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Chambourcin |
Crushing / De-Stemming Step 2 |
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| After our visit to the vineyard we returned to my friend Dave's house, where we setup his crusher - destemmer. This is the next step in the winemaking process. By crushing the grapes, some of the precious tannins are released, a very important part of the process for red wines. |
Crushing & DeSteming serves as a 2 part procedure that the manual machine helps with. By crushing the grapes we break the skins, thereby releasing juice, color and tannins. DeSteming removes the unwanted stems that could otherwise make a wine bitter. |
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Close up of the stems as they are discarded and dropped into a cart for disposal. Some people may use the stems for mulch or compost heap |
Discarded stems fall into the cart for easy removal. The Crusher DeStemmer is an ideal machine used for this purpose. There are also electric machines for larger jobs, but this crusher destemmer is perfect for the winemaker that wants to do Ton or two of grapes and has a buddy to help and take turns cranking the wheel. |
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| The final lug was emptied into the crusher destemmer slowly by one person, while the other cranks the wheel that turns the jaws to break the skins of the grapes. This part of the process took us about 15 to 20 minutes to crush and de stem 110 pounds of Chambourcin grapes. |
We took turns cranking the wheel and feeding the grapes into the hopper. The whole time we were adding the fruit, we also did a quality inspection. Look for bad, damaged or rotten / dried out grapes, and remove. Only the best fruit should be used. For us this was almost a no brainer as we cut the grapes ourselves, and quality checked them before we cut. |
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| The crusher destemmer sat on top of a 50 gallon bucket, where the broken grapes and free run juice fell into. All plastic buckets used must be of a food grade quality. |
The last of the grapes and juice are dumped into another smaller 15 gallon bucket for the next step "Fermentation". We still need to add a few chemicals to help with fermentation process. |
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| Shown above is the Must, ready for part two of the crushing / desteming process. After the must has been treated with the enzyme we will additionally add some sulphite to kill the wild yeast, and thereby allowing us as winemakers to control the fermentation. Next step is to get the must home. |
The must is first stirred up then treated with a powder Pectic Enzyme. This chemical will break down the skins yielding more juice and aid in the clearing process later on. The enzyme treatment is a very important step that is required to obtain an optimum quantity of juice. |
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Before we depart Dave's house we run 1 final 3-part test using the Triple Scale Hydrometer. We will check the SG or Specific Gravity 1st, then the Brix or the sugar content 2nd, followed by a temperature reading 3rd. A must for all winemakers is to take notes and adjust as needed later.
On a side note: Today's weather was great. A perfect fall day with temperatures at about a constant 60 degrees, and lots of sun. All in all a great day for picking our grapes. |
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