How to Crush Grapes for Wine Making

Making wine is not only for professionals. Wineries often offer the opportunity for anyone to make their own bottle of wine, charging about $10 and up. Part of the process of making your own wine is crushing the grapes. Crushing the grapes can take some time, so be sure to allow enough in this important part of the making wine experience.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Grapes
• Feet or large utensil
• Aluminum bin
• Jars

1. Select grapes to make wine. If grapes are store bought, ensure there is no mold, disease or insects on them.

2. Separate the grapes from the stalks and rinse grapes thoroughly.

3. Decide which way you would like to crush your grapes. Depending on how much wine you are making, crush the grapes with your hands or stomp the grapes with your feet or a large utensil with a flat surface.

4. Use a large commercial sized aluminum bin to put the grapes in for stomping.

5. Stomp grapes until they turn to mushy liquid. Don't be afraid of them, stomp hard.

6. Place the mush into earthen jars and place them in the refrigerator to prevent fermentation right away. This period before fermentation maximizes flavor from the skins.

Tips & Warnings

• Vinifera grapes are the best grapes to use for wine making. They produce popular varieties like cabernet, chardonnay and merlot.

• Making white wine is a more tedious process and requires a crushing machine that can press the juice off the skins.

• Feet must be extremely clean so you don't get dirt or fungus in the crushed grapes. Avoid stomping grapes if you have any type of open wound on your feet.