Comments on: Tomato Wine: Defrosted, Crushed, and Pressed http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2007/12/21/tomato-wine-defrosted-crushed-and-pressed/ Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:04:51 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 By: Erroll http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2007/12/21/tomato-wine-defrosted-crushed-and-pressed/#comment-2182 Erroll Fri, 21 Dec 2007 17:07:55 +0000 http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2007/12/21/tomato-wine-defrosted-crushed-and-pressed/#comment-2182 Hello Aaron, Freezing and thawing ruptures the cell walls in the fruit, so a light crush is all I needed. In fact, I might have been able to just load the defrosted tomatoes right into the press without crushing. I made a press out of three plastic buckets that fit inside each other. The bucket with holes (strainer) fits inside the catch bucket (bucket with a spigot). The photo shows them after I loaded the tomatoes into the strainer (lined with a nylon bag). The next step, which I didn't show, was fitting the press bucket into the strainer. I fill press bucket with water and let it squeeze the fruit. <img src="/pic/20071219 pressing tomatoes.jpg" alt="Pressing Tomatoes" title="Pressing Tomatoes" vspace="10"> This photo shows the three-bucket press fully assembled. The water in the press bucket is heavy enough to press the fruit. One thing to keep in mind is that it's easy to put fit the press bucket in and fill it with water, just don't try to lift it up and out. Instead, siphon the water out, then remove the bucket. Thanks for asking. I really should have been more clear in my writeup. Hmmm, maybe I should write an article on the three-bucket press. Erroll Hello Aaron,

Freezing and thawing ruptures the cell walls in the fruit, so a light crush is all I needed. In fact, I might have been able to just load the defrosted tomatoes right into the press without crushing.

I made a press out of three plastic buckets that fit inside each other. The bucket with holes (strainer) fits inside the catch bucket (bucket with a spigot). The photo shows them after I loaded the tomatoes into the strainer (lined with a nylon bag). The next step, which I didn’t show, was fitting the press bucket into the strainer. I fill press bucket with water and let it squeeze the fruit.

Pressing Tomatoes

This photo shows the three-bucket press fully assembled. The water in the press bucket is heavy enough to press the fruit. One thing to keep in mind is that it’s easy to put fit the press bucket in and fill it with water, just don’t try to lift it up and out. Instead, siphon the water out, then remove the bucket.

Thanks for asking. I really should have been more clear in my writeup. Hmmm, maybe I should write an article on the three-bucket press.

Erroll

]]> By: Aaron http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2007/12/21/tomato-wine-defrosted-crushed-and-pressed/#comment-2180 Aaron Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:12:23 +0000 http://www.washingtonwinemaker.com/blog/2007/12/21/tomato-wine-defrosted-crushed-and-pressed/#comment-2180 Hi Erroll, I have a couple more ignorant questions. First, why only lightly crush the tomatoes? It seems naively that the more you crush the more juice you'd extract and that is the end goal. Is there something that you don't want to extract? And what are you straining in? It looks like a nylon bag inside a bucket with holes drilled in it inside a bottling bucket, is there an advantage to using the bucket with holes as opposed to just putting the straining bag inside the bottling bucket. Keep us posted on the progress of the tomato wine. Aaron Hi Erroll,
I have a couple more ignorant questions. First, why only lightly crush the tomatoes? It seems naively that the more you crush the more juice you’d extract and that is the end goal. Is there something that you don’t want to extract? And what are you straining in? It looks like a nylon bag inside a bucket with holes drilled in it inside a bottling bucket, is there an advantage to using the bucket with holes as opposed to just putting the straining bag inside the bottling bucket. Keep us posted on the progress of the tomato wine.

Aaron

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