Homemade wine press I made

[wood1954]

I spent The last couple days making this press, hope it works. The basket is black locust.

 

[Rice_Guy]

Very pretty craftsmanship
I would consider taking a screw style bar clamp from the Floor to the lever arm for the purpose of holding a constant pressure. Pulling juice out is in part a time function. The crank on a screw will do incremental force.. and hold there so you can grab a snack.

From the look of it, it will work. I have done a home built press too, ,,,

This press is basically threaded rod and a bar clamp. The basket is PVC pipe, circles and a nylon straining bag. Have wanted to try a pneumatic cylinder on it but haven’t gotten around to this.
View attachment 58327

The write up of this was in wine maker August 2017.
Mom used to juice with a flour sack hanging from a cabinet, , , , too much work. I wouldn’t go through harvest without a press so I can get other things done. Yes I have done up to a 25 liter carboy, grape, apple, mulberry, rhurbarb, etc.

 

[Ajmassa]

This is the kind of shit that makes home winemakers the absolute best!

well done @wood1954. Love that hinged lever arm idea. Looks like it was fun designing and making.
(you too @Rice_Guy. Same tool. Different approach,material & style)

 

[wood1954]

Very pretty craftsmanship
I would consider taking a screw style bar clamp from the Floor to the lever arm for the purpose of holding a constant pressure. Pulling juice out is in part a time function. The crank on a screw will do incremental force.. and hold there so you can grab a snack.

From the look of it, it will work. I have done a home built press too, ,,,

I hadn’t thought about how much time I would need on each press. I could use a Bessey clamp from the base to the lever.

 

[Johnd]

That really looks nice!! Very well thought out and should be a breeze to load, operate and clean, nice job! Looks like you can get pretty good press force on the must with the length of the lever/handle, and as others have said, holding the pressure on mechanically would probably be beneficial.
One question, the back end of your handle attaches to a 2x4 sized vertical member, which will be in uplift force, how is that member attached to the unit? It’s hard to tell if it penetrates the table top and is fastened below to the frame, or just has L brackets holding it in place. If it’s the latter, that connection may be suspect.
Very nice workmanship, really like the looks of it!

 

[DPCellars]

I spent The last couple days making this press, hope it works. The basket is black locust.View attachment 65610View attachment 65609

Very impressive. I'm always jealous when I see someone craft something like this. Would love the specs to see if I could create something like this for next season. Well done!

 

[topkeg]

Wow, lots of hours and patience in that press! I made my own to start with and what is usually underestimated is the amount of force it take to efficiently press grapes. Especially white. Lots of force in your lever arm design, but you still might need more! This year a friend gave me an Italian made #40. Nice to be able to press 200 pounds in a pass!

 

[sour_grapes]

One question, the back end of your handle attaches to a 2x4 sized vertical member, which will be in uplift force, how is that member attached to the unit? It’s hard to tell if it penetrates the table top and is fastened below to the frame, or just has L brackets holding it in place. If it’s the latter, that connection may be suspect.

I don't disagree with your concerns. Looks to me like he has some pocket-hole screws in addition to the brackets, which may do the trick.

 

[David Violante]

Very nice job! Great craftsmanship too... well done!

 

[mainshipfred]

Some of the design concerns are legit but very very nice craftsmanship.

 

[Jal5]

I like both designs! Good work guys. I may try to duplicate the bar clamp one for pressing pears later in the fall.

 

[Johnd]

I don't disagree with your concerns. Looks to me like he has some pocket-hole screws in addition to the brackets, which may do the trick.

Couldn’t decide if that was a screw hole or a knot in the wood. Either way, if that joint isn’t cross bolted or cross screwed to a horizontal framing member below the top top, I doubt it’ll last long.

 

[David Violante]

Here’s one I made last year out of scrap that was laying around. Well, organized scrap... LOL. The most expensive parts were the new buckets. Less than $10 total. I have to add more holes to the outer bucket and go much higher up, spacing them further apart for continued strength. There are zip tie straps to the inner bucket to help pull it apart from the outer one. Maybe next year I’ll splurge for metal... it looks quite medieval but it works! Oh I used an Aluminum baking tray underneath to catch the juice.

 

[sour_grapes]

I use an aluminum baking tray, too! (I baked mine at high heat to oxidize it to minimize Al leaching into the acidic must. Not sure if that was necessary or not.)

 

[wood1954]

Actually there won’t be a lot of uplift on the back post, the spacing from the post to the basket isn’t as effective as I had hoped. I think four brackets ,pocket hole screws and glue should hold it. Maybe I should put a couple lag bolts in thru the bottom.

 

[David Violante]

I use an aluminum baking tray, too! (I baked mine at high heat to oxidize it to minimize Al leaching into the acidic must. Not sure if that was necessary or not.)

Ahhh great idea. I’ll have to do that. I had an old boy scouts canteen that they wouldn’t let me make ‘bug juice’ in for the same reason. Huh... grape juice in scouts, wine later on... seeing a trend here...

 

[sour_grapes]

Actually there won’t be a lot of uplift on the back post, the spacing from the post to the basket isn’t as effective as I had hoped. I think four brackets ,pocket hole screws and glue should hold it. Maybe I should put a couple lag bolts in thru the bottom.

If it were mine, I would put a piece of wood (maybe only a 1x) along the the back edge of the vertical post, and screw it to boh the vertical post and the horizontal pieces that form the "rim" of the table.

 

[Steve Wargo]

Your wine press looks great. My area is full of black locust trees. I cut a very large black locust tree down and placed an ad in the local craigslist listing free black locust wood. It was gone in about a week.

 

[Mike - Next Level Oak]

That is awesome! I also like all the wine in the background

 

[wood1954]

Your wine press looks great. My area is full of black locust trees. I cut a very large black locust tree down and placed an ad in the local craigslist listing free black locust wood. It was gone in about a week.

My neighbors have lots of locust, I hope to get a dozen post size for my vineyard, I’ve made furniture out of it as well it takes stain really well.