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!

Making a Wine Press at Home

I like making wine at home because it let's me be creative. With advent of using grapes to make wine at home, I've found the need for a wine press.

The Internet is a great tool for research. I believe I've found a good plan on how to make a wine press at home. As I get the parts together and build this wine press I'll keep you posted.

My current wine in the primary fermenters is a California Zinfandel. I also have a blackberry wine aging in the cellar. My next wine might be a Pinot Noir.

The Truth about Making Wine at Home

I hope my blog hasn't given you my readers the wrong impression. The truth is that making wine at home can sometimes go wrong. Even I have made wine that wasn't so good.

The one consolation is that commercial wineries have the same problems and bad luck that we home winemakers can have. Every batch of wine from a winery isn't always the "best" or better than the last batch.

In winemaking there are so many variables that can effect the quality of the finished wine. Some of these variables include but are not limited to:

• lack of properly sanitizing equipment
• not adding ingredients properly as directed
• wrong temperature during wine fermentation and aging
• not de-gassing wine enough or at all
• not using proper equipment
• bad grapes or juice
• buying cheap or outdated wine kits

The list can go on. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't be too discouraged if you have a bad batch. It sometimes can happen. Try to figure out what might have gone wrong and fix it for next time. Use your resources to get advice and try again.

Out of the three ways of making wine at home (kit, juice and grapes) the wine kit is the easiest and pretty well sure fire way of getting decent results. Pick a quality kit and follow the directions and you'll have good wine.

The truth about winemaking at home is that like everything else in life, sometimes "crap" happens. Get over it quickly and make another batch. I still really enjoy making wine at home!

The Great Thing About Wine Kits

The great thing about making wine from wine kits is the selection you have. Those winemakers who buy grapes or grape juice to make their wine from scratch are limited to their local region.

How can a Vancouver home winemaker buy fresh wine grapes from Australia, have them shipped here and still be good for wine making? It's pretty much an impossibility.

Making wine from kits allows you to chose wines from Italy, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia and many other regions. The juice in these kits is selected, tested, packaged and shipped out in short order. To keep the juice from spoilage the wine kit makers use sterile processing equipment and some sulphite.

The fact is making wine from a wine kit gives you the opportunity to make about 30 bottles of wine from a specific region, whereas you'd only be able to buy 2 - 4 bottles in a wine store for the same price.

We wine kit makers sure have an ashamedly great selection of wine kits to chose from. Every time you make a kit you can chose a different country and style of wine. So go ahead enjoy making your wine.