I had a chance to taste this cider on a recent mission trip to Michigan and it was the best cider I have ever had! Thanks for sharing your technique and cider Greg and Al!
That is so very impressive, myself and my family have taken your idea and done something similar and started prepping to nail my friends orchard as he has waaaayyyh to many this year. Thanks for this video, excellent.
To ferment, no need to use any yeast or sugar at all, the apples will do all the work themselves. If you would like to make a fizzy cider, after the initial fermentation Move cider to bottles, add one teaspoon of sugar to each ltr bottle, leave bottles for 2 months plus and you will have a a fizzy cider. Do not add sugar and you will have a very nice rough cider, normal alcohol level approx 6% ish. This is cider, cidre, cydre, cyder, zyder or zydre in the Uk. Great Video though, well done!
I've had questions specifically on the scratter, so here's how I built mine: I kept the motor and drive wheel/shaft from the treadmill intact with the base of the original treadmill. Mine was an old treadmill where to adjust the speed you cranked the motor in or out. I actually think a manual speed control like this is an advantage. I've got it at it's highest speed. My on/off switch is the original treadmill on/off switch. To make the wooden drum around the shaft I glued together oak boards into roughly a round shape and then turned that on my lathe so it actually was round. It has a square hole in the center of the cylinder which accommodates the shaft. So basically when you glue up your cylinder you leave out that center. Now I suppose you could turn a filled cylinder and then drill out the center if you have a drill press that could handle a large enough bit and with enough reach to get all the way through the center of the cylinder. I was able to originally slide the treadmill shaft through the cylinder. Later it broke apart and then I then bolted two halves of the cylinder around the shaft to keep it together. After the cylinder was turned I drove stainless steel screws into the cylinder with about 1/8"-1/4" of the head protruding. I've seen different "patterns" for the screws, but I'm not sure how much that would change anything. Finally, I built the hopper around the cylinder. I'll admit this was maybe the hardest part. Because I was building around the cylinder (which I made first!) it was a matter of measuring and fitting till I had it where I wanted it. I first started out with pieces from the original treadmill which were press board with a laminate covering. That didn't hold up well to all of the cider and water from washing. Eventually I had to rebuild the hopper, which I did out of plywood that I painted. I think the scratter is the #1 factor in how fast I can press cider!
Okay, I just checked in again. I did ferment some cider this past year. I put it in large glass bottles, added a bunch of sugar and yeast. Stirred it all up very well and then on top of it all I placed a bubbler. It has set for eight months and is now pretty much done bubbling. It's good but my wine making buddy says that it'll get better as it ages. I think a year is the "sweet" spot.
All of the wood that the cider "touches" is oak. The slats in the hopper are solid oak. The catch tray was made out of oak plywood. The apple pulp is still good for making apple sauce, although you may need to add some water back into the pulp. We've also made apple butter out of the pulp because you want that thicker anyway. You do want to use the apple pulp fairly quickly because once it is chunked up it'll turn dark pretty quickly. But after a day of pressing they're still good! Thanks!
fantastic video and a good amount of detail on the build. Im such a scrounge ive been looking for a way to use the (end) apple pulp . I wonder if you ever make alcoholic apple cider?
I rebuilt the hopper this year so it tightened up the tightness to the walls. The apples feed through very fast and the amount of cider I get out of the apples went up a little bit. The object is not so much to cut the apples as it is to disrupt the cells, which releases the juice. I think if it's too fine you'd jam up your pressing bag for successive pressings. I find that when I do much more than two pressings it's good to give it a rinse. Apple sauce like you mention would be too fine IMHO
I do not ferment my cider. I freeze my cider to preserve it. I have read on other sites that after putting in the airlock that you ferment it for 2-3 weeks. I've had some unintentionally ferment while it sat out too long and it went much quicker than that.
Thank you for your kind comments. I've had a friend make apple sauce out of the pulp. He just added some water back in. My thought is that it would be a good way towards making apple butter since that is thicker and you've already removed most of the moisture. Yes, I have made apple wine out of my cider. Very tasty! I made a comment to an earlier post about this. The recipe was basically: 1# sugar to a gallon of cider, 1 packet wine yeast, mix it really well, and let it sit with a bubbler.
I've had comments about what we've used for filtering material. I'll note that I'm now using a piece of fine bridal netting. Although I do get a very fine amount of sediment now, it is very fast filtering and I've read that the "thicker" your cider is the better it is for you health wise.
What if you had like two belts like a very coarse sand paper. like maybe 20 coarse. Have the two belts angled with an opening about one inch at the bottom. These belts would turn apples into almost like apple sauce. It would grind the apples as fast as you could put them in the chute.
Thanks for watching my video. The markings were all worn off of the bottle jack that I'm using when it was given to me so I can't tell you exactly how much it is rated for exactly. But I would guess that it is a 2 ton jack, certainly not more than a 4 ton jack. And the jack is not the limiting factor with my set up. I get so much pressure on there and then I'm afraid of breaking something with the rest of the press. 20 tons is huge! And when mine comes out it's awfully dry. Enjoy!
Maybe this is an American thing but in the UK it’s not cider till it’s been fermented. What you have is fresh unpasteurised apple juice. Very nice it is too but cider it ain’t
If you were doing it commercial you could have train springs under the ramp and as you drove off the ramp would rise and you would lost more apples. Yu could have the whole thing running into a big stainless tank and you could make 500 gallons easily if you hade enough apples. I should have designed shit.
I assume if you press the shit out of whole apples it would be more pure apple juice. If you tried to press apple sauce it would be such bits of apples in the mix you are right it would clog up stuff
Hey why not a press like have a loaded truck. You could get an old cement mixer truck or any truck loaded to 80,000pounds and just run the truck over a ramp and just use whole apples and 80,000 pounds on top of it would get the juice out of whole apples. I mean these crank things and washing machines hell I would take a ramp and weld a pan in the middle and you run 80,000 pounds on top it you eliminate the process of mashing them. In a plant I worked at a huge machine pressed whole apples
You give me some I beams to run the truck on and weld heavy I beams in the middle. Have you ever seen anyone do it this way? Seems like it would work fast as shit. It would be better than even those hydraulic jacks they use. I mean shit a big hydraulic jack 20 tons will do a lot. In fact I have a six wheel truck I could just load it with ten tons of sand and it would weigh 35,000 pounds and no need for mulching the apples. Man why don't people do shit the right way so many want to do traditional
I had a chance to taste this cider on a recent mission trip to Michigan and it was the best cider I have ever had! Thanks for sharing your technique and cider Greg and Al!
That is so very impressive, myself and my family have taken your idea and done something similar and started prepping to nail my friends orchard as he has waaaayyyh to many this year. Thanks for this video, excellent.
Great invention. Really simple. You're the kind of guy I would want to have as a neighbor when this country goes to the dogs.
To ferment, no need to use any yeast or sugar at all, the apples will do all the work themselves. If you would like to make a fizzy cider, after the initial fermentation Move cider to bottles, add one teaspoon of sugar to each ltr bottle, leave bottles for 2 months plus and you will have a a fizzy cider. Do not add sugar and you will have a very nice rough cider, normal alcohol level approx 6% ish. This is cider, cidre, cydre, cyder, zyder or zydre in the Uk. Great Video though, well done!
I've had questions specifically on the scratter, so here's how I built mine:
I kept the motor and drive wheel/shaft from the treadmill intact with the base of the original treadmill. Mine was an old treadmill where to adjust the speed you cranked the motor in or out. I actually think a manual speed control like this is an advantage. I've got it at it's highest speed. My on/off switch is the original treadmill on/off switch.
To make the wooden drum around the shaft I glued together oak boards into roughly a round shape and then turned that on my lathe so it actually was round. It has a square hole in the center of the cylinder which accommodates the shaft. So basically when you glue up your cylinder you leave out that center. Now I suppose you could turn a filled cylinder and then drill out the center if you have a drill press that could handle a large enough bit and with enough reach to get all the way through the center of the cylinder. I was able to originally slide the treadmill shaft through the cylinder. Later it broke apart and then I then bolted two halves of the cylinder around the shaft to keep it together.
After the cylinder was turned I drove stainless steel screws into the cylinder with about 1/8"-1/4" of the head protruding. I've seen different "patterns" for the screws, but I'm not sure how much that would change anything.
Finally, I built the hopper around the cylinder. I'll admit this was maybe the hardest part. Because I was building around the cylinder (which I made first!) it was a matter of measuring and fitting till I had it where I wanted it. I first started out with pieces from the original treadmill which were press board with a laminate covering. That didn't hold up well to all of the cider and water from washing. Eventually I had to rebuild the hopper, which I did out of plywood that I painted.
I think the scratter is the #1 factor in how fast I can press cider!
Okay, I just checked in again. I did ferment some cider this past year. I put it in large glass bottles, added a bunch of sugar and yeast. Stirred it all up very well and then on top of it all I placed a bubbler. It has set for eight months and is now pretty much done bubbling. It's good but my wine making buddy says that it'll get better as it ages. I think a year is the "sweet" spot.
All of the wood that the cider "touches" is oak. The slats in the hopper are solid oak. The catch tray was made out of oak plywood. The apple pulp is still good for making apple sauce, although you may need to add some water back into the pulp. We've also made apple butter out of the pulp because you want that thicker anyway. You do want to use the apple pulp fairly quickly because once it is chunked up it'll turn dark pretty quickly. But after a day of pressing they're still good! Thanks!
fantastic video and a good amount of detail on the build. Im such a scrounge ive been looking for a way to use the (end) apple pulp . I wonder if you ever make alcoholic apple cider?
Very awesome video Greg! And the cider was absolutely incredible - thanks! :)
I rebuilt the hopper this year so it tightened up the tightness to the walls. The apples feed through very fast and the amount of cider I get out of the apples went up a little bit. The object is not so much to cut the apples as it is to disrupt the cells, which releases the juice. I think if it's too fine you'd jam up your pressing bag for successive pressings. I find that when I do much more than two pressings it's good to give it a rinse. Apple sauce like you mention would be too fine IMHO
Great Job on explaining the process. Thank You
What type of wood do you use for the catch tray? How suitable are the apple "remains" for cooking after you've pressed them?
Nice video :)
Hi how do you ferment the cider for, and for how long?
I do not ferment my cider. I freeze my cider to preserve it. I have read on other sites that after putting in the airlock that you ferment it for 2-3 weeks. I've had some unintentionally ferment while it sat out too long and it went much quicker than that.
Thank you for your kind comments. I've had a friend make apple sauce out of the pulp. He just added some water back in. My thought is that it would be a good way towards making apple butter since that is thicker and you've already removed most of the moisture. Yes, I have made apple wine out of my cider. Very tasty! I made a comment to an earlier post about this. The recipe was basically: 1# sugar to a gallon of cider, 1 packet wine yeast, mix it really well, and let it sit with a bubbler.
Awesome movie!
o.o use filtering underwere? ek
I've had comments about what we've used for filtering material. I'll note that I'm now using a piece of fine bridal netting. Although I do get a very fine amount of sediment now, it is very fast filtering and I've read that the "thicker" your cider is the better it is for you health wise.
What if you had like two belts like a very coarse sand paper. like maybe 20 coarse. Have the two belts angled with an opening about one inch at the bottom. These belts would turn apples into almost like apple sauce. It would grind the apples as fast as you could put them in the chute.
Some videos show the scratted apples being put in a holed cyclinder, instead of using all the grates and wraps.
Thanks for watching my video. The markings were all worn off of the bottle jack that I'm using when it was given to me so I can't tell you exactly how much it is rated for exactly. But I would guess that it is a 2 ton jack, certainly not more than a 4 ton jack. And the jack is not the limiting factor with my set up. I get so much pressure on there and then I'm afraid of breaking something with the rest of the press. 20 tons is huge! And when mine comes out it's awfully dry. Enjoy!
Maybe this is an American thing but in the UK it’s not cider till it’s been fermented. What you have is fresh unpasteurised apple juice. Very nice it is too but cider it ain’t
Yes, that is totally a difference in cultures. We definitely call it "cider," but then when it's fermented "hard cider." I enjoy making both!
If you were doing it commercial you could have train springs under the ramp and as you drove off the ramp would rise and you would lost more apples. Yu could have the whole thing running into a big stainless tank and you could make 500 gallons easily if you hade enough apples. I should have designed shit.
I assume if you press the shit out of whole apples it would be more pure apple juice. If you tried to press apple sauce it would be such bits of apples in the mix you are right it would clog up stuff
Hey why not a press like have a loaded truck. You could get an old cement mixer truck or any truck loaded to 80,000pounds and just run the truck over a ramp and just use whole apples and 80,000 pounds on top of it would get the juice out of whole apples. I mean these crank things and washing machines hell I would take a ramp and weld a pan in the middle and you run 80,000 pounds on top it you eliminate the process of mashing them. In a plant I worked at a huge machine pressed whole apples
You give me some I beams to run the truck on and weld heavy I beams in the middle. Have you ever seen anyone do it this way? Seems like it would work fast as shit. It would be better than even those hydraulic jacks they use. I mean shit a big hydraulic jack 20 tons will do a lot. In fact I have a six wheel truck I could just load it with ten tons of sand and it would weigh 35,000 pounds and no need for mulching the apples. Man why don't people do shit the right way so many want to do traditional