Wanted: Bladder Press & Winemaking Equip. Location: san jose CA

[ronald]

I am new to wine making and need equipment. I'm looking for a 80liter Bladder Press & lots of other Winemaking Equipment.

Looking for:
Variable capacity tanks Stainless steel - any size
Medal Stand for crusher/destemer
Cooling equipment
Cooling tanks or bands
any equipment
and most of all grapes!


Please send a pic, a description and your best price with shipping or pickup to San Jose CA.

Thanks

 

[seth8530]

You might have better luck checking the craigslist in your area. Also, your enthusiasm is wonderful but perhaps you might want to try some wine from concentrate/juice/kit before you jump in head first?

 

[JohnT]

Ronald,

I would not use a kit or concentrate. Instead, I would start off by doing small batches from fresh grapes to build your experience level.

I started by doing 4 carboys and have graduated to SSVC tanks 20 years ago. It was a long road and expensive, but I never had the true heartache of a tank of wine going south.

Here are some other tips...

1) I would build a stand for my cursher/destemmer. It is far cheaper and works better.

2) if you are in san jose, I would try to work out a deal with the many grape growers in your area. In the long run, you will find this to be much cheaper.

3) review the your local laws governing the home manufacture of wine. Most states have a limit of 100 or 200 gallons per adult in you house hold.

4) Cooling equipment can be rather expensive. I am not sure if you plan to cold stabilize or control rate of fermentation, but I would suggest an alternate method of using frozen 2 liter bottles of water instead (sealed of course) and a thermometer.

5) VCSS tanks are great and well worth the money provided that you keep them as full a possible. You would not want, say, put 100 liters of wine into a 250 liter tank for an extended periond of time.