Press for grapes by hand. Presses for grapes: selection rules and self-production. Homemade metal appliances: stainless steel, cast iron

Manufacturing instructions

Their length should be 60-70cm. The width of the device will depend on the size of the rollers. The optimal width is 20 cm. The length of the rollers and the distance between the bars should be the same. For the press, it is recommended to use corrugated rolls with a depth of 3 cm. The product should be directed to the axes of the rolls in a helical manner.

Application rules

Grape press

For people growing grapes on their plots, the issue of processing the resulting crop is always relevant. It is usually used to make juice, vinegar or homemade wine. One of the most effective modern devices for these purposes is a grape press.

The principle of operation of the press for crushing grapes

This unit usually consists of:

gears;
rollers (2pcs) with a corrugated surface, made of stainless steel or wood, about 25 cm long and 10 cm in diameter;
pens;
2 containers: for crushed berries and juice.

The corrugated rollers are connected to the gears, which, when the handle is turned, are set in the opposite direction to each other. The distance between the gears is adjusted according to the size of the processed fruits, but should be within 3 - 8 mm. As a result of this movement, the berries are compressed, and the squeezed juice is poured into the prepared container.

At the moment, there are a lot of varieties of juice presses.

Types of presses for pressing grapes

Depending on the effort applied, the grape presses are manual (mechanical) and electric (automated).

The operation of manual press machines can be based on the operation of various mechanisms:

jack - in them the usual squeezing of berries placed in a loading container or a special burlap takes place;
screw (screw press for grapes) - the principle of operation is based on the performance of a double action: the movement of berries and pressure on them.

In turn, automated models of grape presses differ in the drive used to create pressure: hydraulic (water) and pneumatic (compressed air).

Also, presses can be designed to work with only one type of berries or fruits (for grapes, for greens) or be universal - capable of squeezing juice from any product.

Depending on what the main basket is made of, grape presses are: wooden (made of hard beech or oak), cast iron and stainless.

By size and power, grape presses are divided into household (used at home) and production models.

For the home, small simple manual or automated models with medium power are usually chosen.

do-it-yourself grape press video

If you need to get a small amount of juice, then at home, like a grape press, you can use a mechanical auger juicer or a pusher to crush the berries and squeeze them in cheesecloth. It should be borne in mind that when using a hydraulic press, due to the automation of the process, a larger amount of juice is obtained than when working on a manual press.

The grape press has many advantages:

When buying a press for home processing of grapes, you should choose models without metal parts, since the juice, after interacting with iron, oxidizes, darkens and becomes unsuitable for drinking or making homemade wine.

Manufacturing instructions

For the press, you should take 2 pipe racks with a diameter of about 22 mm. Next, weld a U-shaped profile to the pipes. The profile height should be chosen so that the screw nut fits freely inside. At the base, weld a clamp to each pipe. Thanks to these clamps, the press can be attached to the windowsill. For the construction of the frame, it is necessary to take wooden blocks with a section of 4 * 10 cm.

Video: DIY juice press

Their length should be 60-70cm.

Do-it-yourself press for grapes and berries

The width of the device will depend on the size of the rollers. The optimal width is 20 cm. The length of the rollers and the distance between the bars should be the same. For the press, it is recommended to use corrugated rolls with a depth of 3 cm. The product should be directed to the axes of the rolls in a helical manner.

In this case, for every 10 cm of the roll, it is necessary to make a shift of 2 cm. Further, this mechanism is fixed to the frame with the help of bearings. The rotation of the roll will be carried out at different speeds, so the gears must be used with different diameters.

A bucket is needed to load berries. It is desirable that it be pyramidal in shape. Install the bucket on the cross rails of the frame. If possible, the distance between the wooden bucket and the roller should be a minimum of no more than 1 cm.

At the base of the press, it is necessary to install a vessel where the juice will accumulate. For normal compression of the fruit between the rolls, the gaps should be made manageable. The gaps between the crushing rolls allow you to leave

Application rules

After manufacturing, the press can be placed and fixed to any support. Before work, the grape crusher must be installed on a flat surface and well fixed.

A manual crusher must be installed on a container for collecting pulp. To do this, you can use barrels or tanks made of plastic or stainless steel. To obtain juice, berries are loaded into the loading bucket. From there they spill out onto the windrows. A strong napkin must be placed at the bottom of the basket, from which the cake is then removed.

During rotation, the berries are crushed, and then turn into a mass like mashed potatoes, from which the juice comes out. Before loading the berries into the receiving bucket, they are removed from the bunch and washed well. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the berries, thanks to which the juice has a pleasant aroma.

After processing the crop, the device should be washed and dried well to avoid rotting. A homemade press greatly simplifies the work of processing berries, especially when the harvest is about 200 kg.

Video about the principle of operation of the press for grapes:


True, the press and the cylinder turned out to be fairly smeared with some kind of technical lubricant - either grease, or something else. And, of course, before pressing the juice, it was necessary to wash it thoroughly.




Lowering the piston to the very end, when the press handle touches the body, you understand that this is not the very bottom. That is, there remains a “pancake” of grapes 4.5 cm high. And even whole berries come across in these 4.5 cm. Do-it-yourself screw press for grapes And there is a lot of juice. We tried to disassemble this “pancake” with our hands and squeeze it out again. But even after the second spin, they simply squeezed out another half-liter of juice with their hands, wrapping the remains in gauze.

home comfort

How to make a grape press with your own hands?

To date, there are several ways to make and grow grapes, both at home and in industrial conditions. However, what remains unchanged is the technology of squeezing fresh juice from berries. In it, regardless of the place and type of production, a special press for grapes is used. Of course, in industry, its dimensions and performance are much larger than home-made options, but it is simply not advisable to purchase such a device for home purposes, because for 10 or even 50 liters of wine, hand-made devices are enough. But absolutely everyone can make a grape press with their own hands, while spending a minimum of money, time and effort on work.

Making a roller crusher

As you know, this device is able to extract all useful substances, vitamins and mineral salts from fruits. Therefore, for high-quality grinding of berries, it is necessary to install a roller crusher. You can make it with the help of improvised tools. All you need to make is a wooden frame, a loading bucket and 2 swaths mounted in bearings on the frame. And, of course, do not forget to make a handle for rotation. Basically, the main material here is wood, so we will not use any welding machines and other complex devices.

More about materials

In order to make a frame, you need to prepare several wooden bars approximately 60-70 centimeters long with a section of 10x4 cm. In this case, the width of the finished device will be envy of the size of the rollers. The optimal size averages approximately 15-20 centimeters. In this case, the distance between the transverse bars should be equal to the sum of the lengths of the rolls. When calculating this distance, add another 10 cm to the resulting value. So you get the most optimal and practical design in size.

We make a grape press with our own hands: installing rolls

As for these tools, they need to be made corrugated. The depth of each reef should be about 2-3 centimeters. Finished products must be directed to the axes of the rolls in a helical manner, making a slight shift within 2 centimeters for every 10 cm of the roll. The resulting mechanism should be fixed on the main frame, that is, on a home grape press, and ensure movement with the help of bearings. Remember that the rolls will rotate on the axis at different speeds, so gears must be used with different diameters. Make the gear ratio 1:2. If the size of the gears is the same, you will have to do this work with the rolls, reducing their dimensions for this gear ratio. Only then will your homemade grape press be able to provide different rotation speeds for the berries.

Next, you need to fix a wooden pyramid-shaped bucket and a handle over the rolls. The latter must be attached to one of the sides of the mechanism. When making a grape press with your own hands, do not forget to install a vessel in its lower part to receive the squeezed raw materials. Make the gap between the rolls manageable to ensure normal compression of the fruits, depending on their size. Everything, at this stage, a do-it-yourself grape press has been successfully made!

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We bought it in Ukraine, according to the ad. It is called in the common people a grape crusher. For ourselves, we defined it as a press for obtaining juice from grapes, or simply a press for grapes. The announcement of the sale of the press was given by a man who, in Soviet times, made himself at the factory, like many in those days.

The design is simple: a hand press, a stainless steel cylinder with holes and a tray with a groove through which the juice flows.
True, the press and the cylinder turned out to be fairly smeared with some kind of technical lubricant - either grease, or something else. Presses for grapes: selection rules and self-production And, of course, before pressing the juice, it was necessary to wash it thoroughly. We asked the seller what the press is smeared with and what is the best way to wash it off, since we want to use it to get food. The seller replied that he probably did not know what kind of lubricant was used. He advised me to take technical gasoline "Galosha" for degreasing, detergent for dishes such as "Fairy" and alcohol for washing. They didn’t take risks with gasoline, they were afraid that it would be difficult to wash it later, so they washed it right away with Fairy, and then with technical alcohol. The most difficult thing was to wash the threads on the press, which can only be done with a fine brush.
Washed, dried. Carefully fixed on the table. And they started squeezing juice. And since we did not have instructions for using it, and, unfortunately, the Internet was not “at hand”, we mastered the nuances in practice.
The first misfortune - the piston came off the press, it was long and hard to strengthen it, because the hole in the piston for attaching to the press was not centered. And how he was planted on the press at all is not clear.
The second bad luck is to fix it so that the press does not move during operation and does not fall. By the way, it weighs more than 10 kg. The bolt cutouts on the base are very small. Well, those issues have been resolved. We drilled a hole in the center of the piston, fixed it on the press. They attached the press to the table, placing washers under the screws. True, holes had to be made in the table, but they did not come up with another option.
And they began to squeeze the juice from the grapes. Effort, as it turned out, needs to be made unfeminine. At the same time, juice splashes through the holes in the press cylinder when grapes are crushed, and even grape seeds are shot, falling into a saucepan with juice. As we found out later, to prevent this from happening, you need to put the grapes in a canvas bag, and then squeeze the juice out of it.
Lowering the piston to the very end, when the press handle touches the body, you understand that this is not the very bottom. That is, there remains a “pancake” of grapes 4.5 cm high. And even whole berries come across in these 4.5 cm. And there is a lot of juice. We tried to disassemble this “pancake” with our hands and squeeze it out again. But even after the second spin, they simply squeezed out another half-liter of juice with their hands, wrapping the remains in gauze.

The press on self-tapping screws could not resist, jumped off after a while. I had to re-screw and make more holes in the table.

And since we pressed the juice on the street, about three dozen bees flocked. I had to stop and put everything away. We continued when the bees lost interest in us. Again, not for long.

But in the end they came to the conclusion that if you adapt and take into account all the features, then you can squeeze the juice quickly and of good quality. And make the grape juice press your good friend.

What if you do not have a juicer, and the trees in the country are bent under the weight of apples that need to be urgently processed into juice? A similar problem arises for winemakers: now there are few people who want to crush juicy berries for wine by hand or trample them.

Home craftsmen offer a way out - to make a mechanical press to extract juice from grapes or other fruits.

Principle of operation and main elements

Manual screw juicers are made using various methods using auxiliary parts - old barrels, pans, tanks from a washing machine, planks, a jack.

Most often, the press includes such components: a basket, a thrust mechanism, a base, a punch (pressing body). The basket is placed on the base, placing under it a tray for receiving juice. A chute is provided in the tray, under which a juice collector is placed.

Steel wine press: design

To make a seemingly simple product, you need to have skills in plumbing and turning, to own a welding machine.

Two cylindrical containers without a bottom with a diameter of 29 cm and 23 cm are made from a stainless tank from an unnecessary washing machine, both are 24 cm high
Holes with a diameter of 8 mm are drilled in a small cylinder in a checkerboard pattern. The inner container (basket) is designed for loading grapes, and the outer one is for juice.
Under the cylinders there is a rectangular stainless steel tray (30 x 50 cm) with sides and a triangular bevel (the side is cut off in its narrow part). To drain the juice in the outer cylinder, you need to make a cut
The role of the punch is played by a flange with a diameter of 21 cm. It is rigidly attached to the bottom of the rod with a trapezoidal or rectangular thread - for example, to a screw from a water valve. At the top, a head with a hole for a lever is welded to it, with which the thrust mechanism is actuated
Together with the screw, a nut welded into the U-shaped frame works. The frame is rigidly connected to the base - it can be concreted into the floor or fastened to the table with screws

How does a grape press work?

The berries are loaded into the inner pan, then the screw is tightened with a lever
When the spin starts, the rotation is slower, controlling the exit of juice into the pan
At the end of the grape pressing, the screw is unscrewed in the opposite direction.
To reduce the pressure on the sides of the press, it is advisable to perforate the thrust flange with a 4 mm drill
And another tip: weld bandage rings to the basket at the top and bottom so that it is located in the center of the outer container

This design is used not only for grapes, but also for obtaining juice from apples, currants, chokeberries and even herbs. To maximize the yield of the finished product, such raw materials are crushed into crumbs or ground into a meat grinder.

The prepared pulp is wrapped in napkins made of durable fabric (for example, lavsan). Portions do not exceed 2 kg - there should be no more than three such layers. They are separated by drainage pads made of pairwise welded perforated stainless steel discs 2 thick (thrust rings 4 mm thick are placed between them).

Wooden apple press

The previous model is quite reliable, but it has several disadvantages. Cooking thin stainless steel is quite difficult; this requires special equipment and electrodes. You can simplify the design by making a basket of boards, you can even parquet.

To get a working body with a capacity of 20 liters, you will need 20 boards 320 x 50 x 15 mm
They are attached with self-tapping screws to 2 stainless steel strips 0.5-1 mm thick. The distance between the boards is kept 10-12 mm. After that, the strips are bent, their ends are connected with stainless steel bolts.
Diameter of the resulting basket - 29 cm, height - 32 cm

The role of the punch is played by a wooden circle with a diameter of 27 cm. You can do without a thrust flange if you put planks under the screw
At the bottom, along the entire contour of the basket, a drain chute is laid to ensure the juice exits.
An ordinary plastic bowl is used as a pallet: a hole is drilled in it and a tube is inserted there
Apples are finely cut, wrapped in gauze and placed in bales in a basket
Boards are laid between the layers to increase the pressure of the press during the lowering of the piston. For one working cycle, 3.5-4 liters of juice are obtained

To make a homemade juicer, a car jack is used instead of a screw. In this case, you do not have to grind the nut, but you need to provide a solid base against which the mechanism designed to lift the car rests.
The frame wooden press works even without a basket. The metal elements in it are a screw with a nut and drainage gratings that are laid between the bags of raw materials. In this case, the pallet should be with high sides so that the juice of grapes or other fruits does not splash on the sides.

Before reuse, wipes for bags are thoroughly washed in water, and boiled for a long break. The pulp or berries are wrapped only in a damp cloth so that the finished product does not have an unpleasant odor
The cake of apples and pears is thrown away, as they are of no value. Kissels and fruit drinks are cooked from berry pomace
After making juice for wine, the wooden basket is washed with an ordinary dishwasher brush, and then scalded with boiling water.

In connection with frequent questions, I want to tell on the pages of my blog about how I made my first screw press for grapes, with a basket of 20 liters.

It was back in 2007, when I was just starting to make wine "for myself" and I was not going to think about any expansion of this side of my work.
At that time, I had a lot of December on my arbor, there were Muscat Hamburg, Livadia black and many remnants of bunches of table varieties, mostly overripe, spoiled by wasps and ants. Now I remember this raw material with a smile, but then, like many lovers, I considered it quite suitable for wine. Which, in principle, is true, if you do not delve into what kind of wine. 🙂

But this is poetry, let's move on to the constructive. Literally.

So, a screw press for grapes. What does it consist of, in my understanding?

1. Frame. The option with a screw through the basket (as I have now) then seemed unacceptable to me.

2. Screw. A screw is a screw with a powerful, preferably rectangular, thread. With a smile, now I remember my ordeals for turners in workshops known to me ... Well, people! Lazy bastards! 🙁 Until now, there is a picture from the workshop of our city water utility, when three turners, without letting go of domino bones, told me how busy they were and how they had no time to carve a screw from a finished rod. We talked for 10 minutes...

3. Shopping cart. Well, I saw the basket, in my understanding, it must be made of oak planks. And where can a resident of Dnepropetrovsk get an oak tree? That's right, the first association is parquet! 🙂 That's what I put on this product, the main part of the press. The basket must be tied with hoops. What? Why, stainless steel, of course! For some reason, the hucksters in the local construction market did not have a stainless steel strip of acceptable width and thickness, but there were corners. Well, I took them. Then, oh, how I regretted it, since the basket turned into a life-threatening object ... Well, more on that later.

What is the design? Not only did I make a frame, but I also wanted the press to be self-sufficient, not requiring any supports, equipment. Those. on legs. A kind of frame on legs, a nut is fixed at the top, into which the screw rod is screwed, and in the frame there is a basket of oak planks into which grapes or must with pulp are loaded.

Started with a basket.

In the parquet store I bought two dozen parquet boards, 320 long, 50 wide and 15 mm thick. At the bazaar there are two meter-long stainless steel corners. As I already wrote, no one had a strip 0.5 ... 1 mm thick, I had to take the corners ... 🙁
At the boards on the home machine, I removed the grooves with a milling cutter so that they clog less. As I saw later, the operation is useless: with the help of a dishwasher brush, all the cracks are washed out very easily.

With self-tapping screws (with a stainless coating!) I attached them to the corners with a gap of 10 ... 12 mm. Then, with a grinder, I cut a corner between the planks, bent the edges of the strips, made holes for the bolts in them:

And voila! - the basket is ready:

Necessarily, according to the diameter of the basket, you need an insert, a piston, which will directly lie on the grape pulp. Here is a basket with it, “complete”, so to speak: 🙂

The height of the basket is 32 cm, the inner diameter is 29 cm. The volume (calculated) turned out to be 21 liters.

The photos show the sharp edges of the corners. Oh, how many scratches on my hands when moving and washing they did to me, how many rags were torn ... Until I took the “grinder” again and cut off all the excess to the very planks!

The next day I went and bought a 25 mm angle, M6 bolts with nuts, several drills Ø 6.2 mm. I assembled the frame of the press and immediately into action:

Under the screw on the circle, it is necessary to put planks:

Screw ordered in advance from the “handy” turner found, in the end, with great difficulty. Screw Ø 30 mm and 3 mm pitch, with a nut, with a welded disk with holes for fastening, cost me a considerable amount at that time: 100 UAH!

The rest of the details - a piece of plywood on a stand and a plastic bowl in which I made a hole and inserted a tube - the final touches. They cost a penny. And the total cost of this screw viticultural press (or wine press, right? :)) was about 300 UAH. I was glad that a similar factory Italian press cost about $300. This is such a savings for the family budget! 🙂

As I understand now, that head screw would be enough for a 100-liter press! 🙂 I didn’t have a welding machine then, and I had never held it in my hands at that time, so I did everything on bolts. Well, the apartment, after all. Although on the balcony it would be possible to cook with an inverter, as I now understand.
Due to the bolted connection, the frame “walked” a little, which created additional problems towards the end of the spin, when the forces increased. But what an incredible pleasure it was! 🙂

Well, finally finished! 🙂

It turned out a wine that was not at all ashamed to treat friends!

As you can see, friends, you don’t need to have a higher education in order to make a screw grape press yourself. There are 3…4 months left until the winemaking season, so whoever wants to use my experience - there is still plenty of time! Harvest to you, and successful homemade wine! 🙂

At first I planned to buy a 76 liter Italian basket press, but then I wanted to make a press myself. I started searching the web for photos of vintage basket presses for grapes in order to take a closer look at the design. Also, I carefully read wine blogs. As a result, in the blog of Denis Rudenko, an article Wine press - from cave to hi-tech winery and on Facebook at Vladimir Tsepelik I found what I was looking for. Further easier. We make a drawing, then we draw in isometry and make a layout by elements. Now you need to find where to buy dry oak and a workshop in which to process it. I was lucky - in the very first woodworking shop where I applied and where they sell dry oak, I met the owners. They turned out to be "garage winemakers", and even specializing in the production of brandy, i.e. they make dry wine, then distill it into grape spirit and age it in oak barrels. This is where we agreed. I express to them a huge! THANK YOU! for help.

1. it all starts with a drawing

2. fuganim - that is, we align two of the four sides

3. sawing

4. I do the press :-)

5. drawing

6. resmus allows us to make the necessary parts of a given thickness the same

7. cut the dies for the basket

8. have lunch (at a party)

9. we trim the parts to the size we need

10. end up

11. first result! now all these details should take shape, they just need to be assembled according to the diagram

12. measure right angles

13. drill and screw

14. assemble the frame

Why do we need wine presses, what tasks do they solve, what are they and how to use them correctly? This topic is devoted to all of today's lesson in the "School of Craft". It is important not only to choose the appropriate design, but also to understand how and why to use it. The bell rang and the lesson began.

This is how grapes were pressed in sultry Italy

Squeeze dry?

The very name of the equipment makes it clear that it is used to squeeze moisture from crushed raw materials. You can squeeze both juice and must in a press, depending on which technology you use to make wine.

How long should the pressing pressure be? The pulp is squeezed until the juice stops flowing from it. In some cases, it is possible to carry out a secondary spin, but for this, the mass is crushed again. Sometimes a small amount of water is added to it to "revive" the pulp. The resulting juice or wine of the second pressing will be inferior in quality to the first.

Preparing for pressing

It is very important to properly prepare the material for pressing. Only crushed material is pressed. Even if you are going to make wine from soft berries, they need to be crushed into pulp, and only then put under pressure.

Why crush berries at all?

To squeeze out more juice.
In order not to break the press. If you put whole berries, then in an attempt to squeeze the maximum amount of juice, you can break the device.

If you press the pulp, then before the first pressure it is not processed additionally, but for the second and subsequent pressings, the pulp also needs to be crushed.

Stages of pulp pressing

I will say right away: the technologies for making red and white wine are different from each other. If you have the time, desire and inspiration to make a real, proper red wine, then you will have to strain a little.

First you need to make the pulp and put it on fermentation along with the berry peel and skins.
After the fermentation is completed, the pulp falls to the bottom of the container with the wort.
Part of the wine is drained by gravity, and the remaining pulp is unloaded from the pressing tank.

Pressed wines have a higher saturation of tannins, minerals and have a brighter color. To obtain a good quality pressed wine, the must during fermentation must be constantly stirred for better aeration.

The easiest option is to crush the berries, squeeze the juice and put it on fermentation. This is done when you want to get homemade wine with minimal effort.

Separation of wort by gravity

From the very beginning of the drain, the wort flows under the influence of gravity, and not under pressure. Samotek in Bordeaux is called "great wine". It differs not only in the method of obtaining, but also in characteristics. It balances sugar content and acidity. The taste is more subtle and soft due to fewer tannins. At the same time, the product has a weaker color and a reduced amount of anthocyanins, which are responsible for the anti-inflammatory properties of wine. Wines separated by gravity are more susceptible to the formation of yeast and sour odors. Therefore, they are mixed with pressed wine, to give depth to the taste and color.

First pressure wort

After the wine has been drained or pumped out, we need to press the remaining must. The wort is removed from the vat or bottle, moved to the press and pressed. The result is a pressed wine of the first pressing. It has a low alcohol content and an increased sugar content, but no excess sugar content is observed. The wort of the first pressure has a brighter color and a more tart taste due to the increased content of anthocyanins and tannins. It does not contain malic acid, the taste qualities are pronounced.

The must can be blended (blended) with the "great wine" immediately after the end of the pressing. Thus, young table wines are obtained.

Second pressure wort

But the first spin does not completely free the pulp from the must. Therefore, we allow the second and even the third spin. Before each subsequent pressing, the residue is crushed additionally in order to achieve a greater degree of grinding of the material. Naturally, repeated crushing causes the destruction of the pulp material, releasing more bitter and astringent fractions. The wort of the second extraction contains sugar, malic acid, has a high content of tannins. It is not blended immediately, but allowed to mature separately, and only after that it is put into action. The must of the second extraction is used to obtain dessert wine.

Third pressure wort

We grind the pulp again and again send it under the press. As a result of the third pressing, we get a wine with high acidity, a high content of tannins, but the level of sugars in it is minimal. The content of anthocyanins falls, as does color saturation. The must of the third pressing is not added to young wines. It is used to produce vintage wines, as well as strong red wines.

If you continue to squeeze the must, then the resulting raw materials can be used to make grape spirit.

Live wood or cold steel?

Whatever technology you use to make wine, you still cannot do without a press.

What do you prefer - a press made of wood or metal? For the manufacture of presses and their individual elements, hardwood is used. Beech is widely used as a hard and relatively affordable material. I must say that today presses made of solid wood are becoming less and less common, and they are expensive. The most common option is a combination of materials, when the bed is made of metal and the basket is made of wood.

If you come across a press made entirely of wood at a price below 6-7 thousand, then do not rush to grab your wallet, but specify the material of manufacture. Most likely, the device is made of plywood and will quickly become unusable under the influence of moisture.

Metal presses have many advantages, so they are very popular. They are characterized by ease of maintenance and operation, they are sold in a huge range of volumes and prices. The main condition is that the metal for the press must have a protective coating that prevents the formation of rust. Stainless steel presses are not subject to corrosion.

As a rule, we choose the material for the press, based on taste preferences and possibilities. In addition, if you are looking for productive automatic presses, then they are overwhelmingly made of metal and other lightweight modern materials.

Basic design of wine presses

The general arrangement of a wine press is well described by its colloquial name: a press.

There is a place for laying the crushed raw materials, there is a tray for draining the liquid fraction. A plate or drainage grate that is in direct contact with the pulp is subjected to pressure by various mechanisms. For a screw press, this is a screw; for a hydraulic press, it is a hydraulic jack or a membrane. Under pressure, liquid is squeezed out of the pulp. It flows into the pan, and from there into the prepared container.

There are other designs, such as membrane kegs popular in hydraulic and pneumatic presses. Expanding, it crushes the pulp, and the liquid is squeezed out of the barrel, flowing down the outer walls into the pan. The cake remains on the walls.

Even the simplest screw hand press turns out to be an order of magnitude more efficient in spinning than manual labor. If we talk about automatic or mechanical presses, then the extraction takes place in them, literally, “one left”.

The main rule for the safety and security of the press is the laying of only crushed raw materials, since the pressure must be uniform. The laying of unground fruits or berries is fraught with failure of the pressing mechanism.

Types of wine presses

As I said above, the types of presses according to the principle of operation are very diverse. All of them are actively represented on the market and are intended to facilitate the work of winemakers. Let's talk about the most popular and common types.

Mechanical hand press

Its structure and principle of operation will seem familiar even to those who have never dealt with pressing. Here are the main building blocks.

Perforated basket for laying pulp.
Cover or bag to prevent splashing.
screw mechanism.
Pressing plane.
Stand with receiving tray.

The pulp is loaded into the basket. Manual rotation activates a screw mechanism that lowers the plane onto the pulp. The descending piston creates the necessary force for pressure, under pressure the liquid flows into the receiving pan, from there into the collection container.

Design advantages.

Easy to manage and operate.
Cheapness
Compact dimensions
Variability.
Relatively high performance, higher than the same juicer.
The most gentle and high-quality spin.
It can be made of wood, which provides the most natural taste of the future drink.
Does not require additional water or electricity costs.

Of the minuses, it should be noted the need for significant muscular effort.

It is best suited for small pressing volumes, for example, for the seasonal laying of wine from a personal subsidiary plot. Easily allows you to get from 4 to 15 liters from one tab of raw materials, depending on the model. The cheapest and most economical option for the press.

Pneumatic press

In the design of this press, the force is generated using compressed air.

The principle of operation is simple. The pulp is loaded into a keg or basket. The membrane acts as a crusher, which is actuated by compressed air. Under air pressure, the membrane expands, squeezing the juice out of the pulp.

Advantages of pneumatic press.

High performance.
High efficiency.
A minimum of effort - even a woman can work with the press.

The downside is the rather high cost, which increases the need for additional connection of the compressor as a source of compressed air.

A pneumatic press is suitable for those who plan to engage in winemaking on a relatively regular basis or create a family business. Of the mechanical and manual presses - the most expensive. Even higher are the prices for pneumatic membrane presses.

Hydraulic Press

As the name suggests, pressure is provided by a hydraulic mechanism. This may be a hydraulic jack, as in some manual presses. Or maybe an expanding membrane.

Among hydraulic devices, there are designs that use not a plate or a membrane, but a drainage frame. Between them place raw materials packed in fabric bundles or bags. With the help of a hydraulic jack, the device is driven, developing great effort and showing excellent efficiency.

Advantages of a hydraulic press

Efficiency.
High performance.
It does not require electricity, which means that there are no additional costs for it.
It comes in a variety of options so you can choose what you need.

The downside is the rather high price, water consumption, and some structures, for example, a drainage hydraulic press, require quite a lot of space.

The hydraulic press provides high productivity. Many models give 30-40 liters from one tab of pulp. Suitable for trying your hand at craft winemaking on an ongoing basis. It costs less than pneumatic models, but more than manual screw ones.

Electro-hydraulic press

A productive and powerful device, which is used in cases where the power of mechanical and, especially, manual models is not enough. The design of the device resembles a hydraulic screw press, which is driven by an electric motor.

Of the pluses, I note high productivity, ease of use, spin efficiency.

The disadvantages include the high price, additional electricity costs. The electro-hydraulic press is heavy. It cannot be transported like a conventional handheld device. But it saves your time and energy as much as possible. Its use is justified in cases where you want to make your own wine on an ongoing basis. Well, or if you are an advocate of ergonomics and want your every movement to bring maximum effect.

What to look for when choosing a wine press?

What criteria should be used as the basis for choosing a press?

Mounting location: floor or desktop

For large rooms, it is logical to choose a floor press. As a rule, such devices are characterized by a large capacity.

If the size of the room is limited, it is necessary to place the equipment compactly and conveniently, then opt for desktop presses, especially since among them there are roomy models for 8–10 liters of the finished product.

Volume

The press has two volume characteristics - loading (basket volume) and output.

The basket volume indicates how much raw material the press can take at one time. The second is how much juice or wine the press produces in one cycle of work with a full load.

So, a press with a basket of 20 liters gives 8-12 liters of product. Equipment for 10 liters of raw material loading will give out 4-6 liters of juice.

The choice depends on what volumes you intend to work with. Take the press not "for growth", but based on real needs.

Draw your attention! It is impossible to achieve the same yield of juice for all types of raw materials. If it is said that the press allows you to get 4-6 liters of juice from 10 kg of products, then this is an average figure. Pressing, say, grapes will give you such a volume, but there will be much less juice from currants. Therefore, I give the output volume figures as averages.

Automatic or manual

I already spoke about this above. The more raw materials for processing, the more work. Therefore, to obtain wine from your own grapes or apples, you can take a manual press. If you have plans to process hundreds of kilograms of fruit and berry products, then it is worth investing in a productive automatic press.

Production material and price

Depends on your tastes and possibilities. Moreover, most modern models still have a stainless steel working part.

Practical part

To consolidate the theory, watch the video that will help you understand the issue.

Homework

Send in a photo of the press you use or the one you have planned for yourself. Explain why you like this model.

In this lesson, we got acquainted with wine presses, learned about different types of presses, what tasks they solve, how to use them correctly and figured out the intricacies of pressed wine.

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