Juicing Apples. What is the best way?

[Chalkyt]

This year's cider is really good thanks to advice from this forum. However, so far I have relied on coring and slicing the apples then juicing the segments with a heavy duty domestic juicer. The juice yield is something like 1 gallon per 100 apples.

I do have a grape press but it won't handle chopped apples, they do need to be pulped before I can use it successfully.

Our friendly ebay has apple/vegetable pulpers for a hundred bucks or so (I did stumble across a somewhat expensive timber version from EC Kuaus). These look like a simple hopper (listed as 7 litre capacity) with a handle that turns contra rotating rollers with blades on them at the bottom of the hopper. These rollers grab the apples and "grunch" them, spitting the pulp out the bottom. The pulper sits on top of a bucket. The idea seems to be good, BUT are they really any good? Has anyone used them?

I only do small batches (1 gallon mixed varieties made from several hundred apples out of our small orchard). This year's Granny Smith and Pomme de Neige blend with EC1118 at first taste seems like a great summer sipper, but I think Pippin, Pomme de Neige and Crab Apple with Nottingham will be the star.

There are plenty of home made apple scatchers on Youtube but I am not sure it is worth the trouble to make one for the volume I am working with.

Does pulping and pressing give a better result than juicing? I do find that juicing produces a lot of foam (and mess). I notice that a lot of the cider on the forum is made from "store or orchard bought juice" but we don't seem to have such a marketplace. There is an apple growing area on the other side of our mountains (Tumut/Batlow) but it is a three hour drive away, and anyhow making cider is a good way to "get rid of" my surplus apples.

As we are getting towards the end of your Summer and Autumn is coming, I imagine that your thoughts are turning to making cider, so maybe now is a good time to ask the question and look at getting some sort of pulper... after all Father's Day and Santa are coming soon!

All opinions are welcome.

 

[Drewed]

I've seen where people have mounted a new garbage disposal to a sink on legs and have it discharge into a bucket. Just push your apples in and collect juice and pulp for further pressing.

 

[Homercidal]

I've seen where people have mounted a new garbage disposal to a sink on legs and have it discharge into a bucket. Just push your apples in and collect juice and pulp for further pressing.

I've seen this. The grinder part of the process can be the bugger. It's relatively simple to build a wooden press with some cheap lumber and a cheap Harbor Freight bottle jack. Just google images for cider press.

 

[Scrumpy!]

Chalkyt

I've been using a cheap 1/3 hp garbage disposal to pulp the apples from my home orchard for a few years. I press the pulp with a basket press and my yields are quite good. I get pretty good separation of apple solids from the liquid.

It is not practical to process anything larger than a gallon or two with a juicer. When you scale up from a juicer to a press, your kitchen will return to normal and the mess will migrate outside or at least to a place that you can use a hose to do your cleanup.

Here are some of my solutions to modest cider production (~250 l). I'm processing wild apples here that are 2-3 cm in diameter.

Upper left: I feed them in to a stainless sink I had laying around.

Upper middle: The garbage disposal pulps them.

Upper right: Ready to feed the pulp into a basket press lined with a coarse filter bag.

Lower left: Juice starts to run as soon as I plop a good load into the press.

Lower middle: Putting the squeeze on.

Lower right: Good separation of the vegetable solids and juice.

 

[Chalkyt]

Thanks for the replies. I have scratched through Google and seen a few articles and Youtube clips using a garbage disposal unit. I hadn't thought of that. It looks very effective.

Attached are some images (I hope) of the ebay apple and fruit grinder that I referred to. They look o.k. for small batches but I am a bit concerned about forking out my $$$ without seeing one. That is why I asked if anyone had used these.

Mind you, for about the same money I think I can pick up an el-cheapo or used disposal unit... hmm!

View attachment Apple Grinder.pdf

 

[Scrumpy!]

There are good things and bad things about using a garbage disposal but overall, it can work pretty well.

Cons

Apples must be chopped to fit the opening which adds a step unless your apples are small.

Pulp can be hard to press because it is fine and escapes through the press cloth.

Greater exposure of the juice to oxygen

Pros

Fast and easy

Cheap

The traditional method is to use a scratter that chops the apples into wood chip size and shape pieces. Pressing the juice out of this material requires more effort and yields are somewhat lower. There are lots of plans on the web for building your own scratter and press as well. I like the looks of the scratters that use an electric motor out of an old clothes drier or table saw. Using the hydraulics out of a wood splitter with a home made press is also pretty effective.

If you want to see some Yankee Ingenuity, check out some of these contraptions people have built to process their apples.

Got some kid power? Try this: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuW2Vg7YaY[/ame]

Wondering what to do with that old washer? Make cider with it: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj9z7NbO9mk[/ame]

Have an idle log splitter? Get double duty out of it: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8CZaMN0mu8[/ame]

Building your own scratter and press seems to be an obsession with some people. Maybe it is because some of the commercial tools are expensive, don't work very well, and don't last long under heavy use.

Whatever you choose to do, have fun doing it. If you aren't having enough fun, start with higher SG apple juice.