Getting ready before I press

[geek]

My first batch ever with fresh grapes, Merlot and Cab Sav.

SG ~1.030 so I think I will be pressing tomorrow night or Wednesday.
SG was 1.100 before I pitched yeast Friday.

With juice buckets or kits sometimes we transfer to secondary but leave gross lees behind when we rack.

With grapes being push down daily any sediment is being disturbed, so when I take all grapes out for press, do I just put the obtained pressed juice back into the same container/brute not caring about any sediment, or do I rack the juice out of the brute and put into another clean container for secondary leaving sediment behind, if any?

With grapes it seems like they could be on top as a cap and even at the bottom of the brute.

I want to make sure I do this right....

..

 

[LoveTheWine]

I do this:

~Press the day the wine gets down to 1.00 SG
~Scoop grapes/juice out of fermenter into press using a kitchen pan or small
bucket.
~After getting most of everything into the press, I pick up fermenter and
carefully pour what's left into the press leaving only the hard packed sediment
and seeds in the fermenter.
~Press into a bucket first and then transfer to glass carboys filling only to the
neck of each one. Or you can put back into cleaned primary for a day or two.
~24-48 hrs later there will be a lot of gross lees in the carboys. Rack into clean
carboys at this time, topping up. Sometimes there is still too much
activity and you need to top up to the airlock a few days later when this dies
down (I add MLB at this time)

 

[Calamity Cellars]

There is no right way. I know of a commercial winery (which I am also ) that presses directly into barrel and the wine stays there until it is bottled unless they detect a problem, no racking. I press into a tank and let it sit for a day or two them rack into barrels. I know other wineries that press into tanks rack, wait for ml to get done then rack again into tanks. My point is there is no right or wrong way. It's all a matter of what you want from the wine.

 

[ibglowin]

This is my forth crush. I do pretty much like what Aaron does. I use a big 7-8G food grade bucket, set it under the press and then use a 1G food grade bucket to scoop out ~1G at a time and pour into the press. NO strainer bag of any sort as it will only plug up and make a complete mess. I have a #30 press and 3 Lugs makes about 7-8 gallons of wine. It all fits neatly into the press. If you want you can separate free run from press run. From the bucket it gets immediately racked to the carboy without worrying about sediment much, you will rack it all off in a few days. You are just starting the clearing process. Plenty of time down the road to clear. Biggest thing is that if you start to smell off odors especially H2S to get it off the gross lees sooner rather than later. If you have taken good care of your yeast in the past week you should have a nice clean smelling wine.

 

[geek]

My press....the mop bucket with wringer....only option available for me right now...heading to Walmart tonight to get me 1.

I plan MLF on it also. I think Greg had mentioned to innoculate it a day before pressing but I didn't really get the point.

 

[LoveTheWine]

My press....the mop bucket with wringer....only option available for me right now...heading to Walmart tonight to get me 1.

I plan MLF on it also. I think Greg had mentioned to innoculate it a day before pressing but I didn't really get the point.

MLF addition depends on the stain used to a certain degree.
Each manufacturer has instructions for their own strain. If your alc. content
and PH are within the correct range, I don't think it really matters when you add it, as long as you do it before fermentation is completely done or shortly thereafter.

 

[GreginND]

Yes, if possible, don't wait until it's completely dry. As Aaron eluded too, the higher alcohol can be a problem for some strains. But the main reason for adding it before it is completely fermented is that the small amount of sugar left will help get the bacteria off to a good start and working faster. Adding later is ok. It may just take longer to get going.

 

[geek]

Done pressing with mop bucket, not very efficient though; only one pass as got tired after 2 hours with only 3 lugs. Sediment got disturbed and couldn't help it...got 7 gallons altogether and the 1gal jug is already showing lots of sediment on bottom.

SG~1.000

Next wine project would be a wine kit for ease and piece of mind.... :-(

....

 

[LoveTheWine]

Done pressing with mop bucket, not very efficient though; only one pass as got tired after 2 hours with only 3 lugs. Sediment got disturbed and couldn't help it...got 7 gallons altogether and the 1gal jug is already showing lots of sediment on bottom.

SG~1.000

Next wine project would be a wine kit for ease and piece of mind.... :-(

....

I wouldn't worry about the sediment.
This normal to have lots of it right now (gross lees)
Just make sure you rack in 48 hrs and get every last bit of wine you can at that time.

 

[geek]

Well, I wanted to start MLF so I had no option and pitched it last night.
Not that I didn't have an option but is just that I wanted to get it started before the wine went completely dry; SG was dropping ~.002 within hours and maybe it would have been close to dry by now.....yeah maybe I could've waited just a few hours to let the sediment settle but nothing can be done now since adding mlb.

 

[Boatboy24]

Glad you got the pressing behind you. Hopefully this becomes your best wine yet.

 

[geek]

I hope so Jim, not having proper equipment makes the process not pleasant. I know I probably lost maybe at least half a gallon by not pressing enough (I could still squeeze them by hand in the bucket before I discarded them)...but didn't want to go another round.
The other thing is the LOTS of sediment; I know I could have managed this better but felt was in a bit of a rush to get the MLF started with the SG ~1.000.

Oh well, let's see how this turns out....