Homemade Cider Press

I am finally getting around to posting photos of the cider press that I built this year. I made 50 gallons of cider this year, mostly with donated apples. Varieties used: Winesap, Jonathon, Red Delic., Golden Delic., Granny Smith and 3 unknown red varieties.


Some info about the press:

The frame was constructed of 4x6 beams from a barn that I tore down a few years ago. The uprights were notched and the frame was bolted together using 1/2" threaded rod.


The runoff table is a piece of scrap laminate countertop with 3" pine side pieces. The pine boards were sealed with polyurethane & then nailed to the countertop. The drain is a 3/4" copper coupling. Everything was sealed up with food grade silicon.


The press racks are scrap corian pieces 10"x12". I grooved both sides of the racks on the table saw for better extraction. I will be getting large racks (15"x18") before pressing next year to improve my yield/press. The press cloths are just nylon netting material; very cheap but only good for 1 season as they tear pretty easy.


I press 5 layers of apples (about 1/2 bushel) at a time and get 2 to 2.5 gallons of juice each time. This should double next year with the larger racks.

The press mechanism is a 6-ton hydraulic bottle jack. The frame does not make so much as a creak with the full 6 tons of force applied. I press against a sacrificial 2x4 on top so I don't damage my cross beam.

The grinder is a 1/2 hp garbage disposal mounted in another piece of scrap countertop. This works extremely well an creates a nearly perfect grind for pressing.



Total breakdown of costs:
Garbage disposal: $50
Bottle Jack: $15
Corian pieces: $25 (ebay, includes shipping)
Counterop pieces: $2
Misc hardware: $30

Of the 50 gallons that I pressed, I gave away about 35 gallons to friends and family. I also made 5 gallons of Graff and will likely kick off a 3 gallon batch of straight hard cider also. I measured the SG on last batch and came up with 1.055, which should make a nice hard cider without any sugar added.

I have 40+ apple trees on my property, but only 4 of them are bearing apples now. I plan to start producing cider to sell in about 5 years when the rest of my trees are producing apples.

Overall, this has been a very satisfying late summer/fall project.

Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

Nice press !!! I am in the planning stage for mine. I am going to follow the plans from the Dempsey woodworking plans that are on the internet. I have a pile of oak boards to cut and glue together for the frame. I have already cut the slats for the basket. I just need to get the metal straps to make the hoop. This will be a good winter project.

That looks like an excellent press, very sturdy and easy to use. I am green with envy, you obviously have good woodworking skills. If you can make them that cheap you might be better off selling presses rather than cider - I would buy one.
My suggestion would be to use a mulcher for shredding, would probably be faster.

Nice work and awesome pictures man! I'm glad you used wood from your barn. It's always good to see things repurposed.

Do you pulp the Apples? It takes a lot of effort but makes a massive difference to the amount of juice you get.

Must say your press is far more impressive than mine, mine did cost 2 quid though, although already had a 2 ton bottle jack... The wood and the amount of apples I can pick and pulp is the limiting factor though.

Yes, I run the apples through a garbage disposal to grind them up. I get quite a bit of juice runoff before I even start pressing. With the 1/2 hp garbage disposal, I can keep up with two people cleaning and quartering the apples.

At first, I thought a 6-ton jack would be too much - but now I am glad that I bought it. I should be able to easily upsize my pressing racks without having to buy a new jack.

Very awesome build.

Do you have problems with the grinder overheating?
Thanks
Howard

I haven't had any problems at all with the grinder overheating, but I am only running it a few minutes at a time as I turn it off each time I fill a cloth. I suppose if you were to grind all your apples first and then fill the cloths you might have an issue with overheating as the grinder does get a good workout when you are forcing the apples in with a push stick. I have heard reports of 1/3 hp garbage disposals overheating while grinding apples, which is why I bought a 1/2 hp.