Do-it-yourself grape press: step-by-step instructions
When growing grapes in their summer cottage, many gardeners process the resulting harvest into juice, wine or vinegar. The necessary tool for this is a press or crusher. You can make this device yourself. Difficulties in the construction process usually do not arise if you follow instructions.
Content:
What is a grape press
A press juicer makes life much easier for a summer resident or gardener. With its help you can squeeze juice from grapes and other fruits. The press consists of a frame, a juice tray, a barrel, a pressing element, a fine filter mesh and a power screw for squeezing.
For grapes it is better to use a screw press. White grapes must be pressed after crushing. It is recommended to perform this procedure with red grapes a few days after the start of fermentation. The operating principle of the press: grapes are loaded into a basket, then a screw mechanism squeezes the juice out of it.
In the future, you can make homemade wine, various drinks, and jelly from it. The crusher allows you not only to ferment grapes, but also to squeeze out the juice. Natural juice without water, added sugar, contains various vitamins. The juice can be stored for a long time after sterilization.
The device is constructed from environmentally friendly materials, which is very important since it comes into contact with food products. You can make a press from stainless steel. This product will last a long time. The press has a number of advantages. When the press is operating, the contact between the juice and the press is weak and does not cause heating.
This is very important, since all the vitamins do not disappear, but remain in the juice. The output remains a cake. Thanks to the press, you can thoroughly squeeze the berries, which increases the amount of juice obtained. A self-made or purchased grape press is an indispensable assistant for winemakers.
Required tools and materials
Before making a juice press, you need to prepare the necessary materials. For work you will need the following materials:
- Wooden beams
- Rolls
- Bolts and nuts for fastening
- Metal rod
- Bearings
- Tools for working with wood and metal
Crushers can be made from any material: wood, plastic, stainless steel. The easiest way to make a press with your own hands is from wood. Stainless steel presses are of higher quality. It is very convenient to wash and clean. It’s not difficult to make your own press from wood or steel.
Manufacturing instructions
For the press you should take 2 pipe stands with a diameter of about 22 mm. Next, weld the U-shaped profile to the pipes. The profile height should be chosen so that the screw nut fits freely inside. Weld a clamp to each pipe at the base. Thanks to these clamps, the press can be attached to the window sill. To construct the frame, you need to take wooden blocks with a cross-section of 4*10cm.
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 grooved rollers with a depth of 3 cm. The product should be directed to the axes of the rollers in a helical manner.
In this case, for every 10 cm of the roll it is necessary to make a shift of 2 cm. Next, this mechanism is fixed to the frame using bearings. The rollers will rotate at different speeds, so gears must be used with different diameters.
A ladle is required to load the berries. It is desirable that it be pyramidal in shape. Install the bucket on the transverse rails of the frame. If possible, the distance between the wooden ladle and the roller should be a minimum of no more than 1 cm.
It is necessary to install a vessel at the base of the press where the juice will accumulate. For normal compression of fruits between the rollers, the gaps should be controlled. The gaps between the crushing rollers allow you to leave grape seeds whole. This is of great importance for obtaining tasty and high-quality wine. When damaged, the seeds impart bitterness to the drink due to their high content of tannins.
The press basket can be made of stainless steel, the thickness of which will be 2 mm. In this case, portions of raw materials can be separated by spacers. They are made of 2 stainless steel discs, connected by spot welding. These discs should be drilled with 3mm holes.
Rules of application
Once manufactured, the press can be placed and secured to any support. Before work, press the grapes must be installed 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:
Comments
Racks for the press should be made not inside the container, but outside, as shown in the video. In order to squeeze the juice out of grapes well, it is not at all necessary to make a system such as on a screw jack. The effort of the winemaker’s hands will be sufficient; such a design is also shown in the last photo. To tighten the press nut more firmly, you can put a metal pipe on the handles of the wrench.