Today the Man of the House and I headed back to the home brew shop to do some additional work on our merlot wine. Last weekend the grapes were crushed. What makes the red color in red wine is that it’s initially fermented with the skins in the wine. But after a week or two the skins have done their work so it’s time to take them out. That’s what we did today.

TMOTH is pouring the merlot into a bladder press. The center of the press is a rubber “bladder” that will be filled with water. As the bladder expands it will push out against the side of the press. The sides are filled with small holes so that the wine can come out of the press and run into the red collector at the bottom. We collect the wine-to-be there and pour it into big glass jugs.

TMOTH thinks the wine will be ready to drink in about a year.