homemade grinder and press

Homemade apple grinder and press. Test run. Used 1/4 bushel and made 3 quarts juice. Press has nearly 3 bushel capacity. Garbage disposal is 1 1/4 horsepower from Costco mounted on a stainless steel sink. Press is 2 X 4 's mostly screwed and glued. Box and frame are oak. Pressboards are oak plywood 3/4 " thick. Bottle jack is 6 ton. Cheeses are polyester curtain material from the fabric store.

Sweet! How do you feel your yeild from the press was?

I hope that wasn't a good knife you were using!

Edcculus said:

Sweet! How do you feel your yeild from the press was?

I hope that wasn't a good knife you were using!

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1) I'm very pleased - I've seen estimates of 2 -3 gallons/bushel. I got 3 quarts from 1/4 bushel = 12 quarts from 1 bushel or 3 gallons. I have three press boards and fabric for 3 cheeses so conceivably I could do 3 bushels or 9 gallons a press
2) Very old knife.

Thanks for posting this, I just commented I would like to see a DYI thing, and a video showing it operation is fantastic.
So, how much wood chips get added by using wooden stick to move the apples in the disposal?

Kauai_Kahuna said:

Thanks for posting this, I just commented I would like to see a DYI thing, and a video showing it operation is fantastic.
So, how much wood chips get added by using wooden stick to move the apples in the disposal?

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There's a few. I sanitized everything that comes in contact with the juice or apples, then I figured out how to minimize it while I was working it. Besides, it all gets filtered out by the press.

It really does look like a good setup, once again thanks for taking the time to make the video of the test run. I hope it's very well for you for many sessions.

hroth521 said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwfT8CNl1Kw&feature=channel

Homemade apple grinder and press. Test run. Used 1/4 bushel and made 3 quarts juice. Press has nearly 3 bushel capacity. Garbage disposal is 1 1/4 horsepower from Costco mounted on a stainless steel sink. Press is 2 X 4 's mostly screwed and glued. Box and frame are oak. Pressboards are oak plywood 3/4 " thick. Bottle jack is 6 ton. Cheeses are polyester curtain material from the fabric store.

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Very cool video, but I had to cringe every time I saw the knife blade hit the metal sink. Treat your knives with respect, man and they will do the same. However, the juicer and press were way cool!

MeadWitch said:

Very cool video, but I had to cringe every time I saw the knife blade hit the metal sink. Treat your knives with respect, man and they will do the same. However, the juicer and press were way cool!

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You're right about the knives. I learned from that test run. When I used this setup to press 12 bushels of apples a couple of weeks ago, I had a long table set up with multiple cutting boards for people to use.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=15515118&l=6cea1cd63c&id=885005566

How much time in manhours can you estimate it takes per gallon of cider with your setup, and how long does it take to set up, and break down?

Fletch78 said:

How much time in manhours can you estimate it takes per gallon of cider with your setup, and how long does it take to set up, and break down?

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Good question. I did 12 bushels for about 30 gallons of juice. Took about 45 minutes to set up and rinse everything with star san, etc. Two people chopping apples could get ahead of me and grinder fairly easily. I didn't grind when I was pressing. I got a lot more efficient at pressing as the afternoon wore on. The press held 3 bushels of apple pomace. With all that consideration I think I could have pressed all 12 bushels in 4-5 hours with 4 people if we all worked at pretty good efficiency (that is if we didn't drink so much of last years cider during operations ). We also had a bunch of little kids running around and took breaks to eat and talk, etc. It was a really good party. So what's that - 16-20 man hours for 30 gallons? About an hour to clean, break down and load the truck to go home.

NOTE: There are modifications to the press that need to be made for next year. The pressing board will be reinforced and weighted more. I will probably get a larger bottle jack. I will reinforce the bottom of the pressing box with another 3/4 inch plywood. The frame held up extremely well.

That's very interesting. Basically, 1 bushel for 3 gallons. My orchard sells half-bushel for $18 and gallons of fresh press for $6. Although I'd have more control over the process, it is still cheaper for me to buy it already pressed. Funny how that works. Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of pressing for a while, I appreciate you sharing your setup and information.

Fletch78 said:

That's very interesting. Basically, 1 bushel for 3 gallons. My orchard sells half-bushel for $18 and gallons of fresh press for $6. Although I'd have more control over the process, it is still cheaper for me to buy it already pressed. Funny how that works. Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of pressing for a while, I appreciate you sharing your setup and information.

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Yeah, I did the math too and realized that if I had to buy the apples this was not going to get done because it was cheaper. True, I got to source a very nice mix of apples for my cider. But really, it's a hobby (obsession). And it was a really fun party.

Fletch78 said:

That's very interesting. Basically, 1 bushel for 3 gallons. My orchard sells half-bushel for $18 and gallons of fresh press for $6. Although I'd have more control over the process, it is still cheaper for me to buy it already pressed. Funny how that works. Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of pressing for a while, I appreciate you sharing your setup and information.

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Oh yeah, and another way I use to justify this to myself is that even at 10 bucks a gallon (which is about what it cost me - 25 bucks/bushel) - that still works out to about a buck (more or less) a (12 ounce) bottle when I'm done. In all seriousness if you can buy this quality of cider at all - it will cost at least 5 -6 bucks/12 ounces. Check out Farnum Hill or Bellweather - 12 - 15 bucks for 750ml is not outrageous

Great setup, a few problems.
1) on the press plate (the piece of plywood on pressing on the apple slurry) you form a "X" with two 2x4's, only one of the 2x4 is pressing on the plywood. This results in uneven pressure which means that you are not getting the maximum juice out of your apples. Join the two 2x4 with a lap joint (see below) to get even pressure.


2) To save time you could stack multiple layers of apples in the press separated by slats of wood and press them all at once.(see video)

I was thinking the same thing about the X, but wasn't going to say anything.

It looks like it works though.... 3 gallons a bushel on it's maiden voyage.

JewBrew said:

Great setup, a few problems.
1) on the press plate (the piece of plywood on pressing on the apple slurry) you form a "X" with two 2x4's, only one of the 2x4 is pressing on the plywood. This results in uneven pressure which means that you are not getting the maximum juice out of your apples. Join the two 2x4 with a lap joint (see below) to get even pressure.

This is a very helpful suggestion. I plan on modifying my press based on my experience this year. This will be one of the modifications.

2) To save time you could stack multiple layers of apples in the press separated by slats of wood and press them all at once.

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I did actually make 3 cheeses separated by boards to press when I went full scale. This post was just my first test experience. Thanks!

"This is a very helpful suggestion. I plan on modifying my press based on my experience this year. This will be one of the modifications"

If you are going to make a lap joint you must also take into account that you will be weakening the 2x4. Consider using thicker wood.

JewBrew said:

"This is a very helpful suggestion. I plan on modifying my press based on my experience this year. This will be one of the modifications"

If you are going to make a lap joint you must also take into account that you will be weakening the 2x4. Consider using thicker wood.

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Or turn the 2x4's longways.

Here's some plans from grinder to press:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-cheese-and-cider-press/

reubadoob said:

Here's some plans from grinder to press:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-cheese-and-cider-press/

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I had seen these but the guy who did it has way more woodworking skills and equipment than I do. I built my whole rig with a drill and a circular saw because that's about the extent of my abilities...

hroth521 said:

I had seen these but the guy who did it has way more woodworking skills and equipment than I do. I built my whole rig with a drill and a circular saw because that's about the extent of my abilities...

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I'm with you brother.

I had a thought. What about using an old stainless steel sink (with a relatively flat bottom) for the press pan? Cider could drain out the drain and wouldn't have to worry about coating the wood or having it absorb cider. Would probably have to support bottom due to the force of press.

bentonre said:

I had a thought. What about using an old stainless steel sink (with a relatively flat bottom) for the press pan? Cider could drain out the drain and wouldn't have to worry about coating the wood or having it absorb cider. Would probably have to support bottom due to the force of press.

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I like it!

This fall I plan on making one of these. I was thinking about adding a threaded end to it, so you could cap the end and fill it with bleach water to clean sterilize. Or could you just stick a rubber stopper in the end and fill it with water?
Assuming I could clean and sterilize it, I was also going to use it to grind table scraps for compost.
I'll have to find pics to post, but I took a plastic wash basin and poked a hole in the bottom as the base for my press. It worked real well this past fall.

not viewable in my country (USA) due to copyright????

The powers that be blocked it because of the soundtrack.

phuckers.

Our "freedoms" at work.