Cider crusher and press recommendations?

Hi everyone, I've been watching the forum for two apple seasons now, and have been making cider for that time as well. I'm thinking of investing in some apple processing equipment, and wonder what you all think. We've got a great home brew store in town (F.H. Steinbart), and they sell both a yoke style and a ratchet style press in various sizes. I just rented the ratchet style and spent a frustrating evening trying to get juice out of a batch of cut up apples. 20 lbs, 2 hours, a 1 cup of juice later, I'm thinking I would need some form of crusher to really start pulping the apples. I've got 20# in the freezer, to see if that works to break the cell walls down, but with 200 lbs to go, and three more trees full of apples, that's not a viable solution

So, two days ago a tried a Champion juicer, which really mushed them up well, but too fine to put through a press, even with a bag (I think), and it was very slow as well.
I've tried the old style wooden cider mill, with the electric crusher that dumps the pomace into the bucket, then slides down to the screw. OK, but that'll run almost a grand, and I don't have time to make one myself, though believe me it's tempting.
My ideal set up is something that takes a whole or quartered apple, turns it into the right stuff, and really squeezes the juice out of it, ideally without electricity, and without a whole lot of intermediate steps. The right tool for the right job, in other words.

Any ideas? Thanks a lot for all the education so far, by the way.

Yaay another Portlander to the forum! Freezing the fruit definitely bursts the cell walls and makes them easier to juice. If you put them in a paint strainer bag it will hold most of the solids inside yet let the juice flow out. If you're handy, you could finagle some kind of garbage disposal unit to destroy the apples to a pulp before pressing them.

Revvy has a plan somewhere for using a piano screw to crank the crusher down. I plan on modifying it so that instead of cranking it, I use a car jack to move the press. Sounds like that's similar to the one you rented at Steinbarts, but I'm not sure. I normally go to Let's Brew because they're closer.

Thanks for the tip on Let's Brew...I saw them for the first time driving back down Stark, having just rented a crappy cider mill from Portland Rent-All (nothing against them, they just aren't specialists). Have you had a chance to use the rig I see on their website?...the yoke press and crusher look like the right kind of set up, but I'd like to try before I buy. Plus, no motors.

Believe me, I've looked at the cider press plans and been tempted. The hydraulic jack set up looks like it'd really squeeze the juice out, and a garbage disposal would scream through the fruit. But I'm trying to reduce the number of whittling projects I've got going simultaneously, in the spirit of family harmony. So, picking the apples and making the cider myself is about as deep into the DIY angle as I can go.

Hi viannidoulis: Here is a link on how to build your own apple grinder Building an Apple Grinder it looks pretty easy to do, though I've not built one myself. You can see a similarly built grinder in action here: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdppNfbmtjw&feature=related]YouTube - 2006 Cider Making - Apple Chopping[/ame] Hope you find this info useful. Regards, GF.

I haven't had any fruit this year to crush except blackberries, so I haven't had a reason to check out Let's Brew's apple press. I do know you can rent it for the day. It is a very sturdy thing as well. I actually found some really awesome plans to build a mill and press here http://www.ukcider.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Homemade_Cider_Press

And yes, I am tempting you to build it

So I was up until 2 yesterday grinding up apples with the grinder from Let's Brew. Thats the thing to use, let me tell you. I only cut up the big ones, or ones I needed to see the inside of, and it took it all into its little jaws of death with no problem. Huge time saver.

The ratchet press I'd rented from FH Steinbart was effective, but a real pain to keep aligned, and it hopped all over the basement floor when I was cranking on it. I got my five gallons though, and tomorrow it's time to pitch yeast.

The jack press you linked to looks great, EvilTOJ, but I'd spend the next two months whittling that baby, and spend a lot on the wood itself. Wouldn't that time be better spent drinking cider?

Cheers,

In the past, while making grape wine, my wife and I used our food processor to crush the grapes before pressing them.

However; I believe that since apple seeds are bitter and should not be included in the crushing/pressing. And after some research, I decided to build a wooden cart on which to mount my experimental and very sucessful apple mill/crusher (a 1 hp stainless steel garbage disposal unit mounted under neath a small stainless steel sink). On the other end of the cart, I mounted our apple press, so now we have a conveniet method to storage and move around our cider making tools.

So now when making cider, we first core the apples, dump the slices in the sink, run them through the "crusher"--collecting the resulting "pommy" in a stainless steel pan. We then pour this pommy into a nylon bag already placed in our press and press this pommy. Finally, we heat the reulted cider to 160 degrees to kill any yeast (hard cider) and harmful bacteria. Bottle and either refrigerate or freeze (for longer storage). ENJOY!

I'd be happpy to share more details of this process.

The antique store across from my shop has a beautiful 1870's apple mill for sale. Mechanically, it looks to be in perfect, usable condition. Can wood that old still be strong enough to use in a press? I have to believe the buckets have been rebuilt sometime in the last 100 years... ??

I'd be happy to make new oak buckets if need be, I just gotta have this! The same antique store has a similar vintage apple peeler/corer too.... Might have to make a pair.

If the wood has been cared for no problem. If it has started to rot (wet or dry) it can still work. Dont pay to much for it as a tool, they sell $2-$400 in my area for servicable units. If its in a store like that it is likely priced as a piece of art or furnature.

Paperman1979 said:

Dont pay to much for it as a tool, they sell $2-$400 in my area for servicable units. If its in a store like that it is likely priced as a piece of art or furnature.

Click to expand...

The mechanics work great! The actual tool part of it is fully functional. With the mass behind this beast, it can't help but work fairly efficiently. Looks like they are about the same for a brand new Italian made model. Guess which one will still be working another 150 years from now?