokinFF** » November 1st, 2013, 11:16 am

So a buddy of mine hit me up to find him a grape press for making his superb homemade wine. I did some looking and was unable to find anything in his budget. I found this idea and did a little reconfiguring. Then I thought, why buy it when you can build it.

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Grabber70Mach · Post by **Grabber70Mach** » November 1st, 2013, 12:06 pm

I like it, a recheck grape press.

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The Czar · Post by **The Czar** » November 1st, 2013, 1:53 pm

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Mmmmm · Post by **Mmmmm** » November 1st, 2013, 3:18 pm

We are going to my parents house this afternoon to press apple cider on a press my dad made. It is a pretty good press, one year we made 494 gallons in one afternoon / evening.

SmokinFF · Post by **SmokinFF** » November 1st, 2013, 4:41 pm

Wow, that's a bunch of cider. Just think how much Apple Pie that would make!!

Puff · Post by **Puff** » November 1st, 2013, 7:21 pm

I have two friends here in NJ that started this way a few years ago. They have taken 2nd and 3rd place in some local seasonal wine competition . They now have graduated to a hydraulic press and make a bunch of wine each September.

This is great

Miketheforester · Post by **Miketheforester** » November 1st, 2013, 8:40 pm

What did you do to the bucket so the juice will drain? Do you have to use a crusher before the press? I just put in my vines tho year so I am trying to figure stuff out.

Puff · Post by **Puff** » November 1st, 2013, 10:48 pm

My 88 year old Italian grandmother had been the only one left in the family that still knew the methods of making the wines we grew up with in the 40's 50's and 60's. Her family made guitars and mandolins with the wood from the grape boxes during the old days. At her age, we bought whiskey barrels at the farm market and a few hundred lbs of grapes and found a crusher and wine press at the Englishtown flea market in 1990.

We made about 50 gallons of red Zinfandel and 10 gallons of muscatelle . An amazing process for me to participate in and it came out great. Fed the mashed grapes to the deer. She would not show me how to make grappa. Grandma lived to be 99 and our wine still has legs...maybe 30 bottles left.

You will enjoy the process , maybe not as much as smoker building, but it is easier

Post by **Pete Mazz** » November 2nd, 2013, 7:34 am

My grandfather had a couple of barrels in his basement for his homemade wine but I never saw him do it.

Why not do it the old fashioned way and use your feet.....

SmokinFF · Post by **SmokinFF** » November 4th, 2013, 8:15 am

MTF, this bucket is just a trial. I made a few cuts with a circular saw, if that doesn't work then we'll get a new bucket and drill holes around the bottom. He said he will run then through a little crusher he has, then press em. Hope this helps.

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » November 4th, 2013, 12:50 pm

It'll press a lot quicker and easier if you bring holes all the way up the side of the bucket. You will have juice leaving the bucket along it's entire height that way instead of forming a hydro-lock while upper juice is waiting on lower juice to escape. At least that's the way my granddads cider mill worked ….

SmokinFF · Post by **SmokinFF** » November 4th, 2013, 3:52 pm

Makes sense Gizmo. I may just drill some holes in this bucket and try it out. Thanks for the tip.

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Puff · Post by **Puff** » November 7th, 2013, 11:09 am

Making wine has been a part of my heritage. This is in my shed...we used them years back to crush grapes and let them sit a few days in the barrel before pressing the juices out. The deer LOVE those blocks of pressings

Miketheforester · Post by **Miketheforester** » November 7th, 2013, 7:45 pm

Wow. Awesome vintage crushers!

Clover Ridge Smokers · Post by **Clover Ridge Smokers** » November 8th, 2013, 6:51 pm

Sweet

Rev.Mike · Post by **Rev.Mike** » November 9th, 2013, 5:41 pm

morgansdad · Post by **morgansdad** » April 27th, 2014, 8:37 pm

your press idea looks great! I especially like the ingenuity of using what looks like a trailer jack to do the pressing .my friend had a setup made all of wood and used a bottle jack between it and the beam in his garage.

I have a few apple trees and I need some cost effective ideas to crush the apples to make cider it could also crush grapes

SmokinFF · Post by **SmokinFF** » April 28th, 2014, 5:07 pm

It definitely is a trailer jack. I had $50 in the whole project. He did give it a trial run, and we did drill holes up the side as Gizmo suggested. It's worked great so far. I'd say with a stainless plate and some gussets a guy could squish some apples too.

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