When I was still living at home, we had a family friend that had a big farm with a great barn, a perfect orchard and an old fashioned cider press. We’d wander back into the orchard, fight our way past the yellow jackets and the post-digestion horse food to gather buckets full of apples to press.
I don’t have a barn or a big farm, but by granny, I can have a cool cider press. I ciphered and pondered and cogitated but then just decided to get down to building. A few splinters later and I had a working cider press.
Come along and see how we make awesome apple cider on our home grown cider press. I talk a little about the details of construction over at My Home Among The Hills if you are interested.
We start with a variety of windfall apples. The best cider is made from a hodge-podge of apples…a little sweet, a little tart, it makes for a rich flavor. If you don’t have apples of your own, you might consider checking at the farmers’ market for deer apples. At our farmers’ market, we can get a huge (50# maybe) bag of slightly past prime apples for $10
We have a special sledge hammer that I bought new and coated with food grade paint. We manually mash the apples in a food grade bucket by dropping the hammer on it. We use an 8 pound hammer because I felt bad watching my daughter try to lift a 16 pound hammer. Anyhow, the more you mash up the apples, the more juice you can press from the pommace (that’s the name of the crushed up apple mess). There are fancier (and probably more effective) ways to grind apples, but not many that are cheaper or more fun!
We press the pommace in a stainless pot which has holes drilled throughout. I take my…uh…very best bottle jack and let it apply 6 tons of pure, apple smashing power! The juice drains as if it can’t wait for me to drink it…and drink it we do! We usually drink a few glasses straight off the press, but I prefer it cold so we save most for later. I understand that fresh cider will last a week or so if kept cold but we’ve never tested that. It never lasts that long!
So, if you’ve ever dreamed of making cider, if your heart longs to smash apples, if you need to become one with your favorite bottle jack, I encourage you to make your own cider press and let the cider flow!
Not Dabbling In Normal 
Oh Warren, you’re killing me. I want cider!
That’s SO cool! I’ve had building a cider press on my list for the past two years. (still don’t have the orchard planted completely, but we’ll be putting in 20 more trees this fall.) I’m going over to your site to see your press right now. Maybe I’ll get off my but and get it built this fall.
P.S. Do you make hard cider too?
Oh I want some…what a fun thing to do!!! Great post, I always love the pictures of you! Kim
Best apple grinder around is a sanitized garbage disposal. Mine is a 3hp 3-phase commercial unit retired from a grade school, mounted on an old surplus cart. Spits out a bushel of apple sauce as fast as I can pour the apples in the 5″ diameter opening on the top. Nothing like it!
Add a nylon press bag liner to your holy pot to strain out the small stuff from the juice. The bag also lets you pull out the pomace, mid press, turn it over 90-degrees, and get out more of the juice.
have fun!
What fun! It is a great apple season here in CT, I can tell already. Last fall I drank more gallons of it than I can count, and froze more in ice-cube trays to enjoy later on. Do you know of a way to make cider in a small batch for someone (like me!) who doesn’t have the equipment you do?
I love the cheaper easier way a whole lot better! Looks good!
It surely is a bunch of fun to make. We have good family time doing it.
Mangochild – you can smash a small quantity of apples by cutting them into quarters and running them through a food processor or blender. I have seen people put cheese cloth into a ricer and then squeeze the smashed apples in that. You could make it glass at a time that way. If you don’t have a ricer, you could do Ok (probably not great) by just putting the apple mash into cheese cloth (or any cloth really) and squishing it manually between (e.g.) stainless steel bowls, cookie sheets, etc.
Try it…it’s hard to beat!
I’ve been posting like crazy about making apple wine – so nice to see someone else posting about crushing and pressing apples too!
I like the tray under the perforated stockpot concept. Nice one.
Allen – I have seen others use the food disposal but have often been curious how one cleans it when done. I can imagine running a ton of water through it but I suspect that little apple bits could linger. Have you ever had trouble with cleaning it?
Kevin – My dad and I used to make apple wine. It’s sort of hard to beat! I am considering turning some of this year’s pressings into hard cider, but I may make some wine too. Thanks for jogging my memory!
Apples are great for wine (especially cider apples) similar in all regards to grape except sugar levels, which are about half. Use a hydrometer and stir in sugar as required – happy brewing:)
anyone know how to brew apple beer?
back in the early ’70’s they used to sell a canned apple beer with a very low alcohol content less than 0.5%
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