I was wondering if any of you have homemade plans with part lid for an apple scratter?(shredder/crusher/destemmer)
Also, I have been using hardware mesh to protect my trees. I used a 8-10 inch pice of corrugated pipe around the tree, a wooden stake outside of the corrugated pipe and then a cylinder of hardware mesh around everything that I zip tie to the wooden stake. Aside from tin snips, does anyone have a quicker way to cut hardware mesh?
Part list*
I use these, or something very close (there’s quite a number of different handle styles):
It seems like a lot to pay but they’re a lifetime tool and if you do any wiring or other wire work you’ll come to appreciate them in short order.
I use those as well as tin snips. I guess I’m being lazy. Was looking for a saw or something to cut through hardware mesh fast. Anyone have apple scratter plans?
I bought a 1 hp sink grinder . It grinds perfectly. Minor issues that need compensation are apples too big to fit down the throat and thermal overload on long runs.
How did you set it up for used with apples?
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Just get a cheap sink to mount it and let the mash fall into the bucket. It can be set on some sawhorses. Don’t let it run continuously for very long. They’re good for small batches of cider.
I use a circular saw with a scrap blade (I have a few junk blades and they’re cheap) to cut wire mesh for trees. It cuts very easily. Snips take way too long.
I used an old office printer desk I had acquired previously. It’s just a metal tube frame with a piece of laminated countertop. I drilled a hole in the countertop material and mounted like it would be in sink. The output port was just high enough to slide a 5 gallon bucket under. I wired it with a salvaged power cord.
It’s easy to clean by simply flushing it out immediately after use. After grinding the last apple, I spray some water in (grinder running) until the bulk of material comes out. Then I switch to a waste bucket. I hold my hand over the output port while filling it completely with water (grinder still running). Let it run a few seconds and release. I repeat a few times until no material is coming out with the water.
A lot of apples will be just big enough to get caught in the throat. I usually push them through with another apple. I keep a heavy duty knife handy to quarter apples that are just too large. I try to avoid large apples during selection, but sometimes I’m short and need them to complete a batch.
I try to keep the environment cool so the thermal switch doesn’t trip, but sometimes it happens. My grinder has manual reset button on the bottom. I’ve been using the grinder for about 10 years, so it was a good investment.
I’ve tried the manual hand crank scratters, one from Jaffrey on their scratter/press combo and one of the heavy-duty steel jobbies with flywheel on a an American Harvester Cider Mill. Neither worked as well or as quickly as a cheap, electric chipper shredder designed for garden/leaf and stick waste.
https://www.amazon.com/Eco-Shredder-ES1600-Electric-Chipper-Shredder/dp/B002U82A3K
I found one of these on sale for $100 and cut the throat out to maximum bore with a rotary cutter (a hot knife or thin soldering iron would also work). You can literally just poor apples down the throat at very fast clip and the shred size is much better for pressing than an industrial, 220V food disposer.
Here’s someone else who did the same thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFzQEHRtt_0
The disposer (Insinkerator SS-100, for those wondering) that I tried ground the apples too finely, leading to a lot of fine pulp being extruded through the muslin press cloth during press. It was also not as fast as the Eco Shredder.
Make sure you wash out the interior and dry thoroughly with a bit of manual rotation of the blade, or it tends to rust and freezes the blade mechanism (should break free with a ratchet and extension on the blade fixing nut, though, as I found).
YMMV
For cutting hardware mesh, an angle grinder with a thin abrasive cutoff blade works fast.
