What R you doing today?

[GreginND]

Picked about 100 pounds of apples yesterday. Going to process and press them tonight.

 

[plowboy]

Sounds like fun. All my fruit "falls" off the back of a truck. I've just got to find a friend who grows peaches and ill be set.

 

[cmason1957]

Heading out to pick up 30 pounds of elderberries. I ran into someone who farms them about an hour from where I live. I can't wait to try making some wine from them. They are already frozen ready to be heated up and used.

 

[plowboy]

Well shocker, I didn't win. Kinda saw that coming though. The judge said I was on the right track, just need to start with more fruit and freeze it before I mash it up. A strawberry wine took second and the taste was quite differnt from mine. Live and learn I guess.

The good news is the in laws love it. I have found it in my best interest to keep them happy. It goes back to happy wife, happy life lol

 

[GreginND]

Correction - picked 160 pounds of apples yesterday! And I had to process them today. I chopped them up using an old antique ice grinder. Unfortunately the apples were still chunky. I pressed it with my #25 italian basket press. Took a while and the press was a real pain to use. My first time using it. I didn't realize it didn't come with a ratchet handle. All I could find that would fit in the hole was a short little tire iron that wouldn't even go in all the way so I could tighten it. After pressing all those apples, I have a very sore arm.

I did get 5 gallons of pressed juice from that with pH 3.21 and SG 1.050. Since the pressed apples were still very chunky I ran them all through my juicer. Took a couple of hours and nearly burned up the juicer, but I got another 7 or more gallons of juice from it! It has more fine pulp so I'll ferment these separately and see how they come out. I'll probably blend them together later. It had the same numbers and the pressed juice, not surprising.

 

[GreginND]

Have some ES 5-4-71 second wine 4 days in fermenting on the skins that I'm going to press out today. Yay, more wrangling with my tiny little basket press. Looking for a proper ratchet handle now. What do others use?

 

[plowboy]

Is it just a nut on top? I don't have a press but I know what the basics construction is like. If its just a nut you could get away with a ratchet/socket, a wrench, adjustable wrench, vice grip or even a pipe wrench. I wouldn't suggest the last two because they tend to chew thing up. The cats meow would be an air compressor, impact gun and a socket. It would run the press down in a matter of seconds lol

 

[jpcedotal]

Buying sugar for batch #2.

The first batch is 1 1/2 weeks into sitting in carboy with airlock. I tasted it during the transfer and I think I now know what "dry" wine is. Not very sweet and the alcohol taste is a bit overwhelming....but I am just beginning to even drink wine so maybe that is what it is supposed to taste like...it aint no wine cooler, that's for sure.

 

[GreginND]

No nut. It's a double ratchet Italian press. You need a metal rod that goes into a small hole in the press. The hole is smaller than pipe size. I found a strong aluminum rod - we'll see if that works.

 

[plowboy]

Gotch, looks like a chunk of rebar would work well.

 

[Hokapsig]

Someone could make a mint if they made replacement handles for those wratchet presses. All the ones that I see for sale are missing the handle.

Time to go and bottle 6 gallons of Cab Sauv. It's been sitting for a year and I need the carboy space....

 

[GreginND]

Actually I found a nice solid hard aluminum rod at work in my lab. It worked perfect for the press. AND I have to say, fermented grapes press out so much better than apples. The press was so much easier to work. Next time I try apples I am really going to pulverize them or find a proper press for them.

 

[Julie]

Greg, I have the same press you have, I put the apples in paint strainer bags then press

 

[GreginND]

Yea, my problem is my chopper left them too chunky and coarse. They just wouldn't press out as much juice as they should have.

 

[Hokapsig]

Scarey Julie, I was thinking the same thing....

Bottled 6 gallons of last years Chilean Cab Sauv, cleaned the carboy and refilled it with 6 gallons of Diamond. I was going to put the pear into the carboy, but it's only fermented down to 1.030 and has a bit to go. I also started to toy with the Luva Bella Chardonnay and bench tested blending one part of sweet peach wine to 6 parts of chardonnay and back sweetening to 1.020. The wife liked that it didn't have the alcohol burn and had a nice nose....

 

[Runningwolf]

Been traveling all night. Have to be at a vineyard at 730 am in the morning to pick up 3 tons of Touriga national grapes for making port. About a 7.5 hour drive. After getting them I will get them back to the winery asap to crush. In a flea bag hotel right now in Lancaster PA. Vineyard is south off Philly.

 

[ffemt128]

Been traveling all night. Have to be at a vineyard at 730 am in the morning to pick up 3 tons of Touriga national grapes for making port. About a 7.5 hour drive. After getting them I will get them back to the winery asap to crush. In a flea bag hotel right now in Lancaster PA. Vineyard is south off Philly.

Drive Safely Dan.

 

[Enologo]

Was actually last Sunday but I checked the SG on the Wedding Wine and it was down to about .995 so we (my son and future daughter in law) racked into three carboys, a pound of raisins and two table spoons of tannin in each ala joswine. Yesterday picked up a bucket of Syrah so today added some bentonite and pitched the yeast and off she went.

 

[Runningwolf]

Thanks Doug, it was actually a beautiful drive. Went right through the middle of Lancaster which is the second biggest Amish settlement in the U.S. Nice time of year to be traveling around. I dropped the grapes off tonight at the winery and they were ready to crush as soon as I got there.

 

[Hokapsig]

Selling some cases of my 375's tomorrow to make money to buy more regular cases. Went to a campaign meeting tonight for my party and ended up hob-knobbing with my state senator, state rep and local rep. All wanted to assist making in Bushy Run Winery a reality....