Bucket Sieve
Hi there. This is my first Instructable AND english is not my native language so please give me some slack.
What I am going to show you is how to make from 2 buckets a Sieve.
One of my hobbies is winemaking. And a sieve is something winemakers and beer makers frequently use. Most kitchen sieves however are from metal and small. Metal is not your best friend in winemaking and a small sieve is more an annoyance instead of an aid. So I devellopped this bucket sieve some years ago.
You didn't have to study rocket science or maths for this as it is quite simple and I know everyone can make one of these and they are one of my best aids in winemaking. Besides that it will only set you back a few dollar if you can not obtain the buckets for free like I did.
So let's start.
What You Will Need
Well it is a bucket sieve so you will need buckets. To be specific you will need 2 identical buckets that nicely snug into eachother.
The next thing you will need is one or two cheesecloth.
Personally I get all my buckets for free. I'll share the tip here with you.
Our local snackbar has each week loads of buckets they throw away. These were used to keep the sauces in. Sauces like mayonaise, garlic sauce, tomato ketchup etc are all delivered to them in 10 liter buckets which they throw away when empty.
So I made a deal with the snackbar staff. I supplied them some of my wine and they keep the buckets for me. Even better: they actually cleaned them for me !!!
On to the actual build.
Making the Sieve
Start with drawing a line about 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inch) below the top of the bucket. Just like the first picture shows you.
Next step is to cut the bucket at the drawn line. This way you will get a ring.
That's it. The hard work is done !!!!
Using the Sieve
Take the second bucket (the one you did not cut) and put the cheesecloth on.
Now take the just made ring and press it into the bucket with the cheesecloth.
This way the cheesecloth is secured.
And you are ready to pour some juice into the bucket which will then be sieved through the cheesecloth.
But there is one more step which makes life even more comfortable.
Use an Extra Cheesecloth
Ok this last step makes life even easier.
Take another cheesecloth and put it on top of the sieve. It will rest on the cheesecloth that is secured with the ring.
This has several advantages:
- When you have a juice with a lot of pulp like the prine juice in the picture you can easily change the top cheesecloth while your juice stays nicely covered by the second cheesecloth. Therefore nothing can drop accidentally in your juice.
- You can let the pulp rest easily on the lower cheesecloth for dripping out and easily remove it.
- You can even put a lid on it and let it rest for a longer period and then easily remove the dirty cloth.
- When the top cloth gets clogged with pulp you can easily exchange it for a fresh one.
Ok that's it.
You can find this and many other winemaking tips on my weblog:
Have fun.
Luc Volders