newbie grinder/juicer questions

[Mr.roomtemp]

Hello everyone, I am new to the group and the world of Cider making, but I am very excited to learn and grow as an amateur maker. Im living in SW Ontario in Essex County, and will be starting work at an orchard this spring so I can learn learn learn. I am currently in secondary racking with my Braeburn/Pink Lady/ Gold Rush/ Dabinett/Kingston Black with EC-1118,

I am shopping around for presses and grinders

questions:

I am seeing a lot of used wine presses for sale. will the old wine stained basket of these presses alter my juice at all?

will I get a bigger juice yield from a smaller press and more iterations (regardless of how time consuming) the biggest pressing I'll do this year is 100 lbs of golden russet, but don't want to get a huge 45L press as I forsee myself doing smaller experimental batches and have access to orchards that press in bigger quantities in the fall


will a masticating juicer like the Omega J8006 reduce tannins, and how ridiculous would it be to juice 100lbs of apples through an Omega juicer

has anyone used an apple corer/peeler to process their apples

will the stem and the core affect my flavour in any way

for my grinder, can a food processor achieve a properly processed apple (I've been told 1/4 inch chunks are ideal)

Im planning on doing 18L of a single variety ( Golden Russet. think I should use champagne yeast or is there another yeast people can recommend for this?)

I have access to more than one variety in the Sweet/Subacid-tart/bitter/aromatic departments, and am doing another blended batch. would you say a Cider that has one variety from each of those types will have a more unified, distinctive taste or should I be adding a little bit of everything. (I know, it comes down to my preference and experimentation)

I think I know the obvious answers to some of these but would really appreciate the reaffirmation from this group!

thanks everyone!

 

[Maylar]

Juicers are very inefficient, and a food processor will make apple sauce not juice.

 

[gregbathurst]

You could start by getting the jolicoeur cider book, it will answer these and many more qs.

 

[Chalkyt]

Yep, Jolicoeur is the place to start. I found that 1/4-1/2 inch pieces don't produce a very good yield when pressed (only around 40%). Based on CJ's suggestions I made my own scratter using his design ideas (csk head screws in a drum... I posted some pics around May or so last year) which resulted in about 1/8 inch pommace and gave a yield of around 50-60% depending on the apples and how many pressings I did (sometimes two pressings is worthwhile).

 

[wasully]

Cider benefits from blending. Single varietals are the exception, not the norm.

If you've got the space and quantity, I'd ferment each variety separately and blend to suit.

Otherwise, I'd research what varieties you have, and what type of cider apple they are. Every cider book will have suggested proportions of different types, and I'd follow those recommendations by fruit weight and hope for the best.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

has anyone tried chopping and freezing the apples before pressing?

 

[Nick Z]

You could try the shredding disk on your food processor if you have one. But to feed apples through the tube you will need to chop them at least in half. You might considering taking out the seeds if you are doing this. I realize doing this with a hundred pounds of apples will get incredibly tedious.

Freezing and thawing works if you have the freezer space. The New Cidermaker's Handbook suggests that as a viable alternative to a grinder.

But don't try to press fresh apple chunks without grinding or softening them in some way. I tried that recently and it was a really stupid idea.

If you use sulfites before you pitch the yeast you probably don't have to worry too much about the old wine yeast getting into the cider. Giving a used wine press a good scrub probably isn't a bad idea unless it will destroy the wood or cause it to swell.

If you need to rejuvenate the wood you could try sanding the wood pieces, applying shellac (as a sealer), and then putting a film forming wood finish like polyurethane or Waterlox over the top. But you will have to wait until the finish is fully cured.

Another possible wood finish is paint. Specifically I would try an old school alkyd enamel paint. I used such a paint before and while it took forever to dry it was tough as nails once it was dried. You could scrub it with soap and water and scrub brush and it wouldn't come off.