Harvesting grapes is a tradition that is as old as mankind. Grapes are used for many different things but the most popular are wine and jelly. The harvest is usually early fall but there are some grapes that will mature late fall. The late fall grapes tend to make some of the best and sweetest wine.
Picking grapes is often a tedious process where the grapes are picked in bunches and handled carefully to avoid bruising. Most pickers will have buckets and scissors that are used to cut the grape bunches off the vine. After all of the grapes are picked they are often taken to a pressing area where they will be processed for their final destination.
When grapes are pressed they are placed into a presser that takes the grapes and smashes them into small pieces. In years passed this method was done by workers using their bare feet to stomp the grapes to extract the juice. Some places in the world still use this old tradition but for sanitary reasons most places now use a grape presser to extract the pulp and the juice. Often the workers will line the bottom of a grape press with sackcloth to make sure they get all of the juice extracted without all of the seeds and pulp getting into the juice.
There are many different types of grape pressers but they all achieve the same thing. The ultimate goal is to get as much of the juice out of the grape as possible.
Juiced grapes are very similar to those that are pressed. The home winemaker probably will not own a very elaborate grape press because of the expense involved. The press is usually found in wineries where large quantities of grapes are pressed. The home juicer may use something as simple as a potato masher to get the juice out of the grapes. There are also home pressers that will extract the juice and leave the pulp, seeds, and skin behind. These are usually cranked by hand and can become quite tedious if there is a large quantity of grapes to be juiced. It is a great way for the home winemaker to get the most amount of juice out of the grapes.
Pressing grapes at home will allow you to get the full benefit of the pressed juice without all of the additives that come in a kit. Kits are a great way for somebody to get started and learn what they are doing but kits are rarely natural and have additives and preservatives that are not found in juiced grapes at home. When you juice your own grapes you have complete control of the ingredients you put into the juice.
Winemaking is a fun hobby and offers some great benefits for the home winemaker. By making your wine at home you will have a healthy alternative to the processed wines that are found in stores. Most people also agree that wine made at home just tastes better than wine bought from a vendor.
A way to start off your winemaking experience is through the purchase of winemaking kits. By doing this at a reasonable price, you’ll have everything that is required for you to get started in your winemaking efforts.
An average kit has items such as a plastic fermenter with an airlock lid, a glass carboy with stopper, an auto-siphoning system, automatic bottle filler, hydrometer, corker, corks and a stirring spoon. These kits also tend to come with an instruction manual which will aid you in your efforts. These are all the items which are needed in order to create good wine.
Certain kits also come with supplies for cleaning such as a bottle brush and a sanitizer. The things that you have to add to the mix are the fruits that you need and the bottles that are required to make wine that you can seal with a cork. These kits will cost between one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars on the average.
With all these and your grapes, berries or any other winemaking fruit along with bottles, you will be prepared to make some great wine. This will usually be all that is required for your first winemaking efforts.
On the other hand if you have some experience with the process or you came up with wine that tastes a whole lot better than you hoped for and you wish to continue making your own wine, you need some additional pieces of equipment in order to ensure that your winemaking process is a whole lot simpler. This means investing some more money in certain gadgets.
It really depends on the type of wine which you are trying to make but you may want to use a fruit crusher instead. These fruit crushers range from anything such as hundred and seventy to about fifteen hundred dollars depending on what you’re rooting for. You have models which are completely manual and those which are electric models. You have those which are made for grapes and those which can crush fruits which are as hard as apples. Certain models will go further by helping you get rid of the stem and leaves easily.
One piece of gear most experienced wine makers would love to have is a press. Different kinds of pressers exist and they range from ratchet presses to bladder presses.
The ratchet press allows the juice to run out of the basket into a container beneath the contraption. It works by using a ratchet to press the fruit and get out the fluid.
The bladder press on the other hand uses water pressure. Winemakers tend to prefer this device because it is a gentler way that grapes can be pressed.
Both devices work excellently though and it’s all about your personal choice and your budget. Some of these devices cost as little as two hundred dollars to six hundred dollars, the bladder presses are the most expensive and they go for as much as seven to thirteen hundred dollars.
