Other Grape packs

[Billy8998]

Has anyone got any DIY tricks to weigh down a grape pack keeping it submerged. I'm thinking a small weight with a short piece of string tied to the mesh bag to keep the pack floating in the centre of the fermenter.
Not sure what would be small enough and heavy enough and safe to add to wine. Just sick of pocking at it everyday.

Billy

 

[joeswine]

Punching down

PUNCH IT DOWN TWICE A DAY ,THAT WILL ALLOW IT TO DO ITS JOB

 

[TonyP]

Billy, I've considered weighing down grape packs but came to the conclusion pushing them down benefits the process by allowing wine to flow through the grape pack. I don't know for certain, but assume much less wine will penetrate the grape pack if it just sits at the bottom.

Pushing the packs down also introduces oxygen to the process, which is beneficial.

Tony P.

 

[Billy8998]

Looks like that's that then, just feel a tad uneasy opening a fermenter so often. Anywho ill take that as the consensus

 

[Sheepdog]

For giggles, when making the WE Brunello with skins, I placed sanitized glass marbles in the bag to weight it down. Part of the bag still floated to the top. Nonetheless, I punched it down daily. When fermenting was complete, I wore latex gloves (sanitized), and squeezed the mesh bag to get all the juice out. Can't wait to try it. It was my first kit with skins.
Cheers!

 

[JordanPond]

I've started fermenting dry in the primary. The first couple of days I leave the top off the primary and punch down the grape pack a couple times per day. Once the fermentation slows I use a racking cane (custom cut to fit the depth of the primary) to submerge the grape pack and then snap the lid down tight until fermentation is complete.