Used up the apples from our apple tree... pain in the ....

[Noodleman]

It is that time of the year when our apples start to fall from the tree. With the blackberries picked this week the wife is happy and will be making apple and balackberry pie.. mmmmmmmm

I decided to use the left over apples and make a cider. Our apple tree didn't produce as much this year as it did last, but I figured I had enough left over for just about 1 gallon of cider. I deiced to use the blender to pulp the apples ready for squishing. After 3-4 hours of doing this in our small blender, and taking no end of abuse from the wife I was ready!

I knocked up a home made press in the garage using some left over pallet wood (from our chicken house build). Took about 20 mins. It isn't the strongest or best looking press in the world, but it worked for my small batch. I may make a better one next year. Its a simple wooden frame with 2 baking trays as the collection tray and squisher , I drilled a hole in the baking tray for juice to escape into my collection bucket. The tray needed replacing anyway.. "yes dear".

Nobbled a pair of the wifes tights, perfect for putting the apple pulp into before pressing, be warned.. get permission first :nono: .

Used the car jack to squish the apple pulp, with the press making cracking noises with every twist of the jack, but it held out (with some reinforcement along the way). I collected just over 2 liters of juice, a little less than I had wanted, but good enough with some bulking out with cooled boiled water.

I've added a good measure of sugar to compensate for the added water + a little extra and its going into the DJ up to the shoulder. I've a few apples left over which I intend to squish next week and top up the DJ. I expect to get about 500ml of juice from these and will tup up the rest with water. I will add some extra sugar at that stage too to really bump the % when its done.

i think it may come out more like wine.. but it's been a fun learning experience.

Pulping apples takes forever, don't start this in the evening as its dark when you finish and the mrs will give you glares . The press needs to be a bit stronger etc. However, can't wait to try the result.

cider making should come with a time consuming warning

 

[danb]

We used 2 food processors yesterday to pulp 14kg of apples and it was a pain taking 2 hours so been today and got a waste disposal unit ready for the huge amount coming soon.

 

[godfrey]

have you guys seen the YouTube videos of the washing machine apple press ?

will also need SWMBO's permission for that one :rofl:

 

[PD]

yes I can see the novelty aspect of crushing your own apples
growing your own hops
crushing grains
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once.....

 

[paulz]

With that kind of quantity I would have frozen the apples for a couple of days, defrosted them and pressed them whole. Far less energy and strain
Paulz

 

[Wezzel]

If we have enough apples on our allotment I'm thinking of doing the same but I shall use my electric juicer. I've heard that it works okay and certainly extracts plenty of juice.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Whole fruit juicer is the biz with apples, but a press gives you another 20%.

 

[Wezzel]

Wow, 20% really?

 

[Noodleman]

thought I would share my bodged 20min press build

For anybody else who intends to cobble one together, USE BOLTS all the way through not screws.. The screws will pop eventually. luckily for me they held up long enough for my squishing. Next stage is to break it back down into fire wood for the winter

 

[Titus A Duxass]

thought I would share my bodged 20min press build

For anybody else who intends to cobble one together, USE BOLTS all the way through not screws.. The screws will pop eventually. luckily for me they held up long enough for my squishing. Next stage is to break it back down into fire wood for the winter

I'm going to be building something similar very shortly.
I will use bolts all the way through and I'll use a hydraulic bottle jack instead of a screw jack.

 

[Noodleman]

It would be much better with the bottle jack for sure, I just used what I had available at the time :)

Also, find a way to distribute the pressure from the bottom of the jack evenly would be essential. I used a couple bits of wood int he trays, it wasn't ideal but got the job done. Ideally a rounded container with a similar size round plate to sit on top would work best (in my opinion).

 

[Titus A Duxass]

Also, find a way to distribute the pressure from the bottom of the jack evenly would be essential. I used a couple bits of wood int he trays, it wasn't ideal but got the job done. Ideally a rounded container with a similar size round plate to sit on top would work best (in my opinion).

Good point, fortunately I have plenty of 19mm multiplex ply in the barn.
I'll make a pressure plate for the jack out of two pieces and a baseplate/foot with a fence/wall around the egde with one opening for the juice to flow out of.