Jason and Jim, our friend from winery, returned yesterday with 2 tons (4 bins) of Merlot from Chandlers Reach Vineyards. This morning we started early on the crush trying out our new setup. We had to rush to try to beat the first fall storm as well as get done so we could all get ready for Elise’s big 40th party. Things started out ok but we did run into some problems along the way.
The day before, the fork lift company came by with our new longer forks so we could safely use the dumper on the bins. This morning, Jason and I positioned the crusher, adjusted “the funnel” and setup the pump for our new crush configuration. With everything ready to go, Jason got the first bin and positioned it for dumping.
Things were going well for the first bin, but we seemed to be getting a few too many skins coming out with the stems and the crusher was bogging down occasionally. We made a few starts and stops and many adjustments along with a gas station stop for more Propane, but finally got it going. I think in the end I was not running the must pump quite right and the must coming out of the crusher was backing up. We now thinking we’ll have to adjust our must pump setup and maybe go with our two long tubes instead of using the short one to the crusher. All in all, things worked out okay and we will continue to refine the setup, but are probably close.
Thanks to Jim and Lisa for their help today as well as The Haavik.
– Bob
Again here are a couple of photos and a movie taken by Robinâ?¦ semi official photographer:
Bob and Jason Discussing the setup
Dave Waiting for More Grapes
Ready to Dump the Grapes
Jim Getting the Last of the Grapes
The New Setup
