Pressing with a new press

The Cabernet's cap is getting very weak and hydrometer reading is 0% sugar, so we pressed it today.  

We usually rent a basket press for this task, but given the fact that our batches of wine are so distributed this year, I looked for a less gear-intensive way to do a light press of our wines.  I went to a local housewear / restaurant supply shop (the one next to 99 Ranch in Milpitas), envisioning  some kind of funnel, or large pasta strainer, to do the job.  After perusing the stainless steel items, I decided to give this fry basket a try (at least I *think* that's what it is).  It's a single layer of about 0.5 cm mesh. 

My technique: I scooped about one gallon / 2-3" of must into this basket, then gently smashed down with the scooper I was using (a 8 cup tupperware pouring / mixing vessle).  I let the juice and some seeds came out the bottom and tossed the dried grape skins aside to compost.  If I was hard-core, I'd get another basket to let them drip-out some additional juice, but doesn't seem like there would be too much benefit to that.

After pressing, we added 25 ppm potassium metabisulfate (very first addition), hoping that that would not be enough to kill the ML bacteria, which seems to still be eating up the excessive malic acid.  Racked into carboys with enough head space to get our stirrer in so we can stir up the lees a couple times a week (to keep the nutrients in the lees feeding the ML bacteria)

Also compared numbers, pre-ferment vs post-ferment:
Pre-fermentation
pH 3.30
TA 0.85

Post-fermentation
pH 3.45
TA 0.75
This is great news - MUCH better acid levels to have in a finished wine!