Apple Press Mods

We have just juiced up some more apples, for both cider and juice. We processed four crates in four hours (including set up and clean up time), making a total of 11 gallons of juice. We’ve frozen some, but the majority has gone to cider, which will last longer without having to take up freezer space. Leo helped with the whole process and was not only very useful, he also had a blast. I really like this “kids getting older” business. We’ve made a few mods to our apple press design, and they work great, making things go that little bit smoother.

1. We cut the bottom off a 5 gallon bucket and drilled a bunch of holes in it. We then cut our boards to fit inside the bucket. Now, when we press the various “cheeses” of apple pulp, nothing slides around and we can press it a lot faster. The juice comes out the holes and out the bottom.
2. We also put a grommet into the hole that drains into the collection bucket. It has stopped the small problem we had with dribbling.