The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: AndynJ on September 15, 2013, 06:53:01 pm
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We were going to buy a traditional apple press but having looked closer the cheap modern ones don't live up to our expectations, so we were considering buying an electric juicer instead (we would be able to use it for other things as well then)
Question
Is an electric juicer suitable for producing apple juice / cider
If not why not ?
Many thanks in advance :thumbsup:
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To ye all viewers don't just read this we needs your help, we want to order whichever tomorrow
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Er dunno !
Make a heavy duty frame , wood or metal as in old style fruit press , but instead of the huge screw , use a 10 ton bottle jack , job done .
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I have made cider using an electric juicer but I came pretty darn close to burning the engine out. Mine simply wasn't big enough to cope with the volume. The juice goes a bit brown and may take longer to clear than squashed fruit. (IMO)
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Thanks for those 2 replies, we haven't got a lot of apples as they have been falling daily, Rusty your probably right but it'll take me ages I just want to play this year.
The coming out brown & taking a while to clear that surprised us
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If you bought the timber it would take about an hour or so .
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If you bought the timber it would take about an hour or so .
Really ? I have probably got enough 3x2 if that's sufficient ?
I can make stuff If I have plans to follow and what would we put the apples on and how would we get juice from press to bucket ?
Any suggestions where to see plans as I've googled and just get frame no explanation of other bits
More help required
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We bought a press. Great cider and great juice. We also have a juicer which hubby found minced it up. Press vote here :thumbsup:
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Phew ! Nightmare to explain but i'll give it a go . Firstly , no point in making it too hefty as you don't have that many apples or hefty timber .
So , two uprights say 4 foot tall , with a foot on each say 2 foot long . Lay the feet on the floor so the 2 inch side is on the floor .
Fit the upright in the centre of each foot (to make an upside down capital T , with the 3" faces together . Use coach bolts to fix .
Now get 4 cross beams 2' 4" long . Fit 2 at the top and 2 about 2' 6" from the top, fit the cross beams one each side of the upright . These may need to be held with threaded rod , if you can't get long enough bolts .
Make sure the frame is square before drilling and bolting .
With the lower 2 crossbeams , one can be an 1/8th of an inch or so lower than the other , to give a drain off slope .
Now you need 2 bits of ply about 2 foot square each . One to lay on the lower crossbeams , to take the apple layers , and the other to go on top of the layers . These may need beefing up with 3"x2" to take the pressure . In the middle of the top 2 crossbeams , on the underside , fit a short bit of 3"x2" , from front to back . To take the top of the bottle jack , which will sit on the topmost of the ply boards when in use .
The lower of the 2 ply boards will need an edge of say 2"x1" to hold the apple cakes and to direct the juice toward the gap that you will need at the front , under which you place a bowl to catch the juice .
Use clean sacks to lay the apple on ,in 1" layers . Fold up each layer and lay another sack on , fill and so on , place top ply board on , leaving enough space to fit bottle jack .
Place bottle jack on board and under the central 3"x2" on the top crossbeams and gently pump the jack handle . Don't go mad , just gentle pressure is all that is needed at first . As the flow eases give another pump on the jack until no more juice flows .
Job done .
Don't try to use nails or screws to hold it together , they won't hold !
Big bolts or threaded rod
about 1/2" thick .
It will work ok .
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Have you looked at the machine mart website for a ready made one that fairly heavy duty? ( seem to think I've seen one there a few days ago )
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Flippin heck Rustyme an hour to make, my goodness it'll take me an hour to get my head round those instructions :roflanim:
I can probably get bolts locally but I'll have to go into the city for plywood.
Rustyme as you have tried to help me so much I am going to try and make one, I think your instructions along with a picture off the tinternet and i'll be on my way, It won't be today though I'll let you know how I get on.
The machine mart suggestion I saw those but you need a bag to hold the apples therefore in my mind the timber is thus constructed not to be water tight and is just for show, I might be wrong
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We started apple juice and cider making about 12 years ago. What we did for the first few years, was to put the apples through an electric garden shredder and then pressed the resulting pommice in one of these little babies.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quality-12L-Fruit-Press-Apple-Wine-Cider-/360730458342?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Food_SM&hash=item53fd35f8e6 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quality-12L-Fruit-Press-Apple-Wine-Cider-/360730458342?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Food_SM&hash=item53fd35f8e6)
Its amazing how much juice you can produce using a dinky little press like this and its great fun too.
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If you look on the machine mart site , they sell hydraulic presses . They are more or less the same thing as what i explained .
The ply boards can be ditched and just use 3"x2" fixed together instead . The gap between the top crossbeams and the lower ones may need altering , but the lower ones can be adjustable anyway . Just drill extra holes down the uprights at 2" or 3" centres .
The frame is so simple to make , my explanation is not so simple though !
The uprights may need a couple of diagonals added at the bottom to stop them wobbling . The whole thing is just 8 main parts and then the platforms , and half a dozen holes for the bolts or threaded rod .
I think it takes longer to read my explanation than make the thing lol , sorry .
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We've got a home built apple press that does the job- knock up in an afternoon a couple of years ago. I've quickly snipped the description from our website:
We made a square ‘barrel’ to hold the apples which balances on an old kitchen door screwed to an upturned pallet. The piston is provided by the square face of a plasterer’s hawk powered by an old car jack. The supporting frame is a trimmed down window frame. Like most of our creations on the farm, it has a certain rustic beauty – mainly in the eyes in the constructors! However, it works – squishing a gallon and a half out of our first load of apples.
(http://www.hempsalsfarm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/IMG_2132-224x300.jpg)
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Thanks everyone
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well we thought, right we have a jack and look at that pallet if we turned it on its side it offers a box shape we could utilise, so I knocked off the timbers and just left the outer square, turned it on its end put a jack in, drilled a hole in a metal tray, bashed some apples put them in a cloth put another tray on top and jacked, hey presto juice
Must say it was seriously dark though we all loved it, I don't think we will get cider as the apple juice is pretty good.
Thanks again to all of you, I'm sure we will improve the design over the winter.
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I looked at a pair of socks on ebay the other day, the next day I got a message saying I needed to pay for them, I had bought them somehow ? funny thing is they're not even my size :roflanim:
So yesterday we played with making apple juice dead chuffed, thinking right we will improve on this for next year, thought might have another go tonight, anyway this morning 9am toot at the gate a delivery,
oh what's this then?
Funny thing is it's an apple press from machine mart, neither of us thought we had ordered one, even funnier a note inside saying they only sent one as they assumed it was an error us ordering two :roflanim:
I'm going to stop using this thing it costs me a fortune :roflanim:
can't wait to see what turns up tomorrow.
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Garden shredder... now that is a champion idea! Do you mix water with the scratted apples and stand them over night before putting them through the press and mixing the appl juice with the water befoe fermenting. My mate in Hereford told me something about this for making 'ladies' cider. Tht is cider of 6% or less apparently. Means you can have a couple and still make it to the loo though!
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No need for water Dougal.
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I looked at a pair of socks on ebay the other day, the next day I got a message saying I needed to pay for them, I had bought them somehow ? funny thing is they're not even my size :roflanim:
So yesterday we played with making apple juice dead chuffed, thinking right we will improve on this for next year, thought might have another go tonight, anyway this morning 9am toot at the gate a delivery,
oh what's this then?
Funny thing is it's an apple press from machine mart, neither of us thought we had ordered one, even funnier a note inside saying they only sent one as they assumed it was an error us ordering two :roflanim:
I'm going to stop using this thing it costs me a fortune :roflanim:
can't wait to see what turns up tomorrow.
Check you PayPal /bank accounts for payments to make sure you paid for the items.
Unsolicited goods can be fun , especially if you make them very expensive to return to the owner and you give a short time via email of which you keep copies for your legal protection for them to collect their goods or you will dispose of them as you see fit with out recompense to the owner.
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Flippin heck Rustyme an hour to make, my goodness it'll take me an hour to get my head round those instructions :roflanim:
I can probably get bolts locally but I'll have to go into the city for plywood.
Rustyme as you have tried to help me so much I am going to try and make one, I think your instructions along with a picture off the tinternet and i'll be on my way, It won't be today though I'll let you know how I get on.
The machine mart suggestion I saw those but you need a bag to hold the apples therefore in my mind the timber is thus constructed not to be water tight and is just for show, I might be wrong
The bag is for retaining the pressed pulp to stop it going into the juice ..a sort of simple first stage filter ?????
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well we had a go at the machine mart press last night, we haven't got lots of apples mind, the press it's great so we filled a 2 litre bottle for our first attempt at cider then a 2 litre bottle for apple juice, we didn't clean up last night so the jug is still under the press, I got up this morning to half a pint of apple juice ;D
we need to find / make a way of chopping apples that bit took ages, I've seen a contraption on the internet which looks like I could make, all the diagrams are there with a measured parts list so great for someone like me. :thinking:
How much juice do you get from a carrier bag full ?
Thanks again folks
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Do you mean the plastic bucket with a blade on a spindle fitting to a drill? We have one of those - I think we paid about 12 quid for it. It is effective for small quantities, but having spent the weekend with a proper scratter I would recommend borrowing one like we did! Awesome piece of kit - not surprised they are so expensive though (about 250) they are really beautifully engineered and effective.
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Get yourself a Champion Juicer (about $200) and just buy apples to juice. The juicer will pay for itself in other ways like carrot juice, nut butters, etc.
I have a cider press AND a Champion. I use the press when I want to do large quantities (I freeze the cider in half-gallon plastic milk bottles) and the juicer during the winter when I want to have fresh cider from stored apples.