Home winemakers: Do you use a press prior to or during fermentation?

In all the years I've been making wine at home, I've managed to get by without a wine press. The reason for this has been that the presses I've come across have been made of wood and are generally too large for what I need. I have seen smaller ones, but the wooden construction and large spaces would make them virtually unusable for pressing the slip-skin labrusca grapes that I exclusively use.

As a winemaker (I'm thinking mainly of Howie, Dan and Alan here), do you use a press to press the grapes for juice prior to fermentation, or once fermentation is under way, to press the remainder of fermenting juice out of the skins in the must? I can see a press being used for both stages.

Currently, when I want to pour my fermenting juice off the skins, I lose quite a bit of juice in the skins, which I simply scoop out but have no way of pressing efficiently.

I'm looking into getting a stainless steel press like the one featured here, but would like to brainstorm a bit with some of the finest brains I've ever met (and that of course is you guys).

Thanks in advance.

Paul - depends on whether I'm making red or white. Red gets pressed after about 2 weeks of skin contact. Whites get treated with pectic enzyme and pressed within 6-12 hours of crushing. A simple method of pressing small quantities is outlined in one of my home winemaking books by lining a bowl with a clean linen towel, putting the grapes inside, wrapping up tight, twisting and squeezing the juice through the linen, like wringing out a wet towel. Here's a link to a few other small presses:

EBAY search

Paul,

Saint Pats of Texas (http://www.stpats.com) has a wide selection of small presses and their prices are fairly reasonable.

For whites, Howie has the right idea. I de-stem and crush, add enzymes, wait 6 to 18 hours and then press.

For reds, I usually press when the cap falls.

Panty hose also makes a good small press. You can figure out how to use them, I expect, and they are inexpensive.

Best

Hi Paul,
Viewing this web site reminded me of your post. Probably not very different from what my Great Grandfather did when living in Brooklyn.

http://www.sicilianculture.com/wine/index.htm
Enjoy the tour!

Salute

Hi Paul,
Viewing this web site reminded me of your post. Probably not very different from what my Great Grandfather did when living in Brooklyn.

http://www.sicilianculture.com/wine/index.htm
Enjoy the tour!

Salute

What part of Brooklyn Victor? That's where I first tasted wine from the old guys...

Sorry Paul--didn't mean to re-route the thread.

Hi Thomas,
Fulton and Rockaway. Back then the family lived almost next door to one another (walking distance anyway). Growing up, my father (first generation born here) remembers as a kid visiting all his relatives after mass on Sunday. Today we are more or less spread out. By the time I was born (making me second generation born here) the family was spread out on Long Island and elsewhere. The only time I get to see my second and third cousins is at funerals. But because my father and I rekindled the family tradition of home winemaking, third and even fourth cousins know who we are.

Salute

Hey Victor! Great link! My press and crusher were obtained from an old Sicilian family from the "Little Italy" section of Niagara Falls. The sons didn't carry on the tradition, so I bought them from his widow 30 years ago. I thnk they were made in the '30s.

Hi Thomas,
Fulton and Rockaway. Back then the family lived almost next door to one another (walking distance anyway). Growing up, my father (first generation born here) remembers as a kid visiting all his relatives after mass on Sunday. Today we are more or less spread out. By the time I was born (making me second generation born here) the family was spread out on Long Island and elsewhere. The only time I get to see my second and third cousins is at funerals. But because my father and I rekindled the family tradition of home winemaking, third and even fourth cousins know who we are.

Salute

Ah, way out there in Brooklyn. My neighborhood was close to downtown, on the west side of the now fashionable Park Slope. We used to call it South Brooklyn.

My mother was first generation and my father was second--so I fall in between the generation of immigrants. The neighborhood was 99% southern Italian.

It was quite a time in autumn when the grapes came in from California and the scores of grandfathers rustled up us kids to help unload the boxes. I used to carry boxes to the cellar of the old man next door whose wine graced our table at every occasion. My first experience with his wine was when his grandson and I sneaked into the cellar to sniff recently emptied barrels, an event that I can still smell.

Over the years that old man taught me much about food and wine. He operated a summer-only outdoor candy store for which he made his own lemon ice (with pits in it). I used to help him do that in the back yard, after I managed to steal a few of his figs when he made believe he wasn't looking.

Great memories.

Paul,

Panty hose also makes a good small press. You can figure out how to use them, I expect, and they are inexpensive.

Another similar improvised press substitute: home improvement, hardware and paint stores sell nylon "paint strainers" (intended for straining lumps out of paint, I guess) that work well.