Press for fruit wine

[Joedaddy]

I bought a small fruit press on Amazon for about $100 last spring. They were really cheap for a few weeks and I still not sure why I got such a steal.

The press will be a great help next fall when I press the grapes and I don't have to borrow one from the wine club.

But I also planned on using the press for all my fruit wines. Now I realize that I don't really need it for most fruits. After a day sitting in sugar water most fruits don't need any pressing. I did press some cherries with it but other than that, I don't see that it is going to be very helpful to my fruit making activities. Does anyone use a press for making fruit wine? What fruits?

 

[xanxer82]

Just used my press for the mulberry wine. My advice is to get a few extra blocks for smaller batches.

 

[Wade E]

Well if you make big batches and gather a lot at once and just dont have the room to freeze it it would help grately to just throw it all in there and press it to break open the fruit thatjust isnt easy to do like cherries and currants, basically any fruit thats not rock hard like and apple and to small that splitting it would be a freaking nughtmare. I use a big coarse fermenting bag in the press bucket and jjust press it and then throw the whole ba in the fermenter and then just lift it out when done and wash it out.

 

[djrockinsteve]

I have my father's fruit press he built years ago. I use it for apples and pears. (Other fruits may be too messy.) It will chop them up in bits first then you press the mesh bag for the juice. I'll post a photo in a month or so when I pull it out for apple season. It's awkward and slightly heavy, but I love it.

 

[Wade E]

Sounds like what you have is the apple crusher built into the press, those are great for apples and hard fruit.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Sounds like what you have is the apple crusher built into the press, those are great for apples and hard fruit.

Yep, I quarter them somewhat and drop them into a "chipper" that I crank manually. (I use to love to turn the handle while my dad would quarter and drop them in). As they get chopped up they fall into the mesh bag inside a circular wood frame.

When the bags full, flip over the top of the netting/bag, place a lid on top and crank down a wheel that pushes upon the mesh bag and out rolls the juice into a tray that drips into a bucket.

I believe I get over a gallon per bag of apples. Can't recall if that's a half bushel or a quarter bushel.