I have an idea to try both watermellon and peach juicing this year.
The press is a platten and bag, and may become a pummie/cheese this year. It is from pleasant hill with modifications, renders 15-20 gallons apple juice a run.
The cutter is running at high+ rpm and screen is adjustable below cutting drum, can also change screen dia.
Would enjoy learning if anyone is running mellons or peaches though their machines? I figure the peaches would have to be pitted first? And the mellons peeled before going into the press?
Peaches: maybe put them in a water bath and lightly boil to extract the pit before pressing? I’m afraid to run them in the grinder, the pits will be the problem. Ideally, there must be a roller press like a grain mill or grape stemmer that would de-pit them? Have one for wine making.
There are some pics in this topic of both press and grinder. Have 25 gallon wine vessel to heat if that is easier.
Juiced many peaches with a steam juicer which I then canned blackberries in the juice. The juicer looks something like this.
The berries canned in peach juice look like this
How about this little handheld tool? I really wish the rollers on the grape crusher would widen! Appears there is a similar hand driven machine that is for stone fruit, don’t know how you might separate the pulp/juice from pits?
Clark, the 15 gal and 25 gal stainless pots here have raised false bottoms and petcocks. May be the way to go as they will be wine anyway.
Will do on the pot setup. Trying to find an orchard down south to sell drops/seconds. Have to drive a couple hours to SC but our crop here will be upwards of $30/bu this year, that’s too much doe to grind up.
My uncle told me they wouldn’t let him sell the windfalls. They pick up a bacteria they consider unfit for cider when they hit the ground. Many guys still make cider out of windfalls i think because there are none around their trees. Laws change from state to state as well. You could likely go spread tarps one day pick them up the next. Maybe you can make a deal with an orchard in advance.
I just rip open peaches, pull the pit out by hand and then throw them through a crusher. I’ve done hundreds of pounds at a time like this. Make sure you don’t stick your finger into the flower end though, it hurts. I’ve tried pressing peaches plenty, but it ends up as a mess. I have not tried with rice hulls added which I use for very ripe pears though. It may work for peaches as well. I do age in barrel a long time though which is essential for getting the peach slurry to settle with the first method.
For melons, I cut them open, scoop them out and then grind. Pressing optional, I usually skip it since my press has a high minimum, and I don’t mind having solids. Less aging required compared to the peaches though.
I have done as Evenfall does- peaches just got cut in half and pits pulled out. For my peach wine, I left them out until so ripe they just squished by hand. I couldn’t even cut most of them, just pulled pits. The solids dropped out at the end of fermentation, or on first racking. Most people have not been successful with watermelons, but I would assume that they don’t need much either, besides sugar and acid.
My watermelons always go in perry, but watermelon is very low acid and sugar. On it’s own it would probably need about 5 g/l tartaric and anywhere from 50-100 g/l sugar depending on style.
I used to sell cider and apples on the roadside during college up the mountain, did pretty good too. NC does not allow cider to be sold without pasteurisation now so everything we make is used for ourselves.
We never used drops for cider, I didn’t know why, my neighbor Clifton said they would ruin the juice and he taught me the ropes. I think a 4hr trip to SC is in order for peaches surely they will sell 2nds by the bin. A neighbor yesterday said he and wife steeped peaches in hot water whole and then worked them up for canning.
I keep tannin and acid on hand for my mead & beer making. The mill can’t be slowed down rpms but the screen is adjustable and can be dropped out of the way so the mellon will be pulp vs juice.
So ya’ll are not running the peaches through a grinder/press? Just let the pulp/skins drop out during fermentation and strain?
I found this link this morning that is helpful, it doesn’t say much about grinding/juicing.
