John, since you got yours new is there any reference to the RPM of the crusher wheels? I've been curious as to what the recommended speed is.
New Crusher / Destemmer
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Fred when I looked into this before it seemed pretty standard motors for these sized C/D’s. 110volt 1HP.
But the rpm is tricky. The motors are ~600 RPM but with the gears/belt/pulley system it knocks down the rollers to 60-80 rpm if that makes sense. (Not a grease monkey)
Definitely strong enough to not be slowed down by tangled stems. Every few lugs I untangled them from both the auger and the paddle within the basket. But still worked perfect even when loaded with tangled stems— and in spite of JohnT’s million hours of use over the past 20+yrs.
I checked the manual, doesn't really say anything about the RPM's of the rollers, but @Ajmassa5983 seems to have some idea about it, so I'll just go along with his answer. I suppose I could put a piece of white tape on one of the rollers and count how many times it goes around in a measured time frame if you really want to know..............
That's great, thank you. Knowing the roller speed I can calculate the RPM of the hand crank.
I responded to AJ's post before seeing this. As long as I know the recommended speed of the crusher I can measure the other gears and do the calculation. I have to add though after a quick search I cannot find a 600 rpm 1 horse motor. If I get the energy I'll install a motor lator later. right now I'm happy with the manual.
Off but related topic, with that many grapes are you going to do any sorting or just a quick glance and dump everything in?
60-80 roller rpm is based off of some random site from a google search. I’ll try to find it.
What I do know for sure is the motor for these sized units look pretty standard. Most don’t say rpm tho. But looking up 110 volt 1HP c/d motors the ones that do list it all say 600 rpm. And is the same motor in the manual/motorized conversion kit.
With same motor and a typical setup you’ll get an ideal roller rotation -whatever that is
. If your building from scratch I guess you can adjust it by changing the pulley size.... maybe? I’ll take a look tonight. 
Definitely do some sorting. Hopefully, the grapes will be nice and I won’t have any worries about shriveled or moldy fruit, but there’s almost always dried leaves and debris in the lugs to pull out. I’d like the must to be free of all of that stuff.
Just checked. 20 rotations in 10 seconds. Much different than trying to figure “barrel volume to time till neutral” theories—I think I can successfully calculate roller RPM here. Current roller RPM ? 120- final answer!
winorookie
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Bit the bullett on shipping costs and ordered up the Grifo destemmer /crusher and the accompanying stand. Looking forward to not killing my back doing all that destemming and crushing by hand. Need to make an acrylic shield for my press. Last year was surprized by juice squirting out the small holes of my press and staining the concrete floor in my garage.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Just go slower. I've noticed when I'm trying to hurry that it gets 'squirty'. I also put a tarp down.
I just wrapped Saran wrap around mine.
Yup, been doing the same since squirt #1....
I follow @Boatboy24 Jim's approach but saran wrap is a good idea.
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Finished up work on the C/D and stand this weekend. First photo is the hinged clear plastic shield over the discharge chute. Used “sticky” hinges so it stays in whichever position you set it in. In the photo, it’s all the way down, resting on the edges of the chute with a 4” opening at the bottom for the must to flow out. It can be raised to horizontal to allow access to the chute during crushing, as well as for cleaning.
Second photo is of the heavy (motor) end of the C/D. Ordered some inserts to fit 3/4” stainless tubing and epoxied them into the ends of the tubes. The caster wheels snap in and out of the inserts, this allows me to wheel the unit around with little effort and without another person.
Last photo is the stand with the inserts and casters in place, the stand rolls around very easily. With the C/D in place on the stand, rolling around is a little less comfortable. The motor is mounted on the front of the unit, making the center of gravity high and far enough forward for concern when moving it by yourself. It’s much more stable with a helper.
Second photo is of the heavy (motor) end of the C/D. Ordered some inserts to fit 3/4” stainless tubing and epoxied them into the ends of the tubes. The caster wheels snap in and out of the inserts, this allows me to wheel the unit around with little effort and without another person.
Last photo is the stand with the inserts and casters in place, the stand rolls around very easily. With the C/D in place on the stand, rolling around is a little less comfortable. The motor is mounted on the front of the unit, making the center of gravity high and far enough forward for concern when moving it by yourself. It’s much more stable with a helper.
Looks good. Can't wait to see pics of you crushing grapes on that rug!
You beat me to it.
It was just inside so I could work on it in the A/C, 95 here today. You cats that have been here long enough know that my fermentation vessels will be sitting on it, as they always do. I’m plenty meticulous and haven’t had any issues. Crushing, however, is much more of an outside sport, but I won’t hesitate to move inside if it’s too hot outside for the fruit. Temps here in October could be 60 or 90, so there is a contingency plan.
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LOL! Just beware of the rug!!
Ha!! Welcome to the ongoing rug saga...........!!!!!
Can you tell me where you bought these casters I just picked up a used C/D and would like to do the same thing as I am also a one man band in making wine everybody loves to drink it but nobody seems to be around when I need them.
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