DIY Wine press

I have been looking at a lot of all the threads on presses and started making one of my own. So I wanted to say thank you to you all for the great ideas. Here is what I ve got so far. Next year will be my third leafing and my first crop. Excited to get started and make some (finger crossed) drinkable wine.

Jason, looks like a great start. Keep posting to this thread with pictures as you go along and tell us what you're doing. When it's all done and said,you'll have a nice story line to look back on and even something to print out and save to give to your kids when you pass the press on down.

I too just started building my own wine press. A small all oak press to do 100-300 lbs of grapes a year. And to make the winery look "OFFICAL " ! I'll be following this thread. Roy

Here is the bucket slats

Looks good! How do you plan on pressing?

I plan on using the vise/ACME screw in the picture connected to the platform by a 4x4 cross post. I will attach the cross post with either bolts or screws and dress it up with some brackets I will make out of the left over stainless steel strapping. So far I have it all in white oak but the frame will be not be of oak I can't afford that. The whole thing will get 3 coats of food grade shellac

Looks nice!

Make sure that shellac is food grade.

So here is the latest progress on my DIY press. I have all the white oak parts done but the press plate. The local wood shop had a run on bigger pieces of white oak and I haven't had a chance to go back and pick up some more.

I am now working on the press frame. It will be made out of KD doug fir 2x4's and KD cedar 4x4's. All the wood was plained down to get a tighter fit in the joints and I will be using, glue and bolts in the joints for strength but with my limited wood working skills there was some gaposis. I now need to do some filling of joints and sanding off the hard corners so they won't split during use.

Then I will be on to 3 coarts of shellac and making some straps out of my left over stainless steel pieces. They will be both functional and decorative. (I hope) I still need to figure out my support legs but with any luck that will come later.

BlueStimulator said:

but with my limited wood working skills there was some gaposis.

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Limited skills, my a$*&@! Looks great! Very nice job, IMHO.

Definitely a work of art! Gonna be hard to get it dirty!

Nicely engineered and executed! Well done sir.

Jason, nice work. Are they butt joints holding the top cross member between the uprights. If so, you may need to reinforce them with some long lag screws as there will be a strong upward force on the cross member when you press. I have seen designs where people run a long threaded rod from the base to the top of the cross member held with washers and screws to make up for this force.

You all are kind but it's a good thing this isn't High Definition. Some of the joints will need major reinforcement. I still have no idea on the base. I would like it to look nice and be functional. So if you have any cool ideas I'm all ears.

Oh and cutting angles is not my specialty but I am getting a little (emphasis on A LITTLE) better.

Rocky said:

Jason, nice work. Are they butt joints holding the top cross member between the uprights. If so, you may need to reinforce them with some long lag screws as there will be a strong upward force on the cross member when you press. I have seen designs where people run a long threaded rod from the base to the top of the cross member held with washers and screws to make up for this force.

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I am going to use some stainless strapping to go over the top of the joints. Also going to use lag screws and or bolts plus the glued joints to deal with the upward force. I think it will be like using suspenders and a belt but I do not want it to come apart. I won't press to hard on grapes but want to use it also for apples.