The Press

It's looking like I found my press.

When it comes to home winemaking, there are really 4 kinds of presses.

First: your hands and a mesh bag. I've actually done this, and it's messy, but good for small (1-2 gallon) batches.

Second: Tabletop presses. These are small presses, usually about 1-2 gallons in size, and great for making jellies, and small batches of wine. They're sometimes called screw-presses because you're just turning a handle to lower the block the presses the fruit.

Third: Ratchet Presses. These are kinda like a reverse car jack, a handle on top, attached to a ratchet that pushes down wooden plates, forcing the juice from the fruit. The ratchet mechanism means you can generate a lot more pressure on the grapes.

Fourth: Bladder Presses. These are hydraulic presses that have a bladder inside that fills with water, applying pressure to the grapes, and out comes the juice. These are supposed to be the most gentle on the grapes, while still getting a lot of liquid.

I'm taking option 3. 1 and 2 aren't reasonable, and bladder presses start around $900. So that means I have to determine the size of the ratchet press I want. They come in a variety of sizes. If you look at the pictures on this site, the press in them is a #45. I was looking at a #25 or #30, but am finding that the price difference is usually only 50-100 dollars.

I plan on buying one press to last me the rest of my home winemaking life. The #45 will hold enough grapes to press out one demijohn, but I only make on demi per year, and like to experiment. I don't see me needing something that big. Plus, Tony has the #45, and there's no way I'll miss 'Pressing Day' at his house.

So I settled on the 40. It's a bit more than I need right now, but show me a winemaker who ever got 'smaller' over the years. Holy crap do the prices vary wildly! I got prices from $400 up to $800 for the press, and the more reasonable the price, the more unreasonable the shipping! I lucked out, and it looks like I'll be able to get it locally for a great price.

If I get it from this place, I'll be posting a link to their site and asking you to do business with them.

So, one item is about to be checked off my list for the fall.

Two weeks. I have a busy first two weeks of August, but once the 15th arrives, I really have to get things in gear.

Just sipping some of 2007's Zin. Lot of acid, should have done a malolactic fermentation. Won't make THAT mistake again.

Till then...

Sean

Two months to go

Hello everyone,

It's July 27th, that means within about two months, I'll be knee deep in winemaking.

This is going to be a big year for me. I'm buying my own press and am trying several small batches of wine from grapes, instead of just one big batch and several gallons of juice.

That's not to say the traditional Sunday afternoon pressing at Tony's won't happen...it will. I'll just be doing some pressing at home as well.

So, I have 2 months to accomplish the following:

Find a press. Easier said that done. Plenty are available online at good prices, but I want to see the press before I buy it, and I can't imagine what some of the shipping would be.

Find a supplier. We've been using one place locally, and I have no complaints, it's simply that I want to see who has what grapes, so I can pick and choose.

Decide what I want to make. I'm definitely doing Zin, Sangiovese and Chardonnay. I'd love to try a Syrah/Shiraz, a Riesling or Gewurtz, and maybe a Pinot Noir. I have a few books with tips for making wine from several types of grapes, so I'm open to more varieties. IN the end, I'd like to have one demijohn of Zin, and 5-6 carboys of something else.

Decide HOW I'm going to make them. Holy Crap! If you pick up 3 books or magazines with 'recipes', you'll have 3 different ways to make any given wine, and even within those recipes there will be subtle variations.

Bottle what I can of last years vintage. The Ruby Cab and Zin are ready. I'm hoping the Chardonnay is as well.

Finally, I have to brush up on my chemistry. When making wine from juice, the acid and sugar levels have already been set, taking a lot of the work out of the process for you. No such luxury this year.

I'll be posting what I find in a press, what recipes and techniques I use, and how last years vintage turns out. Bear with me.

Happy wine drinking!

Sean

Lively

Google created a new Avatar Chat application called Lively. Read about it here.

Gowden's Wines has a room...calling it G's Wines for now.

Stop by...chat, see who's visiting.

See you there!