User talk:Mcwebster68

From Ukcider

My first batch.

Firstly can I thankyou for having such a great site. If it wasn't for your site, I would still be thinking about buying a Vigo press. Instead I have built my own press from the one in the article on your site.

I am no woodwork expert, but managed to poece togther the necessary parts to built the press in only a week, (Built in spare time). I had an old car jack and so, the whole thing was really cheap too, I think it came in at around £15.

As a towny I don't actually have an apple tree in my garden, but I have found a couple growing on common land, and also been to the local allotments and afetr chatting to the local gardeners, they allowed me to have thier windfalls. My worry was would I have enough apples to crush, press and that would produce enough juice to fill the 5 Gallon barrel I had.

Well, I had a couple a varieties of apples, what they are I don't exactly know, but they tasted delicious, One was, I think a Bramley, the other (from the allotment) was very red, 'an old English variety' I was told, but tasted divine. In total i had four rubble sacks of apples.

I crushed the apples using a primative method, the old '4x2 and a plastic bucket' method. It worked a treat, although my hands a aching still, two days on. I put some screws in the end to help with the mashing. It really did work a treat and one bucket full was enough for one cheese.

I put five cheeses in the 1st pressing, I was amazed at how juice came out without there any downward pressure being applied. Then once I strated using the 2 tonne Hydraulic jack, well, it was a torrent of the best tasting apple juice i have ever tasted. The four bags of apples, produced just shy of 7 gallons of apple juice. I took some great pictures, which I will upload in due course.

The 5 gallon barrel was filled to the brim and I added some yeast, its now sealed and in the garage bubbling away, That was Monday, roll on 3-6weeks so I can taste my First batch.

Thanks again

Doug PS Can I upload pictures? If so how do I go about doing that?

Good one, Doug! Glad to hear you made your own press and that you found the article useful. Yes, the site is a mine of useful information. You could also join the email list, where your questions will be answered quicker and by a whole load of knowledgable folks.

Most folks use the "flickr" website: www.flickr.com click here where you can join the on-line ukcider photo group and use links to share your photos on flickr with others on here. Register with flickr, upload your photos and then set up a link to them from the webpage. It's perhaps easier if you have a look at a wiki page containing photos to see how it's done. My tip would be to be careful with selecting the size of image to link to. Good luck, --Ray 14:46, 19 September 2007 (BST)