Homemade Cider Press
From Ukcider
Contents |
Copyright and Intellectual rights, and other heavy stuff...
I have been saddened recently to find one or two of the items on this page passed off on e-bay as being the property and work of someone else, and purporting to show the item being flogged on e-bay in use. To me this is fraudulent and very annoying, particularly when the information I've put onto the ukcider wiki is free for everyone to access and intended to help folks get into making their own press and cider. I don't charge for anything I put on here and so do not expect others to try and make a fast-buck off my back.
I think it's great that so many people are keen to have a go at making their own press and pressing their own juice, and more importantly, making their own cider! Please let's try and keep the wiki a free source for sharing ideas, designs, developments, experiences and information.
If you want to use any of my images or anything else I've put on here, outside of the spirit in which is was intended, please contact me first. Likewise read all of the small-print on the wiki and/or flickr.com if you wish to use any of the images.
Thanks.
--Ray 16:22, 7 January 2008 (GMT)
Ray's homemade cider press
- This is loosely based on the designs in Pooley & Lomax's excellent book:
Real Cidermaking on a Small Scale.
By 'loosely', I mean that it uses 'cheeses' instead of a basket for the milled apples and that it's made from what I could scrounge for free (the screw), and what I could buy in my local DIY store cheaply (everything else...). Low cost was a big factor when the press was originally made.
Be aware that some of the large images are big (up to 1024x950) and will take some time to view if you are on dial-up.
Fruit...
- First, some of the fruit
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Stoke Red apple in the October 2004 morning sunlight after a light shower.
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Yarlington Mill taken same time as the Stoke Red above.
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October 2004 vintage. In here are Royal Somerset, Tom Putt, King of the Pippins, Kingston Black, Stoke Red, Yarlington Mill and Dabinett. Not a bad mix for somewhere in darkest Hucknall, north of Nottingham; latitude 53 degrees 2' 30" North, altitude 97 metres.
The Press...
- Now the press
This is my Mk 1 press and is currently being dismantled. The screw thread is going to be replaced with a hydraulic jack to give me more control over the pressure and require less muscle. This screw thread has a very coarse pitch and so needs an awful lot of leverage to make it work. I frequently end up bending the 12mm (1/2") bar that slots through the hole at the top of the thread...
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The frame is made from 94mm x 44mm planed untreated softwood (4" x 2" in old money...) and is wiped clean with a cloth dipped in SO2 solution before being used. It presently isn't sealed or varnished. The top two members are being removed and replaced with laminated 18mm WBP Birch multi-ply. This is much stronger and less likely to twist or bend than the softwood - it's fantastic stuff.
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Detail of lower frame. The whole is held together with a mix of plated coach bolts and coach (set?) screws, and lots of waterproof PVA. I've ran a router over the frame to reduce the potential for snags on the cheese cloths.
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To bring the press to a more manageable height, we sit it in a workbench which holds it very firmly and keeps everything stable.
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It's a very close fit and we have to slide the press in to clear the tails of the bolts.
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The tray is simply an off-cut of 38mm kitchen worktop - most DIY stores have piles of off-cuts; we paid £1 for this chunk including it being cut exactly to size! It's lipped in sealed and varnished 15mm softwood, the piece of softwood underneath is a tongue to lock into the lower frame members. The juice outlet pipe is an off-cut of white plastic WC overflow pipe...
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The juice tray is a very snug fit both between the vertical members and for the tongue in-between the lower frame members. It settles under the pressure of the press and takes a thump or two to remove the tongue from between the frame.
Pressing...
- The press in action
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I think there are seven cheeses here. We don't use any racks (yet), again this is something for the future when we find a suitable (low cost) solution.
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The form of the cheese (height x width) is produced by using a softwood 'mould' which we lay onto a couple of thin softwood lats resting on the cheese below. We use net curtain for our cheese cloths (nylon or polyester) and select by the thickness and strength of the yarn - and hopefully a plain pattern. We buy the nets from the local indoor market (in Nottingham) and cut it into rectangles. The net must be machine washed before the first use.
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The milled apple pulp is poured into the mould and spread out to give an even depth. The net curtain rectangle is then folded over to produce a rectangular cheese, the slats are slid out, frame lifted off and the process is repeated.
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The juice starts to flow straight away and by the time we have added the blocks of timber that spread the force of the screw, we have a good flow going. We feel racks would increase the flow of juice and give a more efficient pressing leading to drier pomace.
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You can see that we've had to add more pieces of softwood to take up the gap as we've run out of screw thread. By putting the timber at right angles and using blockboard, we ensure the pressure is fairly equally distributed. The pressure is really on here and the cheeses have compressed considerably - compare the position of the sheet of blockboard with the yellow bar-code sticker on the frame, with the same view in the first image in this section.
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We are careful not to put too much pressure on the 'cloths' as the net curtain material could burst. You can clearly see the juice accumulating in the tray before it pours into the 5 gallon bucket.
It is very tempting to keep placing a glass under the outflow and sampling the fresh-pressed juice...
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Unloading the press clearly shows the amount that the pomace has been compressed. The coin is a UK 5 pence piece, about 18mm (3/4 inch) in diameter. The cheese started off about 45mm (1 3/4 inch) thick, but as can be seen in the detail shot, has been compressed to about half the diameter of the coin, i.e. about 9mm (3/8 inch).
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Detail of compressed spent pomace.
Check out the Homemade_Cider_Press_Parts page for more info.
That's it for the moment - unless I think of anything else... I'll add more stuff after I've completed rebuilding Press Mk II with new hydraulic power...
Mk II Press...
And here it is:
The job is much easier with the shiny new Clarke 6 tonne bottle jack. Combined with our new Czech_Shark_Fruit_apple_mill from Vares, juice output is much higher. In this test pressing, we produced 3 gallons of juice from a 5-gallon container full of apple pulp.
- Check out the details of the new top beam on Press Mark II here: Homemade_Press_Mk_II
Plastic Press Racks
In keeping with my Homemade Press, I have added another page on how I made my own press racks:Homemade_Plastic_Racks
These have improved the output of the press and are considerably cheaper than buying them!
Net curtain press cloths...
A little bit more on the choice of material for the press cloths.
As already stated, we source our net curtain from the local indoor market and select by strength and mesh size (around 1mm square). Ukcider member Lizzy has used and recommends a net curtain pattern called "Arran Lace" which is available at a very reasonable price from the "Dunelm Mill" chain of outlets. The product code for the Arran Lace pattern is: 5016903047931 and is also available in a range of widths to suit your press. This pattern is actually made by Filigree of Nottingham, so perhaps it's not unique to Dunelm Mill.
So far in over five years of pressing using nets, we haven't had a cheese burst and the advantage of being able to throw the nets into the washer soon as you've shook out the last bits of pomace should not be overlooked. The woven polyester cloths sold by Vigo will obviously last much longer but are also considerably more expensive.
Other suggestions for low cost (low tech?) press cloths from Ukcider members include using greenhouse shading net; Mark E. in Australia recommends this and Roy Bailey of Lambourn Valley Cider has also used it. It appears the one disadvantage of the net shading material is that it is a little stiff when compared to other cloths.
Hi the Dunelm Mill net curtaining specified above is no longer available ( 20007) used a plain course weave net from the same shop and it worked fine. Suggest that you sew any cut edges and try to get the size right for your press so that you do not have too much bulky material left between the cheeses. NB it goes through the washing machine too so clean and ready for this year.Hope this helps Clive
Updates
- October 2006 Update
Everything seems to be coming together now. The average output from a six-cheese pressing is in excess of 6 gallons. For example, we have carried out four pressings so far this season, two of five cheeses and two of six cheeses, and have over 25 gallons of juice bubbling away. This is very good indeed when compared with the output from the (expensive) Vigo press. Especially so when considering the frame we currently use produces a cheese only 400mm (15 3/4") square and about 45mm (1 3/4") thick.
--Ray 11:28, 14 October 2006 (BST)
- September 2007
Being more 'scientific' now and recording stuff. Two pressings so far this year (lots more to come...). We are getting in the habit now of leaving the milled apple pulp in closed 5-gallon containers for 24 - 48 hours before pressing. The return is averaging around 65% with apples of 'normal' ripeness; when we can leave them to go really soft, the return is over 70%. We are very pleased with this return, but now I'm thinking of re-building the press completely (Mk III) and up-rating to 8 or 10 tonnes of hydraulic pressure... The new HDPE press racks take up more space than I envisaged and so we need a taller press.
--Ray 09:11, 24 September 2007 (BST)
- January 2008
In total, we pressed 250 gallons between September and November 2007. We need to crack on with the new press so that we can run two side-by-side; the Shark is easily capable of milling sufficient fruit to keep two presses running. Spent yesterday blending some of the young cider for an order from a local CAMRA festival and it is very good - we are quite pleased that something so young tastes so good!
--Ray 17:30, 6 January 2008 (GMT)
Further information..
The cider press plans were loosely based on the designs in Pooley & Lomax's excellent book:
Real Cidermaking on a Small Scale, currently available at only £4.76 via amazon.co.uk
Already made a press? Need an apple scratter mill? Have a look here to see how to make your own: Homemade Scratter
Also, there is some more information about the homemade press, cheese cloths, racks, etc. in the form of questions and answers on the associated discussion page Talk:Homemade Cider Press overleaf.
If anyone has any more questions, please add them to the Talk page.
--Ray 19:42, 25 Jun 2005 (BST)
