Alternatives to an apple press?

[The13th]

I've been using farm stand cider to make my own ciders, but now I'd like to try my hand at making cider direct from the apples themselves. Problem is, I live in a really small apartment and don't have the space for an apple press.

I looked online for table top presses, but the reviews seemed kinda mixed. My wife has a Vitamix she uses to make smoothies and I was thinking I could use that as an alternative, but I've also read a lot of caution against using blenders/juicers to make apple cider.

Are there any alternatives for someone in my situation? Or do I just continue to use already made cider until the time I move somewhere with a bit more space?

 

[Renoun]

Have you looked around for a press to rent? Is there a homebrew store, commercial tool rental, or non-profit tool library that has a scratter/press better suited to your needs than using something apartment sized?

 

[ThorGodOfThunder]

I have a tabletop press. Giant waste of money and time.

How much are you looking to make?

 

[The13th]

I'm only looking to make small batches, just 1 to 3 gallons at a time. I hadn't thought about renting equipment or anything like that, although I'm not sure how cost effective that would be unless I was going to make larger quantities at a time.

 

[gregbathurst]

Plenty of people use electric juicers to make hard cider. They may not suit a purist such as myself, but in your situation they are a good solution. You can strain the juice through some cheesecloth type material to get some of the thick pulpy stuff out, the cider should taste fine.

 

[Beernik]

I borrowed a friend's juicer last time I made a cyser. The results were awesome.

Basically I used 4 gallons of store bought juice and supplemented with home juicing another 1.5 gallons.

 

[Yooper]

I just got a press myself this fall- and I've been making cider and apple wine for years!

What I do is collect my fruit- about 6 pounds per gallon or even more if the fruit isn't particularly juicy. Then I rinse it and freeze it.

When I'm ready to make the wine or cider, I take out the fruit and put it (still frozen) in a big sanitized mesh bag. If I'm making a bigger batch, I'll use three or four bags. I'll put that all in a sanitized bucket, and then add a bit of boiling water to cover, with campden tablets (1 per gallon of cider) dissolved in it. Let that sit 12 hours, and then add pectic enzyme (to help break up the fruit). 12 hours after that, add the yeast. If I'm making wine, I'll add sugar to boost up the ABV, and sometimes add tannin and acid blend. (I have recipes posted).

I let that ferment for a few days, using a big heavy paddle (sanitized) to smash up the fruit and stir several times a day. After the wine gets to 1.010 or so, I pull up the bags and squeeze my heart out. Then, I discard the fruit. I then move the wine (or cider) to a carboy and airlock.

I had some apples that were very hard to break up, even after freezing, so I used a mortar and pestle set up, and smashed up the apples on a cutting board before putting in the bag.

It sounds very redneck, but it works!

Generally, there are two procedures to using a cider press. First you use a scratter to break up the fruit. I've seen people use a garbage disposal unit to do that, but you can do it by hand if it's a small batch.

Then, after fermenting for a few days, the fruit is pressed.

Sometimes cider makers will crush and press, and then ferment but I like to start the fermentation on the fruit. The skins give a great flavor to the cider.

You can use a juicer, but you loose some of that flavor like tannins and things that you get from using the whole fruit.

 

[ThorGodOfThunder]

Imo, making a few gallons at a time isn't worth it. When I press cider I make between 30 and 50 gallons in one run. If you only want a few gallons just go buy it locally from an orchard. The quality wont be as good as hand-picked apples (not just picked off the tree, but picked for quality), but I don't have the patience to set everything up and clean it all afterward for a tiny bit of cider.

 

[Kirkwooder]

I have used a juicer to make 5 gallon and smaller batches. It works, but is a huge P.I.T.A..
I happen to be lucky enough to live in an area that has a commercial cider mill that will press your apples for a per gallon charge. They only run in the late fall, unless you have a huge amount for custom work. They charge about $.30 a gallon if you bring your own collection containers. I had them do about 30 gallons for me last fall.

You may want to look around and see if there is a mill near you. It's well worth it.

 

[The13th]

Thanks for all the replies! I would go bigger if I could, but I don't have the space to do so. Think I'll give it a try anyway just see what it's like. Worst case scenario, I go back to buying already pressed cider. Yooper's method sounds really interesting. I want to try that and maybe use a juicer as a backup method.

 

[stoatyboy]

if you only want to make a gallon or two just use a cheese grater or food processor with a grater attachment to grate the apples and then squeeze it out by hand through some muslin or just your hand.

try it - buy an apple, grate it and squeeze out as much juice as you can - you'll be impressed.

don't over complicate things

 

[aellis]

My parents used to make us help can produce in the summers when we were kids, and we used one of these:

https://www.lehmans.com/p-2937-squeezo-all-metal-food-mill.aspx

worked great for tomatoes. I haven't tried it for apples, but if i can find a source for good cider apples in my area, i was thinking about getting one. Seems like you'd have to cut up the apples to get them in the hopper though.

 

[aellis]

on second thought, maybe the squeezo wouldn't work so well. seems it's more for making apple sauce than making juice. you'd probably still have to press it if you ground the apples with a squeezo.

 

[ThorGodOfThunder]

I have a Victorio brand "squeezo" and it makes fantastic apple sauce, but straining the juice would be a pita. When pressing cider one generally grinds it up rather coarse.