Grape crusher: how to make it with your own hands from improvised materials
The grape crusher is an indispensable thing in the vineyard. It allows you to quickly and qualitatively crush the berries and separate them from the bunch. With this method grape seeds are practically not damaged. This is very important because they contain tannins, which significantly impair the taste of the future wine. It is not difficult to make a grape press at home, and you can use a variety of materials.
Grape presser – why do you need one?
A bunch of grapes consists of berries, they are attached to a strange skeleton of branches, which is called a comb. It takes a long time to separate the berries from the comb, which is completely unacceptable for the harvest. Devices called crushers are designed to speed up this process. They perform two functions:
- Destroy the integrity of the berry, which speeds up the release of juice and fermentation.
- They detach the berries from the herbarium.
Iron, plastic and wood are used for the production of crushers. The latter material is the most environmentally friendly. According to the type of drive of the bunches are:
- Manual;
- Electric .
When processing significant volumes of berries, it is advisable to use a crusher with an electric drive. If the harvest is small, the manual “Mühle” is enough.
Gros s-breu c-step C-i-step C-instruction on how to make
One device of this type is best preferred for self-made. For this they require:
- 50×50 oak sticks to make the frame.
- Oak boards, plywood, sheet metal or plastic to make hoppers.
- Wooden rolls – 2 pcs.
- Gears to size – 2 pcs.
- Lever.
- A can for collecting pulp.
First it is necessary to assemble the frame from oak sticks into rolls. The length of the frame depends on the diameter of the pulp collecting vessel, on which such a nail is mounted. The width of the inside of the frame should be slightly greater than the length of the rollers.
Inside the frame at a distance of 2-3 mm are mounted wooden rollers-ribs, whose shape is shown in the figure above. On the outside, staves are mounted on their axes. The rollers can be made independently of round billets, such as stones. As one option, the old rollers are used for spinning from the washing machine from the activator type. You need to drill six lines with a diameter of 10 mm to a depth of 5 mm.
A handle is attached to one of the rollers, which is driven. Then a receiving hopper is installed in the upper part. It can be made of any material. It comes in the form of a reverse pyramid. Now it remains only to install the crusher on the container for the collection of pulp. It is necessary to turn the handle so that the rollers turned to each other, pull the berries into the space between them and crush them like a press.
After the home-made birdwatcher is assembled and tested, you can engage in its improvement. For example, to equip the wolves with an electric drive. To do this, you need to install a pulley instead of the handle and use an electric motor with belt drive for rotation. A drill or a screwdriver can be connected as a motor.
In order to separate the combs, an additional device called a destemmer can be installed. It is a grid mounted on the reel. Above it there is a screw mechanism, which is activated by turning the crank of the drum drive.
The blades of this device constantly stir the grape mass, berries are separated from the ridges, fall through the grid, and then fall on the shafts of the crusher. Such a device can be made with your own hands from stainless steel.
After each use, the crusher should be thoroughly washed to avoid the appearance of mold.
Option for the lazy
For accelerated processing of grapes, you can use an ordinary drill or a screwdriver with a mixer attachment. This method is good because it does not require special equipment.
The negative side is that together with the berry, many small ridges get into the pulp. And not all berries can be crushed. Instead of a standard construction mixer, you can use a homemade propeller-shaped stainless steel knife. This will allow you to mix the berries more evenly. However, it is recommended to use this method on berries cleaned of ridges.
How to make a crusher for grapes by yourself
Wine production begins the moment the harvest arrives for processing. In the past, grapes were crushed exclusively by hand (more precisely, by feet: the grapes were crushed by feet in special vats). The first grape press appeared in Spain at the beginning of the 17th century.
Home-made grape crusher
Today, wineries use high-performance equipment, capable of processing dozens of tons of incoming raw materials in an hour.
In the household, you can do with a small device. However, the production of small machines was discontinued in the mid-80s of the last century. Therefore, livestock breeders are forced to create them with their own hands or seek the help of proven specialists.
features of the device
Self-made crusher for grapes is made according to several schemes.
- Roller device, in which two parallel rollers of a special shape rotate;
- Crusher with a mechanism that performs reciprocating movement. In this sequence, the raw material portions are crushed and moved to the storage tank;
- Crusher with crushing action. In them, the activator rotates in the grape mass, its blades actively affect the berries, breaking them;
- Hammer units have a shaft, on it there is a rotor. Along the perimeter there are axes, to the axes are suspended hammer plates. When rotating under the action of centrifugal force, the plates diverge in different directions. The incoming raw material falls on a perforated deck in the plates’ impact zone. The berries are broken up and pushed into a pulp (crushed fruit and berry raw material) into a collector;
- screw machines. There is a snail with a variable pitch. Grape crusher compresses and moves the incoming mass, grapes are squeezed, juice is extracted from them. The crushed grapes from the crushing area are pressed and transferred to the wine fermentation process;
- Eccentrics: these consist of a cylinder with a second cylinder that rotates. In a certain position, the raw mass is compressed, the berries are crushed and the juice flows out. The resulting pulp is squeezed through the perforated surface of the outer cylinder.
Important: For production we use materials that do not react chemically with the juice: stainless steel, plastic, glass or wood.
After processing a certain amount of fruit and berry raw material, the plants are washed with alkaline solutions and then rinsed with clean water.
destemmers
An important variant of mechanical device is a destemmer. It separates the combs (brushes) from the berries. The principle of operation is that the size of the branches greatly exceeds the flow area u200bu200bt perforations.
- Centrifugal type, berries are separated from the combs under the action of centrifugal force;
- Shaking process: the stalk of ripe grapes is easily broken, the grapes are separated into components;
- Paddle type: the blades are located on a rotating shaft, this creates a translational motion (the entire mass moves on a cylindrical surface with holes, the pulp falls down and the combs are driven in a different direction).
Step by step instructions for manufacturing
construction
The crusher can be made by yourself
To make a crusher for grapes with their own hands, it is necessary to develop a sketch or drawing of the future product.
Of all the design options, the easiest to make is the roller device: it actively pushes the grapes.
In advanced designs, the distance between the rollers is adjustable.
hopper
Crushers should have a hopper for 10-20 kg of grape mass. Plastic, wooden boards or stainless steel sheets should be used.
The hopper has a wide part at the top and narrows at the bottom: this shape allows you to press the product directly to the active working body.
drive mechanism
A small homemade grape crusher is equipped with a handle: its axis is a continuation of one of the rollers.
For large-scale processing, an electric drive is required. However, it should be remembered that the speed of rotation of the shaft should not be more than 3-4 rpm. Gearmotor with rotation speed of 180-240 rpm is used. Power of about 1-2 kW is required.
Container for berries
Homemade crusher can be table or on its own frame.
The container for the pulp is put under the product. Plastic buckets are used for products, which facilitates the transfer of semi-finished products to the container for fermentation.
making elements
Inside, wooden rollers are installed. The basis are rollers of birch or lime.
Slats (glass beads) are used for the protrusions of the grape crusher.
- Measure the length of the pins.
- Saw off 6 glazes (12 in total).
- Cylinders (rocks) are divided into 6 parts.
- Parts of the glazing beads are nailed with copper or brass nails – the rollers are ready.
Elements of the hopper are cut out of plywood 4-6 mm thick. Fragments are fastened to each other with copper screws or nails. Finished parts are impregnated with hot drying oil or external primer (double coat).
For the homemade grape crusher and rollers installation choose closed bearings, which are attached to the outside of the hopper. Stainless steel or bronze housings are used.
Installing an electric chopper
Electric drive facilitates the processing of berries.
Installation must be made on a frame. It can be made of wooden bars section (40×40 mm) or welded from profile pipes (25×25 mm).
Electric grape press is equipped with a motor-reducer with a rotation speed of 180-240 rpm. To drive the shaft of the destemmer, a chain gear is used. You can use sprockets from a bicycle.
Installation of the crusher with comb separator
This grape crusher has a cresting mechanism installed under the rollers. It is a mesh half-cylinder made of stainless steel with 15×15 mm meshes.
The shaft is made of birch wood cuttings. The blades are made of 0,8-1,5 mm thick plate (stainless steel). They are attached to the shaft with copper or brass screws. It is mounted in such a way that when rotating, there is a movement in the horizontal plane.
The half cylinder is bent out of a stainless steel grid. The distance between the blades and the wall remains no more than 5 mm.
The crushed berries fall through the cells and the combs are moved to unload.
How to use
Check the quality of separation of the part of the comb from the berries and the number of undivided grapes.
- The portion of bunches of grapes is usually 10-20 kg.
- A container is set to collect the pulp.
- The grapes are poured into the hopper.
- The electric motor is switched on.
- The prepared part of the raw material is processed.
Now we need to analyze the results. The mass of the grapes is weighed, then the pulp is weighed.
The sum of both masses is compared to the mass of the original raw material. The resulting mass is recorded in the report. Homemade grape shells lose no more than 1-2% of the initial mass.
On the way is analyzed the number of ridges caught on the pulp. No more than 1% of the particles separated in the comb separator are considered satisfactory. After obtaining a result on the specified tolerance, the workflow is analyzed. Attempts are made to improve efficiency.
The quality of the pulp is checked. Undamaged berries should not be more than 3%. Efficiency can be increased by reducing the roller gap. Some wineries install a two-level valve system, with the raw material passing through a double border.
