Buying guide
Best Grape Crusher and Fruit Crusher for Home Winemaking
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Editor's Choice
SQUEEZE master Grape and Berry Crusher, 7 Liter
A hand-cranked crusher with gears made for grapes, berries and soft fruit, a food-grade stainless steel hopper (7 liters usable) and no power needed.
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Best for apples and pears
EJWOX Fruit and Apple Crusher, 7 Liter
Grinds hard fruit into even 1/4 inch pieces ready for the press.
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Biggest grape harvests
Varomorus Grape Crusher, 24 Liter Hopper
A roller crusher with a 6.3 gallon hopper for grapes and soft fruit in quantity.
A grape crusher breaks the skin of every berry so the juice can run and the yeast can reach the sugar, without grinding the seeds into bitter fragments. A fruit crusher, sometimes called a scratter or grinder, does the same job for hard fruit such as apples and pears, which have to be broken into small pieces before any press can get the juice out. They are different machines, and the most common mistake is buying the wrong one for your fruit.
Below we compare the home crushers you can buy on Amazon for grapes and soft fruit, for apples and pears, and the combined crusher and press units, using what the manufacturers list. Home-scale crusher-destemmers, the machines that also strip the stems, are rarely sold on Amazon now, so we also cover how to destem by hand. If you are still choosing a press, start with our guide to the best wine press.
Grape and Fruit Crushers Compared
The rows show what each listing states. Capacities are hopper sizes, not batch sizes: you feed the crusher continuously.
| Crusher | SQUEEZE master Grape & Berry Editor's Choice | EJWOX Apple Crusher | Varomorus Grape Crusher | Maximizer Apple Grinder | EJWOX Press and Crusher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product |  |  |  |  |  |
| Made for | Grapes, berries, soft fruit | Apples and pears | Grapes, berries, soft fruit | Apples | Apples, pears, grapes |
| Hopper | 7 L usable, 9 L max | 7 L (1.8 gal) | 24 L (6.3 gal) | Not stated | Not stated |
| Mechanism | Cast aluminum gears | Grinder, 1/4 in pieces | 4 in rollers | Grinder | Crusher plus basket press |
| Throughput | Not stated | 35 to 45 kg per hour | 400 to 600 kg per hour | Not stated | Not stated |
| Weight | About 11 lb | About 12.5 lb | 22 lb | 52 lb | Not stated |
| Buy | Check price | Check price | Check price | Check price | Check price |
Editor's Choice
SQUEEZE master Grape & Berry
- Made for
- Grapes, berries, soft fruit
- Hopper
- 7 L usable, 9 L max
- Mechanism
- Cast aluminum gears
- Throughput
- Not stated
- Weight
- About 11 lb
EJWOX Apple Crusher
- Made for
- Apples and pears
- Hopper
- 7 L (1.8 gal)
- Mechanism
- Grinder, 1/4 in pieces
- Throughput
- 35 to 45 kg per hour
- Weight
- About 12.5 lb
Varomorus Grape Crusher
- Made for
- Grapes, berries, soft fruit
- Hopper
- 24 L (6.3 gal)
- Mechanism
- 4 in rollers
- Throughput
- 400 to 600 kg per hour
- Weight
- 22 lb
Maximizer Apple Grinder
- Made for
- Apples
- Hopper
- Not stated
- Mechanism
- Grinder
- Throughput
- Not stated
- Weight
- 52 lb
EJWOX Press and Crusher
- Made for
- Apples, pears, grapes
- Hopper
- Not stated
- Mechanism
- Crusher plus basket press
- Throughput
- Not stated
- Weight
- Not stated
Crusher Reviews
For Grapes and Soft Fruit
SQUEEZE master Grape and Berry Crusher, 7 Liter (Editor's Choice)
The SQUEEZE master is a hand-cranked crusher with a food-grade stainless steel hopper, 7 liters usable and 9 liters at most, and crushing gears in die-cast aluminum that the maker describes as rust-proof and corrosion resistant. The gear design is specific to grapes, berries and other soft fruits, which is what you want: it splits skins and releases juice rather than shredding the fruit.
At about 11 pounds it clamps to a table or sits over a bucket, and it needs no power, so it works in a garage or at the vineyard. For a home harvest of a few hundred pounds of grapes, this is the right size. SQUEEZE master sells a separate model with more gears for hard fruit; for apples, see the EJWOX below.
Best for: grapes, berries and soft fruit for home batches. Missing: destemming; remove stems first.
Varomorus Manual Grape Crusher, 24 Liter Hopper (Best for Big Harvests)
The Varomorus is a true roller crusher: two 4 inch diameter rolls under a 24 liter (6.3 gallon) stainless steel hopper, turned by hand. The listing claims a maximum of 400 to 600 kg (900 to 1,300 lb) per hour, far beyond what a gear crusher manages, and puts the whole unit at 22 pounds. The gear that drives the rolls is heavy-duty plastic.
Rollers set at the right gap break each berry without cracking seeds, which is how winery crushers work. If you buy grapes by the lug or harvest a backyard vineyard, the bigger hopper and faster rate save hours. For a few bunches it is more machine than you need.
Best for: grape harvests of several hundred pounds. Missing: destemming.
For Apples and Pears
EJWOX Fruit and Apple Crusher, 7 Liter (Best for Apples)
The EJWOX is a grinder, often called a scratter, for hard fruit. EJWOX lists a 7 liter (1.8 gallon) hopper, a rate of 35 to 45 kg of fruit per hour, and uniform 1/4 inch pieces that press easily into juice or cider. The hopper is 304 stainless steel on a reinforced iron frame with a table mount. It is the most widely bought fruit crusher on Amazon, and its natural partner is a basket press such as the EJWOX in our wine press guide.
EJWOX also lists grapes among the fruits it handles, but a grinder chops rather than splits, so for grapes the gear and roller crushers above are the better tool. For apple wine, pear wine and cider it is the pick.
Best for: apples and pears before pressing. Missing: a press.
Maximizer Apple Grinder and Fruit Crusher
The Maximizer is the heavy-duty option: the listing gives a weight of 52 pounds and dimensions of about 18.5 by 14.25 by 13.5 inches, which is a different class from the 11 to 12 pound crushers above. The listing itself is brief, so check the product photos and the seller's details on hopper size and drive before ordering. It is for orchards and serious cider makers who grind bushels at a time.
Best for: large apple harvests. Missing: detailed specifications in the listing.
Crusher and Press in One
EJWOX Fruit Wine Press and Crusher
EJWOX also sells its crusher together with a basket press: you crush into the press basket, then turn the press plate down with the handle. The listing describes 304 stainless steel with an iron frame and table mount, and apple pulp of about 1/4 inch pieces. Buying the pair at once saves matching parts, and the crusher sits directly over the basket.
Best for: starting apple or pear wine and cider from whole fruit. Missing: nothing for crushing and pressing.
Do You Need a Grape Crusher?
Not always. The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension circular Winemaking at Home (C 717) says soft fruits such as berries and grapes are best handled by spreading a thin layer in a large flat pan and crushing them with a rolling pin or potato masher, and that solid fruits such as apples give much better results when crushed in a food chopper. That is the honest rule of thumb:
- Up to about 5 gallons of grapes or berries: a sanitized bucket and a potato masher, or clean hands, do the job.
- More grapes than that: a gear or roller crusher saves hours and crushes more evenly.
- Any quantity of apples or pears: a grinder. Hand-crushing apples does not work; Washington State University Extension's hard cider guide lists a food processor or grinder to break the apples down before pressing, and puts the yield at thirty to forty apples per gallon of juice.
Grape Crusher vs Crusher-Destemmer
A crusher-destemmer does two jobs: a rotating paddle shaft pulls the berries off the stems and pushes the stems out the end, then rollers crush the berries. Wineries use them because stems add harsh, green tannin if they ferment with red wine. Home-scale models exist, but they are mostly sold by winemaking shops, not on Amazon, and they are a big step up in size and cost.
How to Destem by Hand
The UGA circular's first step in preparing fruit is to remove stems and unripe fruit and trim out anything rotten. For home batches, the practical method is a sheet of hardware cloth or a coarse rack over a bucket: rub the bunches across it and the berries drop through while the stems stay on top. It is quick with two people and leaves you with clean berries for any of the crushers above.
After the Crush: Red or White?
What you do next depends on the wine. For white wine, the UGA circular separates the juice from skins and pulp right away with a pressing bag or straining cloth. For red wine, the whole mix of juice, pulp and skins goes into the primary fermenter to pick up color, and is pressed later. In both cases a press gets far more juice than straining: our wine press guide compares the basket presses that pair with these crushers, and our guide on when to harvest grapes for wine covers picking at the right ripeness.
The press to pair with your crusher
Crushed fruit still holds most of its juice until it is pressed.
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1Basket press
EJWOX 4.75 Gallon Fruit and Wine Press
Our pick in the wine press guide: a basket press sized for home grape and apple batches.
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