Greetings:
I saw on your website that you you sell grape presses… thought maybe you could help me. I have a grape press that is fairly old and would like to press some apple cider. I cannot find mesh bags that will fit inside the basket. Do you have any?
Thank You.
Lance S.
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Hello Lance,
Unfortunately, we do not carry any type of mesh bag to fit inside our grape presses’ baskets. Short of sewing one up from scratch, finding one to fit your older model may be difficult. There are just too many varying dimensions from one press manufacturer to the next.
It is our recommendation that you do not use a mesh liner in your grape press, anyway. A mesh liner will typically get caught up in the pressing plate unless it is a perfect fit. This can cause undue problems during pressing, slowing down the process.
A better way to go about this is to press the cider without any straining mesh in the basket. Instead, strain the apple cider as it pours off the grape presses’ spout into a plastic fermenter. We have a straining mesh for such a purpose. It is called a Filter Ease.
The Filter Ease is basically a fine nylon mesh with an elastic band–kind of shaped like an over-sized hair net. Just strap it around the brim of your plastic fermenter, and let it strain the apple cider at that point in the process.
As an alternative, we also have what’s called a Jumbo Fermentation Bag. This is a mesh bag with a draw string that is large enough to line the entire inside of a 5 or 6 gallon plastic fermenter. Just fill the plastic fermenter with the apple cider then lift the Jumbo Fermentation Bag out to collect the pulp. If you have a spigot on your fermenter, you can go straight to jugs from there.
Please realize that the amount of pulp that will be coming off the press won’t be that great. Obviously, there will be some but not to the extent that most people expect. It will not be that big of a deal.
I hope this information helps you out. If you have any more questions about making wine or just need a few wine making tips, please let us know. We’ll be more than happy to help you out.
Happy Wine Making
Customer Service
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Ed Kraus is a 3rd generation home brewer/winemaker and has been an owner of E. C. Kraus since 1999. He has been helping individuals make better wine and beer for over 25 years.
