When to Press Your Wine Grapes

Figuring out when to press wine is one of the more important decisions to be made when making red wine. In this video, I will suggest some considerations to take into account when deciding when to press your red wine. The wine that I am making is a Malbec from Chile.
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[@daviddiyanni9220]

Very nice video. I have been making wine for 10 years and I always try to learn something new each time. I learned a lot today. Thanks.

[@SixStrings165]

I read about covering the must with Saran Wrap directly on top of the must during prolonging time on the skins before press. I’m going to try that

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

It's funny you mention that. I was just thinking about that with the zinfandel I had going. I was pushing it pretty lomg and topping with CO2 but was thinking if there were some food grade plastic or the perfect sized stainless serving tray, I could just about eliminate the surface area. Saran wrap (PVDC) is interesting because it is also used to remove cork taint from wine. I am not sure if additional components of the wine would be altered by the wrap. Probably not to any perceivable level, considering how little wrap how much wine. If you do try it, please post an update either here or on the smart winemaking facebook group!

[@SirGolfalot-]

You made a good informative video. I have a similar manual press. I place a section of cheesecloth inside the strainer. I change it out, as the sludge builds, a few times during pressing.

[@SixStrings165]

Thanks for feedback. I did add sugar and pushed alcohol to 15% plus and must is at 70 degrees. Fermentation has slowed dramatically but is still slightly active. No off orders. The grapes were mixed in quality so I sulfated a little higher. I will test at press to see if free so2 is right for malolactic fermentation. Ch16 and Malo Opti plus

[@tomdeseyn7801]

Hi, I am new to this channel. I made wine from my own grapes the first time last fall. It went ok’ish But stil have to learn a lot. I have 83 vines. 13 pinot noir; 8 chardonnay, 30 regent and 32 johanniter. I live in Belgium. I keep checking your channel, guess I can learn a lot from you. Grts Tom

[@phaylon]

Great tip on pressing a little early to avoid the 'green' taste.

[@THESOHAILKHAN1992]

Recent subscriber. Have to watch all your videos. Quality contant

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Thank you!

[@MrRavipalsingh]

Nice video … I have a question they say wine oxidizes as soon as it touches air … so doesn’t it oxidize when pressing grapes

[@talonracer67]

Love your channel! One thing you didn't mention that I think it HUGE for red wine extraction is the use of enzymes like Lallzyme. If the grapes look good at crush I skip the sulfite and add Lallzyme at crush and let that sit for 24 hours or so before pitching yeast. Especially with Chilean grapes we've found they are sprayed with sulfite for the trip north. I just did a Carmenere that was 7 lugs (126lbs) of great looking grapes that had very little juice in them, I was hoping to get 8 gallons out of them. Well after primary fermentation and after pressing I got about 10.5 gallons, amazing and its all due to the enzymes.

[@jimdent351]

Do you have a video on using oak chips. There is far too much inconsistent information on the internet, and I just ruined a 5 gallon batch.

[@enzodepaola6160]

Hi . I pressed on day 8 but my hydrometer was at 1.1 0 ( just over 1000). It was still fermenting quite a bit . I usually press at .995 . How will this effect the wine ( I blended Merlot/ Cab/ Barbera ). Thank you

[@SixStrings165]

Great videos. I have a small vineyard of norton grapes and this is my first year making wine. My first batch was done from prior years harvest of frozen grapes. It went very well as I followed your info and smart winemaking directions as well as other books. That batch is stabilized and ready to begin aging. This years harvest is in the fermenter and down to 1 Brix after 3 1/2 days. 13% alcohol. Seems very fast. I want to leave on the skins for a bold red. You mentioned 10 days and I wonder if I can go that long. Got up to 90 then cooled to 80 now at 75. Still active.

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Thank you for the great feedback. If you can get it down to about 70 it should drag out a few more days. At 80 it ferments probably about about 4x faster than at 70. If you have pretty robust tannin, you can relatively safely leave it on the skins for a few days after fermentation, if you have some way of covering it up and reducing airflow. You will still want to churn up the lees once a day and sniff for any signs of oxidation. If you want a bigger bolder wine, you could always add about 1 to 1.5 oz of sugar per gallon to push you up about 0.5%abv and drag the fermentation out a couple more days.

[@silky-smooth]

If you have have minimal grapes of two varieties would you crush together to make a big batch or crush individually then mix afterwards? What approach would you take?

[@MrMusickey]

Curious, how do champagne makers press pinot noir grapes without the skin colouring the must?

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

They are whole-cluster pressing them, without crushing beforehand. Pinot noir are also thin skinned with less pigment than most other popular reds.

[@tyler5649]

If using oak chips would you add these to the first carboy or the second one once you've racked it off?

[@rajuthomas9288]

I bottled my wine. stored by laying down on a rack in the basement cold room.after one year I noticed that on the side of the bottle some resedue. what can I do. is it ok to drink? the wine taste is ok. I think the racking was not proper. I bottled after one month.

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

That is pretty normal if you bottled a wine before it fully settled. It is fine to drink.

[@jonathanc8513]

Thx for the extra tips!!

[@jimdent351]

My wine is fermented to 0.995 now and the cap is still continuing to rise. It's day 7 now and I know that minimal air contact is very important. Would you recommend pressing now or letting it go another few days. My concern in the gross lees causing odor and off flavor. Is it okay to gently stir every 24 hours and push the ferment for a couple more days. Thanks.

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

As long as you stir them up they should be fine. They are also very reductive. But they can start to Rob color if you stir them up too much. If you are in doubt always err on the side of caution until you are really sure where the limits are. You don't want to push it a little too long and lose a batch.

[@jimdent351]

@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel As always your replies are much appreciated and thorough. I think I'll push it a little longer still while giving it a gentle stir every 24 hours or so. Right now the aroma is nice still. I was just worried about oxidizing the batch trying to keep it stirred up.

[@georgeklitsidis6734]

Thanks for your videos, very helpful for me... recently started making wine at home. I’m in the market for a crusher/destemmer and notice you have a hand version. Are you happy with hand operated machine? If you had your time again would you still buy hand vs motorised? I would make around 100kg of red and similar for white. Regards

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

Thank you! I am very happy with the hand version of the crusher destemmer. I was planning on motorizing it but it would probably make things more inconvenient for the size batches that I run through. I can muscle around the non motorized version though it is easier with two people. The motorized would definitely be a two person job to move around. The crank turns really easy. It is more work moving around the crushed must than it is cranking the crusher destemmer.

[@kh-tu4jz]

Well done! Very informative video! Question: How do you clean and sanitize your press before/after use?

[@newelljansen838]

Well done!

[@mipcstv]

Love the pun

[@jimrichmond5973]

Where are you getting your grapes? CFP , sunfresh or elswhere?

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

I get them from CFP and some from small vineyards in Erie. I believe Sunfresh only sells juice.

[@jimrichmond5973]

@@TheHomeWinemakingChannel They do grapes from Regina. seem to be central valley. We use CFP but lanza prices are getting out of hand.

[@marilynmerlot2369]

What size is your press in this video?

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

4 gallons. It is a good size for home use. You can press about 150lbs of must in two cycles. I think it is a little better to go undersized on a press than oversized. I have pressed about 750lbs in one go but it was about a four hour job.

[@blairjolley]

Where do you get your grapes from? Can you share your sources to order from?

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

I get most of my grapes from CFP Winemakers in Pittsburgh. They are an offshoot of Consumer Produce. If you have a local business that imports produce for grocery stores, they may be able to also get you wine grapes. In Pittsburgh there are a few places that do it and they are all in the produce business. If you live near a wine region you may also be able to go straight to the wineries for grapes. If you need them shipped directly to you, you could try Peter Brehm grapes. They come already crushed and destemmed and I believe frozen. For fresh grapes you will need to wait until the harvest. The southern hemisphere is usually late April to mid May. The northern is mid September through late October.

[@danielhughes6896]

How do winemakers get away with this amount of oxygen exposure post ferment?

[@TheHomeWinemakingChannel]

In the days just after fermentation, the wine is still in a pretty good spot as far as oxygen is concerned. It is usually pretty high in reactive tannin and anthocyanin that are just looking for an oxygen molecule as a catalyst to help link them together and lock in the color. It is still full of alive but dormant yeast cells that can respirate 02. Most yeast strains will create a tiny bit of SO2 naturally which is mostly gone by now but was scavenging oxygen along the way. And it is for the most part saturated with CO2. In some cases the wine can even lean a little too reductive (Hydrogen Sulfide) at the time of pressing and need quite a bit of oxygen to bring it back to center. Occasionally if the pH was a little high coming into pressing, making the wine a lot more vulnerable to oxidative organisms, I will give it a small dose of SO2 before pressing to help bind up the oxygen. But as compared to beer, the pH of wine is so low, the alcohol is so high, and the oxygen scavenging ability is off the charts early on like this. It is not until things start to settle out and the wine is off the gross lees that oxygen exposure becomes a real concern.

[@hugohernandez2362]

My father in law leaves it open air approximately 7 days post fermentation. His wine is pretty good. I am not that risky. I keep my wine on the skins 8 days from the date that I crush. Once fermentation is done, I close the lid and add the air lock and keep the skins on for a few more days. I get a colour that I am happy with. Next year I will try to keep it on a bit longer.