A different question about presses:)

Al, I make between 50-150 gallons a year typically and I don't have a (working) wine press. When making wine from fruit you generally need to break it up somehow and remove the pits (stones) from those varieties of fruit. As an example- with plum wine I take my knife and make a cut around the circumference and then cut it into wedges such as an orange. I then peel this off the pit and discard the pit. The fruit then goes into a nylon bag in a bucket and add everything else I plan on adding to make adjustments. A daily mashing gets the job done as you give it a stir everyday for about a week give or take. For Blueberry wine I just put the berries in the bag whole and mash them up by hand everyday to break them down and extract the juices,color etc. strawberries same method essentially. Also the addition of Pectin enzyme once the must is cooled down (if you add hot water that is) also further helps break down the fruit, aid extraction and prevent future pectin hazes. With the grape wine I typically buy juice from a press house or winery already pressed,settled and clarified. You can buy reds this way too and ask for the skins which you can add in to extract tannins and color. This method is lacking for getting a serious red wine to develop I would say, but it will do. You can destem and hand press smaller batches of the red wines, but it is a pain.Everyone should try it once to learn the value of a press- lol HTH John Dixon

"Al Davis" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...