I found an old press for less than $200. I am in the process of restoring it, but it works as-is. I plan to post the restoration process at some point.
9 Likes
An alternative design is to mount a jack to the frame to apply the pressure to the pomace instead of a screw, like in one of the photos above. I have seen many other creative ideas, like using a 5 gal bucket with holes drilled in it as the basket. Some people are able to build their own apple grinder using an old electric motor and a rotating wooden drum with bolts or pipe collars as teeth. It can be done inexpensively if you have the time and skill.
3 Likes
I’ll replace most of the wood in the coming months and do some fine tuning on the gears, grinder, and bearing points.
1 Like
Looks amazing!
There are several things I have learned: I make 20 or more gallons a run and cannot get the pleasant hill press dialled in yet. Turned the top platten and screw fitting in the lathe to fit the pummy vessel, now using the Whizbang hdpe separator plates between bags.
-
Apples need to be ground fine+++ or into pulp/sauce, that takes a good screen/cutting drum and RPM+++
-
Pummy bags/cloths and plattens that have structural integrity
-
A press with a deep catch basin tray and two outlets, under a heavily built stand with a 1" acme thread screw and metal top platten. There is a post in the cider topics showing a Harbor Freight machine press, that’s a great way but the jack has to be shimmed during the process and it can kick out and hurt you, go with the screw.
Is anyone using a Bladder / Hydraulic Press? I suspect they don’t extract every drop possible. They look super easy to use are light weight and can be thoroughly cleaned. Making Cider in Speidel Water Press - YouTube
1 Like
@39thparallel
Yes , I have a bladder press , works great !
The pumice is pretty dry , ie. gets most of the juice out, efficient.
In your linked video, he did not fill the press full.
I was told to always fill it completely full even if using some dry pumice from previous batches, or you could risk rupture of the bladder. I have that same grinder ,and a bladder press from Pleasant Hill Grain , all of it works great !
1 Like
My first thought was our water pressure would be inadequate for something like this, but he addressed that and stated the water pressure at their farm wasn’t very high. A bladder press may be what I eventually go with.
1 Like
It’s what most of the wineries around here use. They seem to only need about 40psi / 3 Bar. There is a throw away mini tabletop 6 liter model on amazon for like $129 if you wanted to test the concept. Speidel like the one in the video seems to be one of the best for smaller production. The 90 Liter is about $1800. I think it would make about 10 gallons of cider in around 40 minutes.
2 Likes
I think this one.
The 80 L.
1 Like
The bladder press looked interesting but fiddly with all the steps required and need to keep checking the pressure gauge.
1 Like
After watching the Whizbang video, I think I will adapt how we use our 18-year old Happy Valley press. We have multiple mesh bags, so after we grind half the apples, we can close up that bag, add a thin wooden board to serve as a rack, then add another mesh bag and continue. I’m not sure if a single rack will make a measurable difference in how much cider is produced, but we will see.
1 Like
Kind of an old post but still working… Unfortunately I am only getting about 3 gallons per bushel at the most out of this thing ,sometimes just more than 2. With the price of apples I have very expensive Cider. I didn’t have enough apples this year to even pull it out. I probably had 4 - 5 bushel harvest this year and gave a lot of them away.
But anyway if you have questions about it I would be glad to answer. It’s really a simple build.
I did Make sure that a 5 gallon bucket would fit under the tray.
Maybe the only tricky part that you cant see it the big NUT that threads on the screw is welded to a steel plate. Obviously with a hole in the plate for the screw and four smaller holes that lag bolt it to the underside of the top rails.
Because when pressure in place on the screw, it is pushing UP against the top rails so all that the four screws are doing is to keep it from falling off.
NOTE> I am replying to a very old post about my homemade cider press.
2 Likes
Thanks! I ordered a Hydro Press and grinder form Pleasant Valley today. @Daemon2525 You did an awesome job on that. I would build one but, I’m not that handy at woodworking.
3 Likes
I know this is a really old thread but have you found any better options for apple cider?
I really want to ne able to process more faster and i have a less expensive model fro amazon, Breville, i think it is. I’ve done as much as 6 or 7 gallons at a time. But there’s too much pulp in it and I’d like something a little faster to process hundreds of pounds of apples. (And it clogs with pears everytime.)
1 Like