Wine News

Crusher Replacement

We’re acquiring a Destemmer Must Pump!

As you may know, there was a very difficult cab crush last fall, involving a 10pm power outage, rescued by Marty Weisman’s generator, finished at the stroke of midnight.  We call ours “Circuit Breaker Cab”.  We were unwilling to repeat this miserable experience, which was just the most traumatic event in a long history of jammed crushers, near-miss safety incidents, and cleanliness complaints. 

The Board has given the go-ahead to purchase a Zambelli Gamma 25 Destemmer Crusher https://www.winemakersdepot.com/Zambelli-Gamma-25.aspx .  Steve Foisie, John Overholt and Jan Goegan have each purchased this destemmer for their personal use.  It’s much safer.  It’s more than four times faster and significantly more efficient (fewer stems), and is much easier to clean. The hopper is only 34" off the ground so loading is easier and the grape must is pumped into primary fermenters. It does require 220 volt service.  Joe Mirowski is helping to get additional 220V bids for us to take to SRS for approval.

We will be conducting familiarization activities after we receive the new destemmer.  There will be some help needed, like construction of a parts board to store the hose and some couplers.

If you're interested and willing to get involved in helping with this transition, please let us know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .  I’m pretty sure we know how to turn a work party into a wine celebration. 

To clear some space, offset part of the destemmer cost, and simplify our SRS lives……….

Equipment for Sale

SOLD Stainless Steel Crusher with yellow markings, including the three-box stand, $600

SOLD Blue Manual Crusher, disassembled, $100

Contact the club Treasurer, Kevin Neal, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday June 15th to purchase.