a blender to get the juice form some grapes

I would think broken seeds would be a concern.

I can't confirm this, but broken seeds in your must are generally considered a "very bad thing". They may introduce bitter compounds that will ruin your wine.

Greg

I can confirm it, it's a very bad idea. You never want to scar or break the seeds. That said, this is an easy job, just use your hands to crack the skins and mash them through a sieve or strainer with a soft spatula since you are making so little.

Joe

snipped-for-privacy@testeng> I can't confirm this, but broken seeds in your must are generally

I do all my fruit from the freezer and when they come out they are very soft so in my opinion I would just squeeze them by hand in cheese cloth. No you may not get all the juice out but you will get most of it. I have made some very good wine this way.

As stated above, do NOT use the blender. The seeds will ruin the wine.

I do not know what type of grapes you have but the easiest style to make, especially without a press, is the red wine style. It will work with white but it will just taste more like a red with a lot of tannin. Just crush the grapes by hand. Do not press at this time, just mash them all. Put pulp and all into a bucket that is at least 1/3 larger than the juice. Ferment in the bucked for 5 to 8 days. Pour the entire mess through a straining bag and press by hand. By this time the pulp will be soft or broken down and easy to press. Now put it in a carboy and finish the fermentation. Hand pressing is not something you want to do with a 15 gallon batch but it works fine with a few gallons or less.

Ray

I have made beer plenty of times before but never wine so I have a few more questions... :) Do you need to add sugar for the first fermentation? If so, in what proportion to the juice? When you move to a carboy to "finish fermentation" does additional yeast or sugar or anything else need to be added? How long should the wine stay in the carboy to finish? At what point should it be bottled? When put into bottles does it need additional yeast/sugar to "prime" as with beer where you add additional sugar to restart the yeast to get carbonation?

Ray Calvert wrote:

Jack Keller explains everything in great detail on his website.

Actually, I did just that 3 weeks ago - 15 gals of Malbec hand pressed in about 2 hrs, including cleanup. It's not so bad, really, as long as you're not trying to squeeze out every last drop.

What I'd never do again is destemming and crushing by hand, without any tools.

Pp