How to press small batches

Folks it pays to have the right equipment no matter how small the job. My presses are all way too big for this tiny job. I am pressing what was a frozen pail of Grenache Noir grapes from Spain. The aroma is awesome. My fingers are killing me from squeezing so much.

These pails are really great and about $20-$30 dollars cheaper then Peter Brem frozen grape pail. A five gallon pail will make a bit over three gallons of premium wine. This is a wine you'll want to age for several years. The brix on this was 28°. They are not available in the states yet but, Presque Isle wine cellars will soon be the first distributor.

Dan
Here is a nice small press that a friend gave to me. It really works great and it is small in size as well !!

Looking forward to you guys selling this product !!

Hey Dan,

Nice tanks there. Have one question about the tank on your left (my right). I see the spigot at the bottom, but what is that to the right of the spigot??

Looks like a triclover fitting to me.

I don't know what a triclover fitting is, but it certainly looks like a KF fitting to me. This fitting, which is standardized by the ISO in a variety of sizes, also goes by the name QF (Quick Flange). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_flange#KF.2FQF

It is a triclover clamp holding a cap in place. It is an opening for another valve in conjunction with the existing one. It makes life a lot easier if you can aford to hve two valves on a tank.

Johnt with two valves you can empty one wine out of the tank while you put the next one in. LOL

For the rest of the members the idea of having two valves is so you can hook your pump up to both of them and circulate your tank while adding chemicals or blending in another wine. When I add a yeast culture or bentonite, I also hook up a venturi valve to the pump so I can slowly introduce it as I circulate the tank.

This location shown is actually the basement where our barrel rooms are. We do have about 20 tanks (all under 500 gallons) down there but the main winery is in another building.

With a basket press, all you have to do is cut more oak blocks in order to be able to press smaller batches.

Turock I agree but my choice with a 3 ton press or a large bladder press. I am not set up there for anything so small. This is a trail for a product from Spain we might carry in the future.

I figured you were using a bladder press. The trouble with you commercial guys is--you don't do anything small--LOL!!

Great DIY bucket in bucket press described here http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?/topic/52411-bucket-in-bucket-press-technique/

Check out Joe's PDF about half way through the thread. $15 and 15 minutes with a hand drill.


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