First of all I live in Thailand where the source of wine making
equipment is strictly limited. To date I have been "crushing" grapes
by hand, stomping, and rubbing through a plastic basket (similar to a
milk crate) and to be frank it is a lot of work and I would like to
build a crusher, possibly a crusher/destemer.

Does anyone have plans, a photograph, or any other data about the
internal parts, or any other information, regarding crushers and how
they are function?

I presently envision two geared rollers with adjustable spacing but
what material for the rollers? Stainless? Black iron? Can they be
smooth or do they need serration? What about the destemer portion?

I have a background in engineering and metal fabrication so the actual
building will not be a problem, it is in the details where the devils
lurk.

I've also posted to the wine makers but thought (hoped) that someone
on this group might have built a crusher. After all, there is no
reason a machinist cannot drink wine.

Any assistance, no matter how rudimentary, will be very greatly
appreciated.

Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:


I presently envision two geared rollers with adjustable spacing but
what material for the rollers? Stainless? Black iron? Can they be
smooth or do they need serration? What about the destemer portion?


Most of the newer small units are currently using rubber crusher
rollers, similar to a wringer for a washing machine except mounted so
the fruit drops through. As for the destemer, a picture would explain
better:

http://www.euromachinesusa.com/pdf/r...0_brochure.pdf
rauch_A8_A12_A20_brochure.pdf

This example is a little greater capacity than you probably need.

Russ

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
Does anyone have plans, a photograph, or any other data about the
internal parts, or any other information, regarding crushers and how
they are function?


From the same supplier, I previously linked to, here is the parts sheet
for those units:
http://www.euromachinesusa.com/pdf/R...pare_parts.pdf
Rauch_A12_A20_spare_parts.pdf



Russ

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:41:16 GMT, Russ wrote:

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:
Does anyone have plans, a photograph, or any other data about the
internal parts, or any other information, regarding crushers and how
they are function?


From the same supplier, I previously linked to, here is the parts sheet
for those units:
http://www.euromachinesusa.com/pdf/R...pare_parts.pdf
Rauch_A12_A20_spare_parts.pdf



Russ

I thank you sir. It is a little more commercial then I need but it
does give me an idea of how one works.

Again, thank you.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

It is a little more commercial then I need but it
does give me an idea of how one works.

I suspected as much.
I thought that the pictures would give you the general idea. I had the
links close at hand without looking for them.
I repair, similar, and larger, stemmer-crushers and fabricate other
vineyard equipment.
For my personal use, I usually use a small antique crusher unit that
only has capacity of a few hundred pounds an hour and cam type rollers
of a cast aluminum. It will fit over a half barrel or plastic tub, I
usually do the destemming by hand. I have the luxury of using one of
the neighbors larger units, if, I need to do more.
For some winemaking styles, the winemakers are opening the rollers up
just wide enough to lightly squeeze a berry and removing the destemmer
allowing the stems to go through the rollers with only a very light
crush to the combined must of stems and berries.

Russ

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:34:11 GMT, Russ wrote:

Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

It is a little more commercial then I need but it
does give me an idea of how one works.

I suspected as much.
I thought that the pictures would give you the general idea. I had the
links close at hand without looking for them.
I repair, similar, and larger, stemmer-crushers and fabricate other
vineyard equipment.
For my personal use, I usually use a small antique crusher unit that
only has capacity of a few hundred pounds an hour and cam type rollers
of a cast aluminum. It will fit over a half barrel or plastic tub, I
usually do the destemming by hand. I have the luxury of using one of
the neighbors larger units, if, I need to do more.
For some winemaking styles, the winemakers are opening the rollers up
just wide enough to lightly squeeze a berry and removing the destemmer
allowing the stems to go through the rollers with only a very light
crush to the combined must of stems and berries.

Russ

That sounds more like what I would want. I usually crush around 150
Lbs. at a time (which is a lot by hand) and wanted something to sit on
a barrel and pour the grapes in and crank the handle. I'll even be
glad to pick the stems off by hand.

What I am thinking about is some sort of two roller device, perhaps
with the rolls geared to rotate together that will essentially just
break the berry. I believe that I will need some form of serration,
grooves, or whatever, to keep the grapes from just sitting on top of
the smooth rollers.

One Idea is to modify an existing set of rolls, actually used for
softening dried squid. The have brass rolls about 1-1/2 inch in
diameter, about 8 - 10 inches long, with quite deep serration but the
separation between the rollers is adjustable and I am considering
modifying one of these by adding a hopper to direct the grapes into
the rollers and a mount to hold the thing on the side of a barrel.

I could willing buy a crusher but the shipping from even Australia is
shocking. Apparently most companies use DHL and DHL is a door to door
service and by the time they pay your customs and get a fee for that
along with all their other charges the shipping often equals or costs
more then the purchase cost.

But thank you for the information as it gives me some more ideas.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:09:40 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

First of all I live in Thailand where the source of wine making
equipment is strictly limited. To date I have been "crushing" grapes
by hand, stomping, and rubbing through a plastic basket (similar to a
milk crate) and to be frank it is a lot of work and I would like to
build a crusher, possibly a crusher/destemer.

Does anyone have plans, a photograph, or any other data about the
internal parts, or any other information, regarding crushers and how
they are function?
snip

Take a look at this Google patent search:

http://www.google.com/patents?q=wine...tents&n um=20

A few highlights that may be of interest:

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=581994

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=120400

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=88329

I'm sure you should be able to get some ideas from this. I'm
way out of my area of knowledge, other than finding ideas

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:42:56 -0400, Leon Fisk
wrote:

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:09:40 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:

First of all I live in Thailand where the source of wine making
equipment is strictly limited. To date I have been "crushing" grapes
by hand, stomping, and rubbing through a plastic basket (similar to a
milk crate) and to be frank it is a lot of work and I would like to
build a crusher, possibly a crusher/destemer.

Does anyone have plans, a photograph, or any other data about the
internal parts, or any other information, regarding crushers and how
they are function?
snip

Take a look at this Google patent search:

http://www.google.com/patents?q=wine...tents&n um=20

A few highlights that may be of interest:

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=581994

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=120400

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=88329

I'm sure you should be able to get some ideas from this. I'm
way out of my area of knowledge, other than finding ideas


Thanks for pointers. You must be much craftier then me as I wasn't
able to locate anything more then a thumbnail of the outside of one.

Thanks much.


Bruce-in-Bangkok
(correct email address for reply)