Racking to Secondary

[WTD]

Im close to racking to my secondary 5L demijons on my second wine. Last time i used a colander and let the wine strain of the fruit (im using blueberries) but im wondering if this time i should press/squeeze the blueberries to get the most out of them but havent read much info online about it.

Should i squeeze/press them or will that do something i dont want like add some unwanted things?

Cheers

 

[Masbustelo]

If you don't press you will lose large quantities of liquid.

 

[WTD]

thanks, i have 3.5kg of berries in 6lL so i think ill press them. I read something online about pressing pressing out unwanted flavours, was that a bunch of nonsense?

Its why i didnt press last time but i thought it might have been a load of crap.

Cheers

 

[Masbustelo]

Its not necessarily a load of crap. Sometimes with elderberries for instance which have very high tannins it is said to press lightly so you don't end up with some thing that has to cellar for years to be drinkable. Same thing with certain grape cultivars. I would say its generally good to press, but maybe back off a little and not try to get every little drop.

 

[jgmillr1]

Usually the nasties you get from pressing come from high pressure presses (>45psi). It is quite unlikely you can approach that when pressing by hand, so press your fruit with abandon.

 

[WTD]

thanks, while its in the colander ill press it with a potato masher

 

[PTS_35]

Reading your post. Why don't you use a nylon jelly bag or something next time. Works great for me when I do blackberry wine and watermelon. You would need a bucket for that. But then you don't need to worry about a colander.

 

[WTD]

yea ill grab a BIAB bag or something next time. i did just press with a masher 7kg of blueberries today into the fermenter. its very thick. should be easy to seperate im thinking with time and patience.

thinking i should get a refractometer now for OG