Making and Using My Wine Press

Well, after lots of research on the internet I came up with my own idea of a wine press. I'm actually proud of myself for being so quick and industrious in getting it designed and built. I have to give my wife lots of credit because she helped a lot with the cutting and assembly of my wine press.
Thanks Babe!

Here is a short account of my making and using my wine press.

The aluminum frame for the wine press was something that was just laying around the house waiting to be recycled. Actually my buddy was storing the aluminum at my place so that we could bring it in to a recycler for money. I guess I'll just have to buy it from him now.

The plastic buckets that I used were recycled laundry soap pails made from HDPE 2 plastic. This plastic is rated as food grade. I didn't like the blue labeling on the buckets but in a pinch they worked out fine. You see I'm not fermenting wine here I'm just pressing grapes. The contact time of the grapes and juice with the blue label is minimal so there will be no transference of colour or taste. I'm on the lookout for different buckets though.

Both buckets were of the same size. The outer bucket had over 100 holes drilled to let the juice escape. The hole sizes varied from 3/8 to 1/2 inch. The inner bucket which pressed the must was not drilled.

As you can see in the pictures I used a car jack to provide the muscle along with wood to extend down to the inner bucket.

Everything worked fine. I truly have enjoyed making and using my wine press!