Punching Down our Fermentation Bin

Punch down is a winery task that is done three or four times daily while grapes are fermenting. The idea is to mix the juice with the skins and seeds. During fermentation, the skins and seeds float to the top of the fermentation bin or tank. They form a cap. This cap can be several inches thick. In our fermentation bin, we literally punched this cap down, thereby mixing the skins and seeds with the fermenting juice. This allows for extraction of tannins and color from the skins and seeds. There are other systems in wineries that will do the same thing. Some wineries that use large tanks use a system called pump over. Juice from the bottom of the tank is pumped to the top of the tank and helps to mix the cap with the juice. Some wineries us a rotary fermenter that automatically rotates the tank every six hours or so for a number of minutes. This also mixes the cap with the juice. We used a handmade punch down to punch down our fermentation bin as well as eleven other bins. It can become quite a workout if you are punching down several bins. View the short video showing the punch down of our wine.

Cheers,

Terry