At first I planned to buy a 76 liter Italian basket press, but then I wanted to make a press myself. I started searching the web for photos of vintage basket presses for grapes in order to take a closer look at the design. Also, I carefully read wine blogs. As a result, in the blog of Denis Rudenko, an article Wine press - from cave to hi-tech winery and on Facebook at Vladimir Tsepelik I found what I was looking for. Further easier. We make a drawing, then we draw in isometry and make a layout by elements. Now you need to find where to buy dry oak and a workshop in which to process it. I was lucky - in the very first woodworking shop where I applied and where they sell dry oak, I met the owners. They turned out to be "garage winemakers", and even specializing in the production of brandy, i.e. they make dry wine, then distill it into grape spirit and age it in oak barrels. This is where we agreed. I express to them a huge! THANK YOU! for help.
1. it all starts with a drawing
2. fuganim - that is, we align two of the four sides 
3. sawing 
4. I do the press :-) 
5. drawing 
6. resmus allows us to make the necessary parts of a given thickness the same 
7. cut the dies for the basket 
8. have lunch (at a party) 
9. we trim the parts to the size we need 
10. end up 
11. first result! now all these details should take shape, they just need to be assembled according to the diagram 
12. measure right angles 
13. drill and screw 
14. assemble the frame
A grape press is an essential tool in any winemaker's arsenal. True, the prices for this unit in the factory version are very high. Therefore, many owners of vineyards prefer to make this device on their own. Moreover, there is nothing supernatural in this unit. In extreme cases, grapes can be crushed with your feet, and very successfully, as Adriano Celentano demonstrated in the famous film. But it is more correct to use special tools for this. You can make a grape press with your own hands from the simplest materials at hand.
Press designs
It is unlikely that for the extraction of juice from two or three kilograms of grapes it is worth collecting a press. For this purpose, a meat grinder or blender is quite suitable, with which you can chop the berries and then squeeze the juice through gauze. If we are talking about tens of kilograms, then you definitely can’t do without a press.
For high-quality squeezing of berries for the purpose of making juice or wine, many devices of their own manufacture are used. Drawings of homemade presses for squeezing berries can be found without difficulty. The two most common types of presses are:
- lever;
- screw.
The former are easier to make. Their disadvantage is that even with the use of a lever, the squeezing force is not enough for high-quality squeezing of berries. And getting something from the second or third spin will be almost impossible.
Lever Type Crusher
Crushing one grape with your hands is easy. It is quite another when there are thousands of these berries. Together they create serious resistance to compression, so the force must be appropriate. The easiest thing to do in this case is to use a lever.
For the manufacture of such primitive crushes, hardwood bars can be used. Of course, it will not be possible to qualitatively squeeze the pulp with such devices. Yes, and labor productivity will leave much to be desired. If you put up with increased losses and have nothing else in stock, then you can build such simple devices. The undoubted advantage of such homemade products is ease of manufacture. In addition, by actually squeezing berries by hand, at the same time you can bring yourself into good physical shape.
Screw wringers
The principle of operation of a screw press is to create a constant pressure, controlled by tightening a screw with a thrust thread. The pressure of such a mechanical press is much higher than the lever one, besides, the constant force of the impact expels the juice from the pulp better.
But greater efforts require greater structural strength, so it is better to make it from metal. The screw press consists of the following parts:
- support frame;
- screw with handle;
- piston;
- pallet;
- separator basket.
This design allows you to squeeze juice quite efficiently, and not only from grapes, but also from more dense fruits. It can even be used for tough fruits like apples. The frame design is both fully welded and collapsible. Such a press works as follows. Rotating the handle, the screw is turned out to the end. A stainless steel tray is installed on the frame, which acts as a bottom and at the same time collects the juice. A basket with loaded berries is installed under the piston.
To reduce losses from splashes, it is advisable to make a solid fence around the separator from a thin stainless sheet. By turning the screw handle, the piston creates pressure, squeezing out the juice, which flows onto the tray and from there is discharged into another container.
Instead of a screw in such a frame structure, you can use a conventional manual screw or hydraulic jack. It is installed in the gap between the piston and the upper edge of the frame.
Gradually raising the jack and placing thick bars under it, you can achieve the same result as on a screw press.
When using a hydraulic jack, it is important to prevent hydraulic fluid or oil from getting on the berries.
DIY screw press
The most difficult thing when making a screw press on your own is to find a pair of screw - running nut. Well, if there is a familiar turner, to whom this pair can be ordered.
For the manufacture of the frame, you will need a metal profile 40x40 or a corner. It can be made both collapsible, fastening the parts with bolts, and all-welded. The frame is a U-shaped profile connected at the bottom with a cruciform base.
A round metal platform is attached to the base, on which the pallet will be installed. A running nut is fixed in the upper part of the frame with bolts or welding. The pallet can be made from a sheet of duralumin or stainless steel by simply bending it around the edges.
The height and width of the frame must be calculated based on the dimensions of the separator basket. Taking into account the diameter of the basket, a wooden piston is also made, which is several fastened wooden bars, sawn around the circumference.
To prevent the screw from splitting the piston, a thick metal plate is installed at the contact point.
wooden basket
The separator basket is a kind of sieve that retains the pulp, but lets the juice through. Traditionally it is made of stainless steel. But you can make it yourself from wooden blocks (it is advisable to use oak or other hardwoods) and metal tape.
At home, the easiest way is to make a non-separable separator. To do this, the bars at regular intervals are attached to the tape using stainless steel screws, leaving a small gap between them. Then this kind of mat is wrapped around the piston to fix the desired diameter. After that, twist the last pair of screws. Such a wooden barrel with slots will quite successfully replace stainless steel.
For greater convenience, the separator can be made collapsible. To do this, you can assemble it from two halves by connecting them with pins. Washing this design will be much easier.
Important! When using a wooden separator, be sure to rinse and dry it after wringing it to avoid mold infection!
A grape press is often used in the preparation of grape juice and wine. It is popular not only in small private farms, but also in industry. Such devices are of different types, manual, electric, and if you wish, you can make a grape press with your own hands.
What is a grape press
A grape press is a machine that extracts juice from grapes. Such juice can be used simply for making wine, but it is very concentrated, so it is often diluted while drinking. But most often a grape press is used in the preparation of high-quality must.
During the extraction of grape juice by a press, the bones are almost never crushed, which means that the taste of the must does not deteriorate.
The device is a pressure device. When grapes are poured into the basket, the squeezing process begins. The piston under pressure crushes the grapes and the juice begins to ooze out of it, falling into a large canister. When the tap on the tank is opened, the juice flows out. Thus, it is convenient to bottle, jar. The juice from the grapes is squeezed 2-3 times, of course, the highest quality product is obtained during the first pressing.
Types of presses
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When choosing a grape press, you need to consider what type of device will work best and bring many benefits.
What materials are used for presses
In order for the press mechanism to work correctly, many different parts are used that are made of various materials. But depending on what material dominates in the press, they are of several types, the most popular of which are only two.
- The wooden press is environmentally friendly and safe. In such a press, you can make high-quality juice. However, a wooden press requires careful and proper care, disinfection, otherwise it will not last long.
Experienced winemakers do not advise squeezing juice from one batch of grapes more than 3 times. After the 3rd spin, the raw materials need to be changed!
- The metal press is made of cast iron or stainless steel. Such material is hygienic, easy to clean, durable. If the metal is of good quality, then it will not spoil the smell or taste of the juice.
How to make a do-it-yourself grape press
The price categories of a grape press depend on the material from which it is made, size, functionality, characteristics and some other qualities. And yet it is not a cheap mechanism. Therefore, many growers make a press for squeezing grapes with their own hands.
The dimensions of the various parts depend on the size of the press needed, so they may differ in different cases. You can take a large or small basket for grapes, and the rest of the details, their dimensions depend on this, the main element. This is important to consider! So, how to make a grape press with your own hands?
- The first thing to do is a basket for fresh grapes. To do this, you can take an old tank, a drum from a washing machine, a large pan, or something like that. Holes are made in the walls of this container in a checkerboard pattern with a distance between holes of 2-3 cm and a distance between rows of 2-4 cm. The diameter of the holes should be small, only so that the juice can ooze.
- If you need a grape press for a long time, then it is better to find a stainless steel cylinder, or find a fine stainless steel mesh and make a cylinder from it. This design is not subject to rust, does not oxidize and will not give the juice a metallic taste.
You can make a grape press with your own hands not only from metal, but also from wood, but it will take more time and effort, otherwise the design will be unreliable.
Now the structure is assembled and tested. A basket filled with grapes is placed in a basin with a faucet. Next, install in a frame with a press. The basket with grapes is closed with a pancake and placed exactly under the jack. When the jack begins to unwind, under its action the pancake crushes the grapes and juice oozes out of it. Grape juice enters the basin through the holes of the cylinder, and drains through the tap. To get a purer juice, it is filtered through cheesecloth or a sieve.
As you can see, the design is quite simple, but it also needs to be properly looked after, otherwise it will not last long. After each use, all components are washed and dried. And while working, the grapes are choked intermittently so that too much pressure is not created inside, then it will be of high quality.
I grow grapes, black mountain ash and other berries on my personal plot. I decided to use part of the harvest for juice. To do this, I made a reliable and easy-to-use press from improvised materials.
Wooden container for the press
I assembled a barrel from parquet planks, consisting of two parts (see photo 1, item 1). The slats of each half were fixed with rivets using four curved metal strips 1 mm thick (2) On the one hand, I connected the halves of the barrel with curtains (see photo 2), and on the other, attached two hooks for fixing in the closed position (3) According to the outer diameter of the container from galvanized sheet fabricated drain pan (4)
Assembling the berry press frame
I assembled a rectangular stand from boards and bars (5). On the opposite short sides of the base, I drilled three holes d 12 mm for fastening metal corners 100x100x6 mm, which I fixed with bolts and nuts M 12 (6). I welded two metal racks (7) to the corners, the length of which is equal to the height of the barrel. On each rack I welded brackets (8) 10 cm long for a jumper (9), which I made from a corner 50x50x4 mm and two plates, welding everything together. I drilled holes d 10 mm in the upper part of the brackets. In the center of the jumper, with the help of bolts, I fixed the bushing (10) with a thread for the clamping screw. The jumper at one end was fixed to one of the brackets with a bolt and nut M 10, it is attached to the other bracket with a locking handle (11)
Screw system for press
Piston system I made the screw (12) from a rod of suitable diameter, on which I cut the thread, and screwed it into the bushing. A piston (13) was cut out of a piece of metal 4 mm thick, a sleeve for the screw was welded in the center, a wooden pancake of a suitable diameter 4 cm thick was attached to the reverse side with self-tapping screws. Along the inner diameter of the barrel from a board 2 cm thick, with an electric jigsaw, I cut out a round lining for the piston (14) . which I cleaned with sandpaper. Additionally, from the bars with a section of 4x6 cm and a length of 25 cm, I cut out chocks (15), which I put between the piston and the lining (14), if there are few berries and the piston stroke is not enough to squeeze the juice out of them.
I put the collected berries or grapes into a manual press, put a juice container under the tray and tighten the screw. Juice flows like a river!
Do-it-yourself press for grapes and berries video
The question of how to quickly and efficiently process the grown crop is quite relevant for those who own large plots of land and are engaged in their processing. Many of the devices that help to effectively solve this problem can be made independently: for example, it will not be difficult to make a do-it-yourself grape press. Using such a useful device, you can quickly process even a large crop of grapes, prepare juice for the winter, make wine or grape vinegar. To make one, you do not need special knowledge and skills, the use of sophisticated equipment and expensive consumables.
What is a grape press
A juicer, working on the principle of a press, is a device with which you can squeeze juice not only from grapes, but also from other berries and fruits. The grape crusher consists of the following elements:
- carrier frame;
- a pallet in which the squeezed juice is collected;
- a barrel in which the juice is squeezed;
- an element with which the pressing of berries or fruits is carried out;
- a power screw that starts the pressing element;
- fine mesh acting as a filter element.
For pressing grapes, it is best to use a screw-type press. At the same time, white varieties of berries are pre-crushed, and red ones are processed after they lie down in a warm place for several days and begin to ferment.
The principle by which the press for squeezing grapes works is quite simple and is as follows: the raw material loaded into the basket-barrel is affected by a pressing element driven by a screw mechanism.
The most common materials from which grape presses are made are stainless steel and wood. Such materials, being environmentally friendly, do not emit harmful substances and, accordingly, do not adversely affect the quality of the finished product.
Homemade stainless steel crusher
In order to make a stainless steel grape press, in addition to a set of locksmith tools, you will need a welding machine, and some parts of such a device will need to be ordered from a turner. To make a press, it is not necessary to purchase new sheets of stainless steel; you can completely get by with the metal from which the tanks of failed washing machines are made.
A do-it-yourself steel press for grapes is made in the following sequence.
- Tanks from unnecessary washing machines are cut and from the resulting metal, using a welding machine, two cylindrical containers without a bottom are made. The height of both containers should be 24 cm, and the diameters should be 23 and 29 cm.
- A container of smaller diameter will serve as a basket into which berries will be loaded before pressing. In the walls of such a container along its entire perimeter, it is necessary to drill holes with a diameter of 8 mm, placing them in a checkerboard pattern. The outer container is necessary in order to ensure the collection of juice, which will exit through the holes in the walls of the basket when pressure is applied to the berries loaded into it. To ensure that the finished juice is drained from the outer container, a cutout must be made in its lower part.
- To install an outer cylinder with a basket, it is necessary to make a pallet with sides, one of the sides of which should be beveled to provide more convenient draining of the squeezed juice. From the narrowed side of the pallet, from where the juice will drain, there should not be a side.
- As a punch that will put pressure on the raw materials loaded into the basket, you can use a flange with a diameter of 21 cm. Such a flange is connected by welding to a screw rod, which can be used as a screw from a water valve. A head with a hole for the handle is welded to the top of the screw, with the help of which it will be rotated.
- Paired with a screw, at the lower end of which a punch is fixed, a nut welded into the upper horizontal jumper of the U-shaped frame works. To ensure high stability of the frame of a homemade grape press, it is concreted into the floor or securely fixed to the desktop surface with screws.
We recommend to perforate the working surface of the punch flange of the above design with a drill with a diameter of 4 mm, which will reduce the pressure on the side walls of the press basket. When making such a grape press, it is also desirable to weld bandage rings in the upper and lower parts of the basket, which will ensure that it is located exactly in the center of the outer container.
A home-made press made of steel elements can be used to press not only grapes, but also currants, chokeberries, apples and herbaceous raw materials. In order to extract the maximum amount of juice from certain types of vegetable raw materials, the latter must first be crushed using a conventional meat grinder or a special crusher for this purpose. Do-it-yourself grape crusher, as well as devices for similar purposes for other types of plant materials, can be made with minimal financial costs.
Wooden juicer
A more budgetary option for a do-it-yourself grape squeezer is a wooden press. To use such a device without an outer metal container, it must be equipped with a tray with high sides that will prevent the squeezed juice from splashing on the sides. In this case, the metal elements of a home-made press will be only a screw with a nut and drainage gratings, with which the layers of fabric bags with vegetable raw materials are shifted.
To make a basket of a wooden press for squeezing juice from grapes with a volume of 20 liters, it is necessary to prepare 20 boards 320x50x15 mm in size and, laying them in a row, fasten them together using self-tapping screws and two stainless steel strips 0.5–1 mm thick. When connecting the boards from which the walls of the press basket will be formed, it is necessary to maintain a distance of 10-12 mm between them. After all the boards are connected to the metal strips, the resulting structure is folded into a cylinder, and the ends of the stainless steel strips are fastened together using a bolted connection. The result should be a lattice wooden basket with a diameter of 29 cm, the height of which is 32 cm.
The press for wine and grape juice, made of wood, can not be equipped with a metal thrust flange. The role of the punch in this case can be played by a wooden circle with a diameter of 27 mm, which is also pressed with a screw with a handle or a car jack installed at the top of the frame of the grape press.
