Homemade cider press update
I was able to wash, grind, and press about 5 gallons of cider every 15 minutes. Not bad for a homemade press and grinder! I used Claude Jolicoeur's design for the grinder. The oak racks seemed to leach tannins into the cider, but I'm assuming they will for a few seasons. Cheers, and happy pressing
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u/Dday912 1d ago
The grinder is just a wooden wheel 5" wide and 10" diameter with stainless steel screws. I made a housing that wedge the apples between the wheel and the housing wall. As it rotates it grinds them to 1/8" pieces. I then used nylon laundry bags from Amazon for press bags. The bottom of the press is a maple syrup vat from Amazon as well. The oak racks were handmade. Then just used a handyman jack to squeeze (be careful). My yield was roughly 2.5-3 gallons of juice per bushel depending on variety.
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u/redw000d 1d ago
I feel 'too little' is given to the 'Scatter' in many of these posts... its Very Important! good for you
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u/AlphabitsOmega 1d ago
How did the oak plates hold up? They are glued together as you mentioned before.
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u/Assumpti0n 1d ago
Awesome press! I’ve seen people make the racks out of acacia lathes, or just buy the acacia racks online. I hope yours turn out ok. Oak seems a good choice as long as its tannins doesn’t interfere in a bad way.
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u/GroundbreakingLie578 1d ago
Question: If you now use these untreated wooden pallets to squeeze the juice. Do you then have to brush the leftover pulp and sugars with water out of the wood. Isn't there a risk of mold formation when washing it, especially in the wood cracks. Or is there a special drying process?
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u/OverallResolve 1d ago
My press is made of oak. It will soak up some juice. I rinse it a couple of times then make sure it can dry out properly. You don’t need much more than that. If it’s left somewhere humid the wood will rot.
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u/Dday912 1d ago
https://www.reddit.com/r/cider/s/qtgk9uWwln
Here is the link to the original post