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[nafex] Cider Press
In December of last year, I posted asking for some guidance on
purchasing a cider press. Don Yellman gave me a very kind and
elaborate reply which in turn was followed by his now famous post on
the kitchen-disposal-apple-chomper-device-type-thing. I am pasting a
copy of his original post to this post because it was so well thought
out and there are no doubt members who were not subscribing at that
time. I hope some will find it enjoyable.
Hounddog:
1. The Happy Valley press is a fine unit, carefully
cut from hard maple. But this kind of quality doesn't come cheap. The
presses are now around $400. If you throw in a grinder at $100 plus,
and add shipping costs, you will be over $600. For that kind of money
you could buy cider for 10 years, or, if you put the money in CD's,
buy cider for a lifetime just with the interest. Of course, if you
can
find a good used one on the net at a reasonable price, buy it. If
not,
continue reading.
2. My press is a screw-type, built by a fellow in
West Virginia. I always say if they can do it in West Virginia, we
can
do it just as well in East Virginia, with the possible exception of
whiskeymaking. With ordinary shop tools and a little time, you can
build a press that is actually better and stronger than the
commercial
units, throw in a grinder, and still come in under $200.
3. The main objective in building a press is
strength
and structural rigidity of the frame. It will be subjected to intense
pressures. You need to start with a pair of 4" heavy steel U-beams or
I-beams, cut to 24", linked near their outer edges by 1/2 inch
threaded steel rods. The length of these rods will depend on the type
of pressing system you choose (i.e. screw type or hydraulic). Build
the wooden parts of your press around and under this steel framework.
It is not easy to find dimensional hardwood lumber, but it can be
done. First choice would be hard maple, but red or white oak would
also work. Treated lumber should be avoided. You might try building
without the steel frame, and good hardwood would last for a while,
but
the fasteners would start to fail after a few years of use, and that
won't happen with a steel skeleton.Spray the whole thing with epoxy
paint while it is still new.
4. My press uses a long, 1" steel acme screw, but if
I
were building a press today, I would use a hydraulic cylinder. You
are
looking for a hydraulic jack with a very long stroke. Northern Tool
(www.northerntool.com) sells a 3-ton jack with 17"
stroke for $39.99. You will have to design a bracket to hang the jack
upside down from the upper frame member. Here, you run into an
engineering problem --- keeping the jack aimed straight down when
pressure is applied. But if you install an additional cross-member
drilled to the dimension of the top of the jack you can keep it
pointed in the right direction. Bolt a good strong piece of hardwood,
at least 2" thick, inside the lower steel beam, wide enough to
support
your cider receiving tray. You probably won't find 2" hardwood wider
than 18", but the wider the better. If you decide to go hydraulic,
buy
the jack before beginning any other construction, since the jack will
determine your vertical dimensions.
5. Next, turn to your pressing basket (or bucket),
and the pressing plate (or platen). My pressing basket is made from
heavy hardwood strips linked with copper. It is 15" high. But I think
you could use a stainless steel bucket perforated with many small
holes, and I am going to experiment next season with a perforated
plastic bucket. I am not sure that plastic can withstand the abuse.
Any bucket must have straight sides, or the platen will get pressed
down into it, never to return, and the inside surface must be sanded
perfectly smooth to avoid tearing the nylon pressing bag. The platen
should be a disc of 2" hardwood that slips easily into the bucket,
and it should be backed with a steel or iron plate, with finger hooks
installed to lift it up after pressing. The pressing bucket/basket
need not be a full 15" tall, since you won't want to put more than
two
bags of slurry in it or you will start to lose juicing efficiency. 12
inches might be more like it.
6. My press was equipped with a plywood receiving
tray, but I have since switched to a plastic beehive cover, drilled
at one end and fitted with a 1/2 inch plastic pipe, angled downward
to
discharge into a pitcher. Remember to design your lower press
member
with sufficient height to easily slip a pitcher under the discharge
of the receiving tray. The beehive covers are available from the
Walter T. Kelley Co., Clarkson, KY (1-800-233-2899), Cat. No. 49, at
$12 each. They are a lot tougher than wood, and easy to clean.
7. Now for the grinder. I used a hand-crank "apple
eater" for one season, and was disappointed. The apple pieces were
often large andirregular. About half went into the bucket; the other
half was scattered around the yard. It was slow business, and I felt
I was losing much of my juice yield due to the chunky nature of the
grind. So I rigged up a new garbage disposal on a small stand, and
have been using it ever since. The disposal produces a perfect apple
slurry, breaking up the juice cells, and I have nearly doubled my
juice yield per bushel. The disposal grinder requires the use of 5-6
gallon nylon pressing bags lining a 5-gallon bucket to make the
system
work. There are two drawbacks to the disposal grinder: First, large
apples must be cut in half or even quarters to get them into the
disposal throat. Second, the disposal motor will operate only about
30 continuous minutes before it will overheat and shut down. It must
then be allowed to cool before resetting the internal breaker. The
ambient temperature and the speed with which apples (or pears) are
fed through obviously affect the length of time the motor will run
without overheating. The faster the better. However, these apparent
drawbacks are not issues for me, since I scrub all my apples anyway
to remove sooty blotch and flyspeck, and it is a small additional
step
to slice them into halves or quarters. When I find moldy core, I take
that out, and that can appear even in a perfect apple. Then I throw
the cleaned apples into a large tub of water to retard oxidation,
processing about 1 bushel at a time. Washing the apples takes more
time than anything else, since a bushel of apples goes through the
disposal grinder in less than 15 minutes. You may not want to be
quite
so concerned about cleanliness if you don't mind a little sooty
blotch, flyspeck, or moldy core in your cider. I know of no one who
has died from moldy core. I regularly get 3 gallons of cider from
each
bushel of apples (54 pounds), and more if the apples are particularly
juicy or I throw in some of those juicy asian pears. This season we
made over 40 gallons of cider, and arranged our washing, grinding and
pressing in such a way that the disposal motor never once overheated.
I wrote an article on the disposal grinder for the summer 99 issue of
"Pomona", and also posted it on a cidermaker's board called
cider-request". I know some people have tried it, and some have
pooh-poohed it, but no one has simultaneously tried it and pooh-poohed
it. It works.
8. If you decide you have the time and inclination
to
try such a project, and have any technical or design questions, I
would be happy to try to advise you. As you can see, I am full of it.
Advice, that is.
Rgds, Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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