I'm in my fourth year of cider making and would like to give up my best secret to save people time and get to juicing.
Pressing apples..... I bought three antique and older hand crank "juicers" over the years. The problem with them is that they don't work well with apples. The screen on the bottom gets clogged up with the skins. By far the best "juicer" I've found is a #2 universal meat grinder using the NUT BUTTER disk. The grinders themselves are plentiful since many people bought them with good intentions and then left them in the back of the cupboard. The nut butter disk is a bit tougher to find since it was an optional disk. ....but they are around.
Clamp the grinder to a sturdy table and place a tray or plate in front of the grinder to collect the solids.
Wash and quarter the apples.
Start feeding the grinder apple quartes one at a time to the back side of the feed screw pushing them down with your thumb. Since it is hand cranked there is no chance of loosing a thumb.
Once the grinder is primed with a couple apples the juice will start flowing out the back of the grinder by the handle. The juice will run down the handle and clamp into the large bucket underneath the grinder that I forgot to mention.
The bucket I use is actually a water container with a spigot. Which is perfect because after you have juiced a couple gallons you will have some solids and foam falling in too. Since the spigot is mounted on the side and not the bottom the spigot will not let the solids drain. The foam of course floats. This saves a ton of time trying to filter the solids out.
I DO recommend juicing in a garrage or outside since it can be a bit of a mess if you plan on juicing a lot.
Google, in immages, universal #2 meat grinder and nut butter disk just in case you are at a garage sale and see one. They usually go cheap. And if it doesn't have a nut butter disk they still work great for making jerky.
Pressing apples..... I bought three antique and older hand crank "juicers" over the years. The problem with them is that they don't work well with apples. The screen on the bottom gets clogged up with the skins. By far the best "juicer" I've found is a #2 universal meat grinder using the NUT BUTTER disk. The grinders themselves are plentiful since many people bought them with good intentions and then left them in the back of the cupboard. The nut butter disk is a bit tougher to find since it was an optional disk. ....but they are around.
Clamp the grinder to a sturdy table and place a tray or plate in front of the grinder to collect the solids.
Wash and quarter the apples.
Start feeding the grinder apple quartes one at a time to the back side of the feed screw pushing them down with your thumb. Since it is hand cranked there is no chance of loosing a thumb.
Once the grinder is primed with a couple apples the juice will start flowing out the back of the grinder by the handle. The juice will run down the handle and clamp into the large bucket underneath the grinder that I forgot to mention.
The bucket I use is actually a water container with a spigot. Which is perfect because after you have juiced a couple gallons you will have some solids and foam falling in too. Since the spigot is mounted on the side and not the bottom the spigot will not let the solids drain. The foam of course floats. This saves a ton of time trying to filter the solids out.
I DO recommend juicing in a garrage or outside since it can be a bit of a mess if you plan on juicing a lot.
Google, in immages, universal #2 meat grinder and nut butter disk just in case you are at a garage sale and see one. They usually go cheap. And if it doesn't have a nut butter disk they still work great for making jerky.
