Hand apple grinders - differences, recommendations, US v UK

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siletzspey

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Heading into season #4 of hand grinding apples, I'm looking for some recommendations.

In the US, the Weston style grinder with 4-point handle seems to dominate. My friend has a Happy Valley grinder/press with the Weston style grinder, which includes a better weighty handle (fly-wheel), but ouch, it can still be a workout to grind ~150 gallons of applies a day for ~30 gallons of cider. The pulp seems right, so no complaint there. Harder apples can halt the fly-wheel, and backing up rarely re-orients the apples to a new position that will be easier to grind thru.

In the UK and Europe, another style of grinder seems to dominate. Buried in the description of many is "APEX OBM-7". During one season, I rented such a unit from a local brewing shop, and found it much easier to use. The pulp seems ok. For sure it's better at slicing thru harder apples, and if a jam occurs, backing up re-orients the apples for a 2nd pass that usually works. But while the unit is widely available in Europe for ~$100 US, those sources won't ship to the US, and the few niche suppliers I found in the US want $200 - $350 for the same or similar units.

Any thoughts on which is the better grinder style? Is there another style worth considering? Does anyone know of a US source for the APEX style units for less than $200?

Here are some pictures.

The Weston style with 4-point handle:

apple-grinder-weston.jpg


The Weston style teeth:

apple-grinder-weston-teeth.jpg


The Happy Valley handle which helps give a fly-wheel effect:

apple-grinder-happy-valley.jpg


The APEX style:

apple-grinder-apex-OBM7-or-OFC7L.jpg


The APEX style teeth on a Vigo unit:

apple-grinder-vigo-gear-closeup.jpg


This is an alternate APEX style that exactly matches what I rented from the local brew store. The handle wasn't heavy enough to give a fly-wheel effect, but that didn't matter much, it was still easier to use than a Weston style unit:

apple-grinder-other.jpg


--SiletzSpey
 
I got an adaptor for 1/2 inch to 3/4inch drill head and hooked mine up to a drill, next step is to get a flywheel, the shaft is euro so we are getting a bushing made so we can adapt a flywheel to it then hook it up to a motor. The one you posted last with teeth is being sold here in the US from one of the bigger winemaking supply stores, sorry forgot which one, but reviews of it say it makes to big a grind so its not effective. WVMJ

IMG_1613.jpg
 
Do you have a pointer/part number/link to that 3/4 to 1/2 drill adapter? Been trying to locate something like that.
 
We got the happy valley, and we think the size of the grind would be great if it was all the minimal size. But after chewing up an apple nicely for a while, the last big chunks just seem to fall into the bucket! We did a pressing of about 7 bu for 11 or 12 gal, and a pressing of a little over 4 bu for 6+ gal. These required a second pressing of the pulp, to get the last 20% or so, and we feel we still left some juice behind. (We made a rack-and-cheese style press with a 6T hydraulic jack. I prolly should post pics some day!)

Our thoughts are, given that the HV can be motorized, to do an initial scratting with it and then run the pulp through a garbage disposal. It seems like just a garbage disposal can take a while if you have whole/halved/quartered apples, so we are wondering if the two-step process might be quicker. And dammit we already bought the HV! Thoughts?
 
I use a Silver Mfg. hand crank grinder that spins a toothed flat plate, and that the apples feed in onto the face of. Old as dirt, not sure if Noah had one of these stashed on his Ark or not.

Too few commercial examples around this area to give any opinions, but would go the garbage disposal style first, if I was looking to have a new one.

TeeJo
 
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