How to make a press for squeezing grapes - we assemble a homemade crusher (crusher) from a jack with our own hands according to the drawings

I live in a house where grapes have been growing for over 40 years and I don’t know what to do with them (they have seeds, so I don’t eat them very much). I also have a great basement and project room and this year I decided to try making wine. Having tried to make grape jam last year, I realized that using a potato masher is inconvenient and ineffective.

I visited a local winery and asked about the brewing process and basic materials. The store manager said that 50 kg of grapes can make 35-40 liters of wine. From what I remember last year, we took about 7 kilograms of grapes (including stems) and got about 3 liters of juice after 45 minutes of rubbing and squeezing through a cloth. If we want to process all 50 kg, we need a more efficient processing method.

My basic crusher plan was to use a car jack to push a disc into a perforated pot to press the grapes. A little later you will see drawings of what I got and how to make a grape press with your own hands.

Classification

The grape press must be made from environmentally friendly materials. In this regard, only wood and steel are used for the production of units. In addition, devices for pressing juice are classified according to their method of operation, design, and performance.

By way of working

Depending on the type of power supply and method of operation, the following types of equipment are used:

• mechanical and manual grape press - suitable for use in private households, you can do it yourself, but squeezing requires physical effort;
• electric unit - can be screw, pneumatic or hydraulic, characterized by high productivity, low physical labor costs, but expensive (about 30 thousand rubles);
• universal press - the peculiarity is that it can process any vegetables, berries and fruits; such a device operates from the mains.

Electric

Universal

Manual

By material

Equipment for pressing grapes is made of wood or metal:

1. Press with a wooden barrel or basket. If it is possible to make a wine press with your own hands, then linden, beech or oak should be used as the material for the basket. These types of wood are durable, dry quickly, and do not crack or warp when dried.
2. Metal unit. Structural elements are made of stainless steel, which increases the cost. This press is durable, hygienic, easy to clean and maintain. The contact of grapes with the working elements of the press does not add extraneous odors to the juice.

Made of metal

Made of wood

By volume and power

The productivity of the press is determined by its type, the power of the electric motor and the volume of processed raw materials.

1. High-performance units – continuous electric screw presses. They can squeeze up to 5 tons of grapes per hour, their dimensions are: length - 2.2 m, width - 1 m, height - 1.5 m. Motor power 2.2 kW. Such equipment is appropriate for industrial enterprises or winegrowing farms with large volumes of processed material.
2. Hydraulic and pneumatic presses are intermittent units. Productivity reaches up to 40 liters of juice from one bookmark. They are used if you plan to make wine regularly or organize craft production.
3. For small volumes in the household, it is advisable to use a self-assembled screw grape press. Its performance is determined by individual needs. Devices with basket volumes from 2.5 to 25 liters are manufactured industrially, allowing you to get from 1 to 25 liters of juice in one batch, respectively.

By design

According to their design features, presses are divided into:

1. Screw presses are mechanical presses for squeezing grapes with your own hands. The working container is a wooden basket or a perforated metal barrel, into which crushed pulp or whole grapes are placed. The spinning process is carried out by rotating the handle of a pressing element mounted on a screw auger or rod. Screw presses are simple and trouble-free; productivity depends on the size of the basket.
2. Jacking – pressing is carried out using a piston (jack). It can be fixed from above, the pressing force, in this case, is supplied to the pressure plate. If the jack is secured from below, then the basket rises to the fixed pressure plate. In either case, the grapes are compressed between the bottom of the basket and the plate. It is convenient to work with such a press without exerting significant physical effort. They are manual, hydraulic or pneumatic.
3. Screw - divided into manual and electric. The principle of operation is similar to a meat grinder and lies in the fact that, thanks to the auger, the pulp is mixed relative to the drainage perforated surface and is subjected to active mechanical action. This treatment can crush the seeds and grind the skins of the grapes. Phenolic and nitrogenous substances pass into the wort. A suspension may form in it.
4. Lever ones are the most primitive type. A bag of grapes will be placed between the board and the lever hinged to it. Due to the force applied to the lever, the berries are squeezed between the pressing surfaces. Such presses are leaky, labor-intensive, and low-productive compared to jacking and screw machines.

Lever

JackScrew

Screw

Types of designs: diagrams and drawings

The main thing in the press is a solid base and working mechanism.

Operating principle of the device:

• prepared raw materials for pressing (chopped apples) are placed in fabric bags layer by layer through drainage grids;
• With the help of a mechanism, pressure is lowered from above and presses the juice.

A good press squeezes out 65-70% of the juice, leaving an almost dry pulp. It’s quite possible to make one with your own hands.

Homemade press designs differ in the operating principle of the main mechanism:

1. Screw.
2. Based on the jack: mechanical and hydraulic.
3. Combined.

In the bulk of structures, pressure is exerted from above, but in the combined version, compression occurs in two directions: using a screw mechanism at the top and a hydraulic jack at the bottom.

The juice press consists of the following parts:

• stable bed;
• a quadrangular or cylindrical body, inside of which bags of chopped apples are folded;
• wooden lattices with which the bags are placed so that they do not spread out;
• piston-pressure, directly exerting pressure on the cake;
• jack support;
• working mechanism: screw with handle, mechanical or hydraulic jack;
• bowl-tray

The main body can be:

single perforated: juice will flow through the holes along the walls and through the bottom into the tray;

Screw apple press with single perforated body

• double: a solid casing with a slightly larger diameter is placed on a perforated metal cylinder;
• in the form of a solid metal body with one drain hole at the bottom;
• assembled from wooden slats connected with hoops - a barrel. The walls serve as a drainage grid.

Screw press for apples with a body made of wooden slats There may be no body at all - just a pyramid of wooden lattice frames in a tray with a mouth at the bottom, under which a container for juice is placed.

Hydraulic Frame Press

This design is easy and quick to install. For the bottom plate, you can take a piece of countertop, for example.

We crush grapes with hand tools

If the volume of raw materials is small, it is recommended to use your hands or hand tools to extract juice. Before crushing grapes with your hands, you must wash them thoroughly and wear rubber gloves. You need to crush the berries without haste, keeping your hands at the bottom of the container.

It is recommended to avoid contact between juice and metal (except stainless steel), as this impairs the taste of the drink and causes oxidation.

You can also squeeze out the juice using a wooden rolling pin or pestle. For a faster processing process, you need to use a drill or screwdriver with a mixer attachment. This method does not require additional equipment, but in this case, not all the grapes are broken, and small parts of the ridges get into the pulp along with the berries.

Step-by-step instructions for making it yourself

Before making a wine press with your own hands, you need to decide what material it will be made of. And its working principle. We will consider a screw mechanism, since a lever mechanism cannot be made at home. To make such a design, you do not need to obtain special skills and knowledge.

It is important to use environmentally friendly materials. They should not absorb the squeezed juice

Some craftsmen use improvised means for these purposes, for example, a washing machine drum, a car jack, an old wooden barrel or a beer keg. Of course, you can specifically buy new materials.

What you need

There are several basic press options. Let's look at one of them. It will require:

1. Capacity. Made from wooden planks. You will need 20 pieces, 320-350 mm high, 45-55 mm wide, 15 mm thick.
2. Metal plates for making a tightening hoop and fastening. A metal thickness of 0.5 mm to 1 mm will be sufficient.
3. Screw.
4. Jacking mechanism.
5. Pressing plane. The piston can be made of wood or plastic.
6. Tray for collecting juice. You can take a regular plastic basin.
7. Fastening elements. Bolts, angles, screws.

A minimum set of tools will be required.

When assembling, you need to have a set of plumbing tools:

• screwdrivers, screwdriver;
• hammer;
• hacksaw for metal and wood;
• pliers;
• a set of spanners or open-end wrenches;
• roulette.

Step-by-step instruction

The design will remain unchanged, but some of its elements may have different appearance or features. However, the assembly instructions will remain almost unchanged.

To begin with, a description of the assembly of the classic version. Afterwards we will look at the differences between the others.

The press is assembled from wood as follows.

1. The planks are laid out in a row. Strips of metal are placed on top and bottom of them. Using self-tapping screws, the metal is fastened to the board, and you need to leave a distance of 10-12 mm between the boards. Having thus attached all the planks, the structure is rolled up, and the ends of the stainless steel strips are fastened with bolts. It turns out to be a basket.
2. We measure its internal diameter. And according to this size we make a piston (punch). It can be made of wood by cutting out a circle of the required diameter. Be sure to leave a gap between the edges of the piston and the basket. The diameter of the circle will be less than the inner diameter of the basket from 1 to 2 cm.
3. The pressure on the piston will be applied using a screw and a handle.
4. The body (frame) is assembled from metal plates or wooden blocks according to the actual dimensions of the structure. We fasten all parts using bolted connections or welding. A pallet is placed in its lower part, a basket is placed on it and the berries are placed in it. A piston is placed on the berry. A hole is made in the pan, and a tube is attached to it to drain the juice.
5. A screw with a handle is fixed in the press body and its lower end rests against the piston. The installation is now complete.

Car jack

Instead of a screw with a handle, you can use a car jack. It is installed in the upper part of the unit, placed on the piston, and its upper part rests against the frame. Otherwise everything is unchanged.

A simple diagram of a press.

Made of stainless steel

Sometimes a basket is made from stainless steel. In this case, take a ready-made container or adapt a drum from a washing machine. The process of making a basket will be more complicated and special equipment will be required.

The tanks are cut, two cylinders are made from stainless steel sheets. The seams are welded. We get 2 cylinders with different diameters - 23 and 29 cm in diameter. Holes are drilled in the walls of a container with a diameter of 23 cm in a checkerboard pattern for better collection of juice; it will be used as a basket. The second container is used to collect juice.

There are two options. The bottom of the cylinder can be welded and the tube removed. Or the structure can also be placed in a basin. Or make a special pallet. In such a tray, you can bend the side on one side and drain it.

As a punch, you can use a flange with a diameter of 21 cm.

From a beer keg

This option is slightly different. The top of the keg is cut off, and a tube comes out of the bottom. The keg will need to be processed so that there are no sharp edges or burrs left.

Preparation of material

Clusters removed from the vine cannot be washed.

, there is an abundance of live yeast on the berries (this is a waxy coating). Do not harvest after rains wash away the yeast; wait a few days. The grapes are collected only dry, without drops of moisture - this is a condition for homemade grape wine to be of high quality.

Even if the berries turn out to be dusty, this is not a reason to wash them. The dust will naturally settle, and the juice, having fermented, will cleanse itself.

We separate the berries from the branches and throw away the dry, moldy ones so as not to spoil the taste of the final product. Squeeze each berry so that you get pulp.

Do this in parts: place the berries in a bowl, mash the grapes, for example with a potato masher. Mash thoroughly so that no whole berries remain.

We crushed the batch - poured all the contents into a 20-40 liter container (like an enamel pan), and added new berries. You can also knead it with your hands when you don’t have a lot of grapes.

Types of devices

Before purchasing a press for squeezing grape juice or other fruits and vegetables, you need to carefully study all the varieties of these devices.

All industrial squeezing presses can be divided into the following categories.

Mechanical press

Such a device is a stationary cast-iron base on which a special basket made of wood is installed. This solution has good performance, reasonable price and small dimensions. Many winemakers consider a mechanical device for squeezing fruits and vegetables to be the ideal solution for creating juice at home.

Electric press

This subgroup includes two more types of press: hydraulic and pneumatic. Such devices are made of excellent quality stainless steel, so the press will not rust. This solution will not add any off-flavors to your juice. A hydraulic press operates using water, while a pneumatic press operates using high air pressure, which is created by a special pump. Both the hydraulic and pneumatic versions of the pump operate only on electric current.

The main advantage of this solution is the high performance of the device.

Universal press

Many people want their device to be able to squeeze juice not only from grapes, but also from any other fruits and vegetables. Universal presses have long established themselves on the market and are in great demand because they can be used to squeeze juice from apples, cherries, oranges and other crops. This significantly expands the possibilities for making juices and wines.

Every winemaker can buy a five-liter device for pressing grapes and use it at home. All press options are similar in function, however, the material from which the structure is made often differs. The most popular are 2 types of devices: a press made of wood and metal.

• The wooden version
  is environmentally friendly and does not cause any harm to human health. However, it is very difficult to care for such a device, since after each use you will have to rinse the device very thoroughly and disinfect it.
• The metal version
  of the device is an alloy of cast iron and stainless steel. If the design is based on metal, then this device will be durable. The press, made of metal, is very easy to use and is hygienic, as it does not impart any unnecessary tastes or odors to the resulting grape juice.

Preparing the material

One of the main components of the future grape press is a deep bowl where the fruits will be placed. In addition to its impressive size, there are other requirements for the container; it must have holes through which the berry juice will pour. Also, the tank must be made of inert material. The role of a bowl for grapes can be perfectly fulfilled by a washing machine drum made of stainless steel. There are already holes of suitable diameter on its surface.

If necessary, existing holes can be expanded using a metal drill.

If you decide on the idea of ​​making a homemade press, first of all prepare the drum:

This way the bowl of the future grape press will be prepared. You can start assembling the structure. To do this, you will need a metal sheet measuring 1 by 1 meter, a metal corner, a heavy cast iron or steel circle, the size corresponding to the diameter of the drum, a threaded rod approximately 0.8 meters long and a smooth metal rod.

Tips for use

The quality of the resulting juice depends on how the grape press is made and how it is operated. Before starting work, the grapes must be washed, sorted, and the berries separated from the bunches; they do not need to be peeled. It gives juice and wine a pleasant bouquet.

Raw materials for pressing:

• whole berries, used for juice production;
• pulp, allows you to fully reveal the aroma of grapes, recommended for obtaining wine materials.

Sequence of actions when working with the press:

1. Fix the device motionless on a horizontal, flat surface to avoid displacement.
2. Prepare a container for collecting the pulp. This could be a bucket, tank, pan.
3. Place a container under the outlet hose or chute into which the juice will drain.
4. Place a plastic bag over the piston plate to prevent the piston from rubbing against solid pulp particles. Rotate the handle to set the screw to the top position.
5. Cover the inner surface of the press basket with a clean, cold-water-washed, white, coarsely woven cloth (you can use material from flour or sugar sacks). The edges of the fabric should hang over the sides of the basket. This will make it easier to remove the pulp.
6. Place pulp or berries in the basket, cover with the hanging corners of the fabric. Place the basket under the piston.
7. Tighten the press screw until juice appears. Slowly turn the screw with the handle until significant resistance is felt.
8. Stop the rotation of the screw. After a break of 30-60 seconds, start turning the screw again. This technology allows you to most fully open the cell membranes of grapes.
9. After the juice stops flowing, use the handle to turn the screw to the top position.
10. To better squeeze the grapes, repeat the process of rotating and stopping the screw 2-3 times.
11. After the spin is completed, the press screw should be returned to its original position, turning it in the opposite direction.
12. Remove the contents of the fabric from the basket. Transfer the pulp into a previously prepared container. Add a small amount of water so that it covers the cake by 1-2 cm. After 3-4 hours, warm the mixture to 65 degrees. This will allow you to extract as much juice as possible. Spin again. It is not recommended to squeeze the pulp more than three times; this leads to the accumulation of suspension in the wort.
13. After completing the process, disassemble the device, clean all parts, rinse well, wipe and dry. To wash the basket, regardless of whether it is made of wood or metal, synthetic detergents should not be used. You can use soda or table salt.
14. The press should be stored in a dry, ventilated area.

If a wooden basket becomes moldy, it should be washed with cold water and thoroughly brushed. Then you can prepare a solution of sulfuric acid (100 g per 2 liters of water) and wipe the entire surface of the basket with it, using a brush or piece of cloth. After two days, rinse with lye (an aqueous solution of wood ash) to neutralize the acid, then with clean water.

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Another way to get rid of mold is to coat the surface of the basket with lime. After two days, clean everything and rinse with water. Then treat the basket with sand and rinse with a solution of ammonia (3 tablespoons per 5 liters of water). If the mold is not old, you can scrape it off with a knife, then steam the basket with oak sawdust. Moldy parts of the press basket should not be washed with boiling water. This will cause the mold to eat into the wood surface.

Professional winemakers distinguish two types of juice used as wine material:

• obtained by gravity;
• isolated by pressing grapes.

Containers for must and wine

The first thing you need to start equipping a home distillery is purchasing containers in which the wort will ferment, as well as strain and store the wine. It can be:

• Glass bottles,
• Oak barrels and tubs,
• Stainless steel tanks.

Regarding the use of plastic containers and utensils made of other metals for wine production, you need to take into account that wine alcohol tends to acquire the taste of the material from which the container for storing it is made.

Raw material grinding

For this operation there are special crushers for grapes and fruits. These devices can

be

• Manual - for delicate chopping of small volumes of fruits,
• Mechanical - for intensive work and speeding up the process.

Grape crushers can be equipped with a destemmer to separate the branches (ridges) from the grapes.

Pulp pressing

No home wine production can do without separating the juice from the pulp. A press can handle this operation perfectly; it can be manual or mechanical.

• A manual press is a basket for pressed mass with holes, equipped with a mechanical head with handles.
• A mechanical (hydraulic) press is a basket for crushed pulp with a membrane in the center that expands when it is filled with air.

Under the basket of any press there is a tray with a spout for draining the squeezed liquid. After collecting the valuable juice by gravity, the remaining mass is pressed until it is completely squeezed out.

Fermentation and filtration

Wine in fermentation containers should not come into contact with oxygen. Special fermentation tanks

for wort they must be equipped with water seals. They allow carbon dioxide to be removed and protect the wort from air, and also allow you to control the end of the fermentation process. Hydrometers are used to measure the alcohol content of young wine.

Fermentation is followed by a stage of filtration and removal from sediment. The purpose of this stage is to separate the wine from the yeast that has sunk to the bottom of the container, so as not to degrade its quality. For this purpose, such equipment for wine as a filter press equipped with a pump has been created. Passing through the filter board of this apparatus, the wine is cleaned of colloids, microorganisms, mechanical and adsorption particles. The device is equipped with a pressure gauge that controls the fluid pressure. After such filtration, the wine becomes significantly brighter.

Maturing and capping wine

Aging young wine gives it a special taste and aroma, especially if it takes place in oak barrels. Tannins and oak tannins add a unique accent to the overall bouquet of the drink. If the maturation of wine is planned to be carried out directly in bottles, then in-line and vacuum bottling machines have been created for the production of the drink. Their advantage is that during bottling, the contact of the drink with oxygen is minimized, which guarantees its quality.

It is convenient to cap bottles using a special device for securely placing the cork in the neck. These devices, mechanisms and devices greatly facilitate the work of a winemaker in preparing wine at home.

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Rules of application

Once manufactured, the press can be placed and secured to any support. Before use, the grape crusher must be placed on a flat surface and secured well.

The manual crusher must be installed on a container to collect 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 ladle. From there they are poured onto windrows. A strong napkin must be placed at the bottom of the basket, from which the pulp is then removed.

When rotated, the berries are crushed and then turned into a mass like a puree, from which juice comes out. Before loading the berries into the receiving bucket, they are removed from the bunch and washed well. There is no need to remove the skin from the berries; thanks to it, the juice has a pleasant aroma.

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

Video about the principle of operation of the grape press:

We bought it in Ukraine, according to an advertisement. It is popularly called a grape press. For ourselves, we defined it as a press for obtaining juice from grapes, or simply a press for grapes. The advertisement for the sale of the press was given by a man who, in Soviet times, did his own tinkering at the factory, like many in those days.

Introduction

You can, of course, squish grapes in a bowl with your hands and feet the old fashioned way, or even use a recycled washing machine. But such methods have a number of disadvantages:

• tiring
• less effective
• not always aesthetically pleasing

“You need health for this! Or good helpers!” (c) Nikolay Kurdyumov

It is better to use specially designed devices. What is more suitable - crushers or presses? The table below will give you a little idea about this.

Based on the information above, you can make a preliminary conclusion about what is most suitable for you, and then we will move on to considering the advantages of specific varieties.

Recommendations for obtaining high-quality juice from berries

One of the main recommendations for working with a press is the need to wash the berries before loading. Only after removing them from the bunch and thoroughly washing them in running water, the material is loaded into the apparatus (drum).

Winemakers who are professionally involved in grape cultivation divide it into 2 levels:

• fruit juice obtained by gravity;
• using a press.

In the first case, the liquid is the most valuable, as it is rich in taste and useful substances. In the second option, you can squeeze out the juice in 2 stages, that is, recycle the pulp. For varieties such as Chardonnay, white Muscat, Pinot Noir, secondary processing is not recommended, since the taste characteristics are significantly affected.

Mechanism components

• frame;
• a tray into which liquid flows;
• the pressing element itself;
• barrel;
• fine mesh;
• spin-intensifying screw.

The principle of operation of the device is simple: berries are loaded in portions, then the screw is turned and juice with pulp is obtained, which passes through the filter mechanism and is separated from the pulp.

In addition to the fact that the crusher squeezes juice, it can also be used to ferment various drinks. Also, the part that presses and the food material are practically not in contact; therefore, heating is minimal, which ensures the safety of all vitamins and nutrients in the drink.

What is

The press is used to squeeze juice out of berries. The device is a juicer equipped with the following structural elements:

• barrel (basket);
• frame with fixed pressing device;
• the screw or lever that operates the mechanism;
• filter surface;
• juice container.

After loading the grapes into the basket, the pressing device starts. Under the influence of the weighting agent, the juice is squeezed out, and then, passing through the filter, flows into the receiving container.