Food grade grease

[l13a1969]

We bought a new ‘flat pack’ fruit press ready for our second year of cider making. It didn’t come with any food grade grease to allow the screw action on the press. Trouble is for a 100gm tube of lube it’s £4.79 but then £4.99 on top for delivery! Is there an alternative that could be used?
I tried calling a local brewery shop in Bristol only to be told they don’t ever use. So how they stop the screwing action to stick on them I have no idea. They suggested olive oil but that will surely go straight into the apples and spoil the taste of the juice?

 

[Greytop]

How about cooking spray (PAM)? Or maybe try some keg lube?

 

[kev211]

I was gonna suggest keg lube as well

Or plumbers grease?

How bout this stuff

 

[CRZ]

I was gonna suggest keg lube as well

Or plumbers grease?

How bout this stuff

This is the stuff I use for keg lube, my LHB store sells it as that. Also this is the stuff the convenience stores in my area use on their slurpee machines.

 

[thekraken]

Keg lube is just for incidental food contact, right? I'd think probably not great for churning into the food. Thoughts?

 

[Yooper]

I use a lubricant made for dairy equipment. It's food grade, and I use it on my meat grinder and my apple press, as well as on my keg 0-rings when needed.

 

[z-bob]

What about lard or tallow?

 

[WarEagleBrewer]

Mineral Oil. It's tasteless, and is what I use for keg lube. It can be ingested (one of its uses is to relieve constipation).

 

[WarEagleBrewer]

NOT to be confused with Mineral Spirits!!!

 

[ten80]

Coconut oil works fairly well in a pinch and contributes no flavor.

 

[thekraken]

Coconut oil is very flavorful. Do you mean just not in very tiny relative quantities?

... Might be a good thing though, I was drinking a tasty coconut porter last night. Good stuff.

 

[ten80]

The stuff I have is rather bland and would be unnoticeable in the quantities needed to lubricate a few moving parts. Definitely less flavor (in my opinion) and a higher viscosity than olive oil.

 

[z-bob]

Coconut oil is very flavorful. Do you mean just not in very tiny relative quantities?

... Might be a good thing though, I was drinking a tasty coconut porter last night. Good stuff.

Refined coconut oil is tasteless. It has a fairly low melting point, is very thin and runny when it's liquid, and I don't know how well it lubricates. But it's worth a try.

 

[Silver79]

Petroleum jelly is a safe food grade lube. I use it on the press screw and chopper box on my press as well as the meat grinder.

 

[l13a1969]

Thanks all for replies.

Still seems I have to buy a small about of lube and get charged more for delivery than item. Oh if only to live in the US!

Never heard of mineral oil before so may hunt for that. Coconut oil,not convinced we can get flavourless here.

We just need on metal pole in middle of our press so when extracting juice and turning handle to squeeze apples that it doesn’t not rotate or sticks

Thanks again