EC Kraus Crusher

[smcalli1]

I'm about ready to buy the little wooden grape crusher from EC Kraus and I was wondering what the experience of the forum is with it. Good? Bad? Thanks.

 

[toddrod]

I bought it last yr and it worked great on my muscadines and blackberries. Really easy to clean.

 

[smcalli1]

I bought it last yr and it worked great on my muscadines and blackberries. Really easy to clean.

Thanks. Did you need to seal it before use?

 

[toddrod]

All I did was wash it well, use it, and wash well again.

 

[Rocky]

Smcalli, I have never used one but it appears to be just a crusher and not a crusher/destemmer meaning you will have to stip off the grapes from the stem first. Also, regrading your other post on the frozen Nebbiolo grapes, if you are buying this crusher to use for that wine, you should check with the supplier first to see if the grapes are already crushed in the bucket. I believe they probably are because I can't see a major supplier destemming without crushing. I would invest the money in a press.

 

[smcalli1]

Thanks, Rocky. I agree it's not a destemmer and if I get some lugs of grapes this fall, destemming would be a tedious process. I think it's one I could stand though. I'd also use it for frozen grape buckets like the nebbiolo. I made the frozen bucket of Sangiovese grapes and my experience was that they weren't crushed well at all. It led to poor color extraction and thin wine. I think if I'd had the crusher, I would have ended up with a better quality wine from my 27 liters of grapes. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[deboard]

I have no experience with crushers truthfully, but would this work as well as the EC kraus crusher?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XB5UHE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It's significantly cheaper anyways.

 

[JohnT]

to Answer you question on sealing it, I would highly recommend that you do so using a product called EZ-DO. This is a food safe polyurethane gel and it really gives a nice coat.

 

[smcalli1]

I have no experience with crushers truthfully, but would this work as well as the EC kraus crusher?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XB5UHE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It's significantly cheaper anyways.

I saw that and emailed the company asking if it was suitable for grapes and the company replied that it wasn't. Too bad.

 

[GreginND]

I have no experience with crushers truthfully, but would this work as well as the EC kraus crusher?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XB5UHE/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It's significantly cheaper anyways.

The Amazon prime price is pretty darn good! Does anyone know how easy it is to modify this to add a motor? And how much fruit can you put through it? I will be doing apple and other fruit wines but I don't have a crusher yet. Would it be too small to churn through a couple thousand pounds of apples?

 

[smcalli1]

to Answer you question on sealing it, I would highly recommend that you do so using a product called EZ-DO. This is a food safe polyurethane gel and it really gives a nice coat.

Thanks John.

 

[grapeman]

The Amazon crusher would not work very well for a thousand pounds of apples. I have one similar to it I used to use and even with a motor mounted on it, it is slow. The opening is only about 6x6 inches and has a wooden spool almost that large. There are stainless inset teeth in the spool sticking out about 3/8 inch. While having a motor on it and spinning fast it will work, the apples tend to bridge bad when poured into it. You need to pour so single apples feed in, and then you don't want large apples as they get stuck. It works for a bushel or two at a time, but for larger amounts I would go bigger.

They are easy to mount a motor on and will work, but don't do a great job with grapes- a lot of whole ones go through.

 

[GreginND]

Thanks. That's what I figured. The picture is deceiving. It is smaller than it looks.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

Says the base is 10x17 and the unit is quite a bit smaller, my guess is about 8x8 or smaller.

 

[jimmyjames23]

Yeesh. Crushers go for under $100 here.

And there's tons around.

grape crusher on Kijiji http://hamilton.kijiji.ca/c-ViewAd?AdId=463462641