$$Apple Cider$$

[Jeff]

Fresh Apple cider is starting off at 5 bucks a gallon this year around here.  

 I'm contemplating ways to build a small grinder and a press for my own wants. I just might do it.   I've seen grinders built with a simple wooden cylinder studded with stainless wood screw heads as the grinders and presses made from oak and hydraulic jacks.

[Tom]

that sounds like a project that I would like to be involved in.  Apple cider..... yummy!

[sawguy21]

Is this sweet cider or Paschale's version?

[Ron Wenrich]

Perhaps the use of Gallagher's sledge-o-matic would fit the bill.   Cheap, simple to operate, and fast.   

[Jeff]

Is this sweet cider or Paschale's version?

Simple cider. "Apple juice"

[Paschale]

I've been thinking about making one too.  I've been noticing all of the old, abandoned apple trees out in the country and remember what you said you used to do:  just get buckets of apples from country apple trees and press it out.

I've seen some plans for some contraptions that use a car jack as a hydraulic jack of sorts.  Wonder if that could work...   

[Brad_S.]

I keep meaning to try this set up out but cider season and peak sawmilling season overlap and I never quite get around to it.

shop press and garbage disposal cider presss

[Fla._Deadheader]

 Juicerator

[Mike_Barcaskey]

yum yum
let it age and get a little hard

[rbhunter]

My uncle has a cider press he ordered the parts for and put togather. It came with a manual crank for grinding the apples. After a couple of uses he replaced it with an electric motor.

Also he uses a blend of about 50/50 jonathan apples and yellow delecious. He is friends of the owner of a fuit farm here and that is how they mix the apples going into thier cider. It gives it more flavor. They also use other apples but the mix basically is split between a tarter apple with more flavor and one that is sweeter.

[scgargoyle]

I've been thinking about making one too.  I've been noticing all of the old, abandoned apple trees out in the country and remember what you said you used to do:  just get buckets of apples from country apple trees and press it out.

I've seen some plans for some contraptions that use a car jack as a hydraulic jack of sorts.  Wonder if that could work...   

Nothing like a little hydraulic fluid to give yer cider that 'certain something' 

[Corley5]

Let it sit for a bit and skim the oil off the top before bottling    I've thought about a 20 shop press 

[Furby]

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=8941.0

[Dave Shepard]

A friend of mine has a nice old cider press that has a grinder built into it. I think it is made to run off of a one-lunger, but I could be wrong. I think it is time to tell him to get it out of the barn.


Dave

[Jeff]

http://www.forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=8941.0

I've changed my toon since then Furby. Use to be you could get cider squeezed for 25 to 35 cents a gallon. I checked today, (also took a couple pictures) and they wanted $1.25!! (your apples, your jugs)

[farmerdoug]

Jeff,

The 1.25 is great if you are selling it as you need a USDA approved site for selling.  Jugs are getting expensive too.  You get 3-4 gallons of cider per bushel depending on the type of apples. 

The finer the grind the easier it is getting the cider out.  If you have a shop press you could make a fairly good press with multiple layers.  All you need is a strudy tray to catch the cider.

 I would stay away from the garbage can because of the acid dissolving the zinc.  I think that a wine press would work too.

Farmerdoug

[Jeff]

We went to visit one of the small local cider mills today to get some cider donuts and I snapped a picture of the cider press.  Other then the apple washing operation, the whole deal is in the photo.  Little conveyor up to the grinder, (sounds like a garbage disposal unit)  the ground apples and juice drop into trays in the end of a long stainless steel pan. when several racks are stacked, they are slid ahead in the pan until they are under the press. Just a simple Hydraulic cylinder ran by and electric pump with one up and down valve.  THe pressed juice then flows from the pan down a hose and is pumped into a tank where it is filtered can the jugs are filled.

 

[thecfarm]

I do like cider.I have plans to make a press too.Probaly never will.Similar to the link.The plans I have use a bottle jack for the press.Have to keep putting in blocks of wood as you press.The shop jack looks eaiser and quicker.

[Dave Shepard]

For those of us with a tractor, a 4"x12" hydraulic cylinder would be a cheap way to go, and provide plenty of squeeze, and fast. What do you line the layers of chopped apples with? From what I have seen you alternate different layers, at least on older versions. The trays in the picture seem to be a more modern method.


Dave

[tim1234]

JeffB,

Figure out a way to get your LT30 to chop up those apples, then put them in a burlap sack and drop that big redwood table on them.  That should do the trick

Tim

[Sawyerfortyish]

I bought a small bottle of apple syrup one time and always wondered how it was made. Does anyone know? do you take cider and boil it like maple sap til it turns to syrup?

[Dan_Shade]

lookie what I just picked up from the local classifieds:

 

now I gotta make a grinder, and find some apples!

I grew up in apple country, WV (I went to Musselman Highschool, if that says anything).  of course now, they grow houses instead of apples )

When I was in highschool, the FFA would make cider, and I'd help since it was a good excuse to get outside   we had a grinder which had a hopper and two shafts with a bunch of bolts through it that turned together busting up all the apples, we'd then dump them into the press like this one lined with cheese cloth and us bigger fellas would crank it down squishing out that apple goodness. 

[Tom]

Wow!!  An ice cream churn and bag of chicken feed. 

[Dan_Shade]

you want a bowl, Tom?  it's cheap eatin!

[Tom]

I'll pass.  I never had any layin'mash ice cream before. 

[Dan_Shade]

you don't know what your missing.  my dog likes it, so it's gotta be good.

[hiya]

I have a press I picked up at a farm auction when I was still in school. It has
2 tubs like you have Dan. At the one end is a hopper with a grinder . It was a crank
 type. I put an electric motor on it.Fill one tub, slide it down under the screw.
squeeze that one while the other tub is being filled.
We would make apple butter.  , Been years ago .
Richard

[Dan_Shade]

apple butter is good stuff.  I've had a hankerin'  for some lately, bought some at the store, and wanted to yack, no wonder people say they don't like it!

My mom had a friend that had a whole slew of kids, they'd make a big pot every november.  that's a few days job right there...

my uncle has a kettle, but I can't remember the last time they did it.  My mom makes a pot in the oven every year, it's good, but not like that open kettle stuff is.

[rpg52]

We bought a press from an outfit in Washington state when our kids were little and drinking gallons of juice.  My wife dragged it out today and pressed a couple gallons.  It sounds like what hiya has only a single tub.  Has a big acme screw - always a decision about how much juice can you get out of a pressing.  Frame is laminated 4X4 maple - it creaks when you really crank it down.  Some apples don't have much juice, they say a mixture of sweet, tart and a bit of special cider apples (with a little bitterness) makes the best juice.  Too  much sweet (Golden Delicious, etc.) is definitely too much.  We pasturize some in beer bottles too, it keeps for years that way.
Ray

[Dave Shepard]

My neighbor has some cider in his basement that'll keep for years, but pastuerizing wouldn't be good for his technique.


Dave

[Dan_Shade]

what do you guys use for grinding up the apples?  I saw a thing a guy made with flat head screws screwed into a round chunk of wood.  I may make up something like that, but I think i'll try to use PVC pipe or something like that for my drum.  only problem there is if the screws will hold in the PVC.

[Jeff]

The mass of the wood is what helps grind I would think. I think the PVC would be to light.  I figured on making a similar grinder, but I wont use a big solid cylinder as I don't have a lathe. I do have a jigsaw though.  I can cut round circles out of 4/4 or 6/4 stock and bore holes in the center. then glue them up using a chunk of all thread through the center holes to line them up, rotating end grain as I do.  Use a pipe floor flange or a big nut and washer to press them tight together.  This should make a solid cylinder. Put my shaft in it when its dry and mount it in simple wood bearing (holes bored in frame).  Put on a belt sheave and spin it with a 110 motor I have here. Then I'll take the belt sander and sand the cylinder as it turns, making it perfectly round. Then I'll put the stainless steel wood screws in it.

At least thats my plan.

[Don_Papenburg]

I use a vegie shreader  then I fill my wood slat drum and slide it under the shop press that uses a 15 ton portapower hydraulic system .  I built a table out of oak that colects and directs the juice into a waiting bucket.

[Jeff]

Something I bet would work good, and I just saw one at a yard sale a week or so ago but never gave it a thought.  A garbage disposal.  This one was in the sink too. They are made for grinding food.

[solodan]

I was just telling my wife that we need to start using some apples. She owns a full service catering/ cake business and just opened a retail cafe/bakery at her commercial food facility. We have a small piece of open space that is owned by about 100 of us here in Sugar Pine. It is an old apple orchard that has been pretty run down, but the trees still produce a lot of apples .Another guy and my self are the only ones that do any maintenance on the property.   Now Jeff has really got me thinking with cider at $5/Gal. I should be able to find some old pressing equipment around here, cause the central Sierra was once the apple capital before Washington state was. We have wild apples growing all over this county and the Stanislaus National Forest too. I guess I've got more homework to do cause even though I have always had apple trees, all I have ever done with them is eat them or let my mom or my wife bake pies.

[Dan_Shade]

I don't know that a garbage disposal would hold up for long grinding apples, and can you fit an entire apple into one?  I do'nt know what the duty cycle of a garbage disposal is, but i wouldn't think it's for more than a minute at a time.


Jeff, why don't you set up a jig to turn the wheel down?  make up the thing on a shaft, and then true it up by spinning it.  I guess I could make a wooden one.  i don't have any maple right now, I figure that would work well. 

[thecfarm]

Go back to Brad's post,#6 and it says a garbage disposal.That's what mine plans call for too.In fact that's the most expensive part.The apples have to be chomped up before going into the garbage disposal or really any small grinder.My directions says when it overheats and shuts off,just wait for it to cool off and start again.I would think it's like those small welders.When it shuts off it comes back on when it's cool down.These do come in diffeant size motors.Those disposal are not designed to run an hour steady.

[Paschale]

I bought a small bottle of apple syrup one time and always wondered how it was made. Does anyone know? do you take cider and boil it like maple sap til it turns to syrup?

Hi there,

Not sure if anyone's answered you, but you've got it right.  If you do a google search for "boiled cider" you should come up with some answers.  I've done it myself before, though it's easy to go too far too.  I think there's still a company out in Vermont somewhere that sells bottle boiled cider. 

What's terrific is to boil down some cider, and then make caramel sauce out of it.     I've done that before, and man, it's tasty along side an apple pie and ice cream!   

Hmm...just found the recipe I used before.  Check it out.

[Roxie]

Sawerfortyish, here is the recipe I use to make apple syrup.  It's awesome served warm on French toast, or over ice cream.  I use real maple syrup to make mine.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup plus 2 tsp. apple juice, divided
1/2 cup molasses, honey, or maple syrup
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled apple (about 2 medium)
2 tsp. cornstarch

Directions:
Combine 3/4 cup of the apple juice and all of the molasses and apples in a 1-qt. saucepan. Place over medium heat, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Combine the cornstarch and the remaining 2 teaspoons of apple juice in a small bowl. Add the mixture to the pan, and cook and stir for 1 minute, or until the mixture is slightly thickened.

Serve warm over pancakes, French toast, or waffles.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week.

[SwampDonkey]

yum yum
let it age and get a little hard

Could just as easily end up with vinegar for the spring fiddle heads.

[SwampDonkey]

I'll pass.  I never had any layin'mash ice cream before. 

We always substituted grape nuts for the chicken feed. 

[Dan_Shade]

I've never seen grapenuts in 50lb bags 

[johncinquo]

I have an Olympia juice machine.  Wash, quarter the apples, turn it on and feed em through.  The peels and seeds fall out the end, the juice falls out the bottom.  You can get various sized holes in the screens, for how thick you want your juice.  You can get one off ebay for about $50.  The make all kinds of juicers like jack lalannes and the Juiceman model.  You dont have to do it outdoors or in the garage with many buckets and the mess.  I do up a gallon or two and keep them in the fridge.  Fresh stuff every couple days, before it turns brown and ucky lookin.  If you use a screen with bigger holes you get some great apple sauce.  Still no peeling the apples. 

Its not a press, but sometimes I think technology does have some benefits.

[Sawyerfortyish]

Paschale and Roxie thanks for the recipes I can't wait to try em. I got about 10 gallon of maple syrup left from what I made this spring so i'll mix up batch.

[dail_h]

   They'us this ol boy ta home,usta make cider wif  a "Bearcat" hammermilland a old Oliver tractor. Used a big hydraulic cylinder to squeese it. He'de make a ton a cider,then later process it through this other odd lookin contraptionwiff a lot o fire,'n steam,'n water. Reduced the volume quite a bit,,,,,did increase the punch a right smart though