Looking for an apple press for cider

Ardlogan

Hi I am interested in making my own cider with apples from my garden and I'm wondering is there anywhere I could use an apple press or borrow one as this is my first attempt and want to see how it goes. I am based in Meath and can travel.
Thanks

viper123

Home brew west rent them I think. They're based in Galway city.

nimrod86

I've used this one off amazon before and it works grand. Cheap and cheerful, and same as the ones on homebrewwest.ie, but a little bit cheaper. Only issue is because it's fairly small it can take an age to get a decent amount of juice! But if you don't mind spending an afternoon at it, it gets the job done!

Effects

nimrod86 wrote: »

Only issue is because it's fairly small it can take an age to get a decent amount of juice! But if you don't mind spending an afternoon at it, it gets the job done!

Last time I ended up going right through the night into the morning.
It was a pain in the ass filling, juicing, emptying, filling again etc.

tabby aspreme

Seed savers in Clare rent time on an apple press, you bring the apples to there place and bring back the juice

JabbaTheHut

You'll need a way to pulp the apples before you put them in the press also. The more pulped they are, the better the yield. I made my own mulcher/pulper, and press a few years ago, but they will need replacing now. As always, Youtube will show you peoples ideas in action

Feisar

I used an attachment for a drill I got on amazon. Done some job pulping them

Effects

Has anyone ever rented a commercial juicer?
Just picking all my apples at the moment. At about 120 kg so far. Don't have the time to press that much in my own press.

Water John

Interesting piece on Countryfile on that. A European couple have opened such a facility in the UK. You bring your apples for pressing. They said it was very common for each village in Germany to have one.
Might be an opportunity for someone in an apple growing part of the country.

Effects

My press has a ratchet, which is a pain to use. I'm going to cut out the centre threaded spindle and adjust/build it so I can use a car jack instead. Should be much faster.
I've about 250kg of apples.

SoupyNorman

Effects wrote: »

Last time I ended up going right through the night into the morning.
It was a pain in the ass filling, juicing, emptying, filling again etc.

I bought the 18 litre capacity press this year. I get 5-6 litres per pressing however each pressing can take 30mins or more as the juice likes to take its time after the initial deluge.

Effects

I've bought some 3x4" timber and a 4 ton jack. I'm going remove the centre spindle from my press, get the timber cut and assembled, then start pulping and pressing in the morning.

Weighed all my apples and I've got 264kg.

SoupyNorman

Effects wrote: »

I've bought some 3x4" timber and a 4 ton jack. I'm going remove the centre spindle from my press, get the timber cut and assembled, then start pulping and pressing in the morning.

Weighed all my apples and I've got 264kg.

What I have become painfully aware of is there really isnt any easy way to extract juice from an apple

Effects

Effects

SoupyNorman wrote: »

What I have become painfully aware of is there really isnt any easy way to extract juice from an apple

I've barely made a dent and I'm sick of it already. Taking a break and using the electric juicer for a bit. It's got a lot of froth but I'll let it sit overnight and then siphon it off tomorrow.

SoupyNorman

Effects wrote: »

I've barely made a dent and I'm sick of it already. Taking a break and using the electric juicer for a bit. It's got a lot of froth but I'll let it sit overnight and then siphon it off tomorrow.

The press looks like it’s a small enough capacity for 250kg’s. How are you pulping the apples?

Effects

I have a pulper device. I still need to quarter the apples that go into it. But I've removed the handle so I can at least use my drill on it.
After letting the juice from both the press and the juicer rest overnight, the stuff from the press is sweeter but cloudier. I'm not sure if the time it takes between pulping and pressing is affecting the apples by way of oxidation. Maybe the lever of tart/sweet is also based on which apples are in each batch as I've got 8 different types of apple trees. I'll mix them all together when I'm done I think.

SoupyNorman

Effects wrote: »

I have a pulper device. I still need to quarter the apples that go into it. But I've removed the handle so I can at least use my drill on it.
After letting the juice from both the press and the juicer rest overnight, the stuff from the press is sweeter but cloudier. I'm not sure if the time it takes between pulping and pressing is affecting the apples by way of oxidation. Maybe the lever of tart/sweet is also based on which apples are in each batch as I've got 8 different types of apple trees. I'll mix them all together when I'm done I think.

I invested in this set and it was worth every penny. Got the 18L capacity press.

On my first run I manually halved all the apples but that took hours, few days after I spotted a serrated edging shovel in the hardware and got a rigid plastic bin. Was able to pre pulp all my apples in 3 mins versus 2 hours halving with a knife. After that they sailed through the pulper.



If you want clear cider add bentonite or pectic enzyme. You can also wait until secondary fermentation and using Kwik Clear finings, I use this with great success.

Effects

Thanks for the advice. Something came into my head yesterday as well, and I think I spotted it online last year.
Some people use a garden shredder for their apples. Purely for apples though, and never used for anything else.

I have some old pectolase, but hoping to pick some more up later on in town if the guy on Thomas St. has it.
I was surprised looking online at the lack of homebrew stores in Dublin.

Effects

SoupyNorman wrote: »

I invested in this set and it was worth every penny. Got the 18L capacity press.

That looks pretty close to what I have actually. I've removed the spindle and ratchet system as it was too slow. I find the bottle jack much better.

The pulper is identical except mines got a wooden base rather than metal.

Effects

Finished everything over the weekend.
6 x 16L fermenting and another one of about 10L that's fermenting on it's own yeast.
I've added honey to 4 of the containers so far but will add more later this week once I get it strained.