UKC

Anyone made one? And any recipes? Fancy chucking in some blackberries for a more berry like cider.

In reply to mick taylor:

I've tried (very badly) to make one.

I can categorically confirm that two bits of plywood offcuts with a G clamp shoved on each corner will not work very well.

In reply to mick taylor:

Buy a second hand juicer off gumtree or fleabay, or ask around - its one of those "must have" items that ends up at the back of the cupboard and gets forgotten about. Do someone a favour and create space in a cupboard in return for a few bottles of your home made apple pop.

In reply to tallsteve:

Thought about a juicer, but read somewhere that you get more juice if the apples and kinda crushed rather than pulped (perhaps the fine fibres clog up the muslin?). Thinking of buying a 'whizzer blade' (my words) that fit on the end of a drill, and slice the apples in a fermenting bucket.

In reply to Greasy Prusiks:

Having googled, thinking of using a VERY sturdy wooden frame (thinking plenty thick wood and coach bolts) and a car jack. I am confident that a disastour will occur at some point though, and will be wearing safety googles in-case the whole thing blows.

In reply to mick taylor:

Used to make cider many years ago by user a blender to pulp the apples, then fermented that plus juice for a few days followed by filtering using a muslin bag or sieve before leaving the liquid to finish fermenting. Worked OK for smallish quantities (5-10 gallons).

In reply to mick taylor:

We've got one of these (well, it's a bit like this - our's is a good 50 years old)

http://www.silvermushroom.com/product/kilner-fruit-press/?gclid=CJvuxaqUy84...

But more importantly we have something like this, which fits on top.

http://www.wiltec.de/house-garden-pump-plate-heat-exchanger/food-processing...

So, basically, you chuck the apples in, and it chops and presses them. MUCH easier than a DIY solution.

I make around 150 bottles of apple wine a year. Do wine rather than cider as it keeps better.

In reply to tallsteve:


I've killed a couple of juicers in the past trying to make cider - these days I hire one from the local orchard group. Pressed 75l last years and plan to do more this year as I have spotted a few trees locally that don't get picked so I shall be knocking on a few doors and asking if I can have some.

In reply to John_Hat:

Coming round to that way of thinking. By the time I've bought plenty of quality bolts and other bits and bats, i could buy similar for £67, so not saving that much, and it can be dis-assembled for storage. And thinking of a pulpmaster (same, but botched up results, as your hopper).

Is your wine pure juice? I've made apple wine by fermenting chopped apples in water with sugar etc - it was great.

In reply to Baron Weasel:

Aye - door knocking is my plan. Pity to see them go to waste, when I could be the one wasted!

In reply to mick taylor:

Sounds like a plan.

If it does blow I expect I'll hear it, car jacks can put out some serious pressure!

In reply to mick taylor:

I've been at this a few years, so receipes have developed over time. Current favourite involves

7L apple juice (you can get away with 5 easily, 7 just makes it a fuller flavour)
6kg Sugar
5g yeast
1kg raisins
juice of 7 lemons
1 cup black tea
8oz ginger


All in a 5 gallon tub, with the ingredients above added and filled to the 5 gallon level with water.

Did try a 14oz ginger a few years ago and it was lovely and the favourite of all who tried it, but my personal favourite is not so gingery.

Another success was the apple, nutmeg and cinnamon wine. I wasn't keen but several friends, relatives and work colleagues can't get enough of it.

Currently have 30 gallons of wine in demis waiting for a rainy day when I'll get around to bottling them.

In reply to John_Hat:

Built press out of bits of timber, car jack, bit of plywood, industrial bucket, mesh bag. Then pulp master bucket and drill. Makes one gallon for every black bin bag of apples. Takes hours and hours per gallon. Apple wine much much, quicker, easier, and get 5 gallons for each bag of apples.

In reply to mick taylor:

A couple of years back I made a few gallons of cider by, chopping, coring, smashing with a log then blending the apples with a stick blender. Finally I squeezed them by hand through a straining bag. It was brutal on the hands and not to be recommended as a process.

I'm keen to have another go this year but I think I'll be making a simple improvised press of some sort.
jk

In reply to jkarran:

My father-in-law and I make about 250 litres every year. We use a garden mulcher, throw the apples through there whole, collect the pomme in buckets and then tip it into hessian sacks. Lay these up on the press, alternating with wooden racks made of old pallets (this allows juice to drain out from the centre). Our press is powered by a Massey Ferguson 3120 but if you don't have one lying around you could use a car jack as previously mentioned.

The juice is then poured into 25 litre fermentation barrels and left until at least March. The resultant cider is clear, strong and dry!

In reply to mick taylor:

"Juice and Strain" has worked well for me and my neighbours with over 200 gallons of golden, crystal clear cider made in the last five years, see: http://makezine.com/projects/kitchen-table-cider-making/

In reply to Neil:

Well that's a slight change of scale from my half arsed effort!
jk

In reply to mick taylor:

Not made one but my first cider was made using the juicer and strain method, it works but yes the pulp is too fine and clogs the muslin. A garden shredder works well but eventually the acid in the juice attacks the metal parts if they are not stainless so if you don't want to spend a lot then probably the "pulp master"is your best bet . A really good book is "The New Cidermakers Handbook" by Claude Jolicoeur. He suggests a press made of 19mm threaded rod for the uprights and laminated hardwood planks of ( 4 off 19mm x 145mm ) for each of the crosspieces. This is for using a 6 ton car jack. As you probably know the resulting cider from desert apples will be very dry and a bit thin tasting so add some crab and cookers (not too many) to the mix. Good luck, it is easy to make cider but difficult to make a good one!
Champagne yeast works and to be honest I think it is worth sulphiting but that is a whole thread of discussion.

In reply to Neil:

My old man swears by the garden mulcher. He put the apples through then into his press made of a big rectangle frame and some kitchen worktop as a base, then more kitchen worktop on top and a car jack to get the pressure. Works a treat, if it slips off its no biggie, it just all a off. Give it a go what's to lose.