Dear Wineo’s…
After hosting many picks over the years I find it useful to remind folks to “plan ahead” for picking grapes, hauling grapes and transporting grapes and/or must home to make wine.
Every year I see folks struggling to know how many pounds of grapes to pick, or wondering how many pounds they have picked.
Then they struggle to transport their grapes from the vineyards to the checkout location so they can weigh and pay (in cash) for the grapes and use the crusher/destemmer.
So, here’s some good advise. For picking, use 5 gallon or 6 gallon buckets. Why? Because most people can carry one or two buckets, and they have handles making them easier to haul. A 5 gallon plastic bucket will hold about 25 lbs of grapes. A 6 gallon bucket will hold about 30 lbs of grapes.
For collecting grapes into a larger container. Ideally, use 32 gallon plastic trash cans or fermenters. Why? Because when full of grapes they weigh about 120 to 150 pounds and have carrying handles. Two people can load them in a car or truck.
If you use larger containers (like 55 gal plastic drums) they can weigh much more than 150 lbs when full of grapes and do not have handles making them difficult to load and unload.
The important thing here is, use containers with handles, and, don’t put more than about 100 to 150 lbs of grapes in any one container.
I see people show up every year using several different size containers and not having any idea of how many pounds of grapes they are picking. They may want 150 lbs of grapes and pick 100 lbs or 200 lbs of grapes because they have no idea about how many pounds grapes their containers will hold.
The answer; Be consistent. Use 5 gallon or 6 gallon plastic buckets for picking. A 5 gallon plastic bucket will hold about 25 lbs of grapes. A 6 gallon bucket will hold about 30 lbs of grapes.
You can buy 5 gallon plastic food grade buckets from Tractor Supply for around $3.00 each.
You can buy 32 gallon round white food-grade Rubbermaid BRUTE utility waste container with lid, for hauling grapes and fermenting, at Lowes or Home Depot for under $60.00. Order on line or at the store. Container: Cat # FG263200WHT, Lid: Cat # FG263100WHT.
A TRUE STORY FOR YOU…
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how to pick and haul grapes and must. So let me tell you a true story.
Last year myself and my buddy Anthony picked about 500 lbs of excellent Oakley Zinfandel.
We started about 7am and were done and back home by 10am.
We took the grapes to my house where we crushed and destemmed them.
We filled two 32 gallon fermenters with must to just above the 20 gallon mark on each fermenter.
To pick the grapes we used four 6 gallon white food grade buckets. Two for me and two for him.
Each bucket when filled held about 28 to 30 lbs of grapes.
Each bucket of grapes was dumped into one of four 32 gallon white food grade fermenters.
Each 32 gallon fermenter when filled held just over 100 lbs of grapes.
Four full 32 gallon fermenters held a total of about 400 lbs of grapes.
We filled our four 6 gallon buckets with grapes.
At the end of the pick we had four 32 gallon fermenters full of grapes (a little over 400 lbs) and four 6 gallon buckets of grapes (a little over 100 lbs of grapes) for a total of about 500+ lbs of grapes.
Each of us could easily carry two buckets of grapes (50 to 60 lbs total).
The two of us could easily move and load each of the 32 gallon fermenters (about 100 lbs of grapes each).
After hauling the grapes home and running them thru the crusher/destemmer we set the two 32 gallon fermenters in place and filled them equally with must (about 42 gallons of must total).
After fermentation we ended up with about 28 to 30 gallons of juice.
Which will make about 12 or 13 cases of wine.
A quick review;
- Four (4) Six gallon buckets for picking
- Four (4) Thirty-Two gallon fermenters for hauling grapes
- Total pick: A little over 500 lbs of grapes
- Two (2) Thirty-Two gallon fermenters for fermenting 500 lbs of grapes (the same fermenters we used for hauling grapes)
Equals about 12 to 13 cases of finished wine
You can buy 32 gallon round white food-grade Rubbermaid BRUTE utility waste container with lid, for hauling grapes and fermenting, at Lowes or Home Depot for under $60.00. Order on line or at the store. Container: Cat # FG263200WHT, Lid: Cat # FG263100WHT.
You can buy 5 gallon plastic food grade buckets from Tractor Supply for around $3.00 each.
Your welcome.
Michael
Recommended by me and my dogs
Check out C360 Health products https://c360health.com/?raf=ref1931637