Thanks guys. Excellent video. Would love to get into cider pressing. For the home cider maker, it probably is best to source a place to get the apples before getting into pressing. Appreciate all the tips. Keep up the great work. Kevin
Thanks for this video! I got my first press today (6 Liters, perfectly fine for a beginner like me) by coincidence, and now you upload this video! Thank you very much, guys. Your work is much appreciated!
Thanks again for the great video! I've learned a lot from all of them, and have Claude's book on hold at my local library now. Building a press would be a cool winter project this year. Kudos to you both.
I experimented with different apples from my garden and pressed about 400 Liters of apple juice. But I had no luck with finding any nice flavors this season.😁
Well, that was great! But I can see room for improvement. I would experiment with using vitamin C to prevent browning, and at bottling I would add Acerola Cherry to recharge to anti-oxidant level and add additional valuable phytos and trace elements. I'm doing that for very small batch of Orange/Lemon and it works great. I'm handling those by starting with the equivalent of about a quarter-gallon of sliced chunks, mash that, and add water to 1-1/2 gallons, and refrigerate. I then agitate and pour and re-top with water as needed. I pour 1.25 liters into recycled Pepsi bottles for my bike commutes and keep that refrigerated for drinking instead of plain water. There's a perfusion of the orange and lemon, peels and all, into the water, along with natural sized chewable bits. This is adjustable. Adding the Ascerola keeps it absolutely fresh tasting from pour to pour. I end up with about 2.5 gallons before it's exhausted. This is relatively low-cal, much healthier than commercial drinks and cheaper!
I actually just had problems with store bought cider and I want to press my own now. The cider was contaminated with copper ruining a whole batch. I'm going to build my press! Thanks!
I am afraid there are too many good options to provide a favorite. If you are in the U.S., typically we do not have enough high-tannin apples to make a good traditional cider so I would look for bitter-sharps or bitter-sweets. You might have to go to a specialty nursery to find them like Cummins Nursery. Some that we have tried and enjoyed include: Yarlington Mill, Dabinett, Tremlett's Bitter, Brown Snout, Chisel Jersey, Major, Somerset Redstreak, Medaille d'or or Kingston Black.
That works for sure. I assume you are talking about a shop press or something of that kind. You'll need a tray at the bottom, a form to make your cakes, a few racks, a top board and probably some spacers to get the vertical depth you need. The Jolicoeur book we pointed out is a good resource for sizing of the various components.
Hayden. It works well for compost. If you have a farm you can feed it to animals or spread it in the field. It is possible to re-hydrate the spent pomace and press it again for a low sugar juice but we have not done that.
That's right. We call that "pomace" and it is good for animal feed, compost or fertilizer. In the olden days farmers would often re-hydrate the pomace - press it again - and make something called "cider-kin," a low alcohol beverage which they let the kids drink as a safe alternative to water.
Hey guys, I got myself a small 12 liters press more or less like the second one you're showing. Would you build layers in that one as well or given the small size it's just fine to fill it all up? Thanks a lot for your incredibly informative content.
The cylinder presses like that one are designed for one mass rather than layers and at that scale I do not think layers are necessary. Thanks. Good luck!
Hi. In this video we are using our Zambelli MuliMax grinder. I know that one is available on winemakersdepot.com. We have a bigger one for larger projects but this one works quite well if you are handling more than 5 or 10 and less than 50 bushels or so at a time. We have gone through a couple of blade sets though so if you get it consider getting an extra blade set.
Ok just one more question, it might actually be useful to others as well! Do you always add sulfites to the freshly pressed juice before adding yeast? The yeasts I normally use start fermenting very fast, so I was thinking they might "outrun" any other creature still living in there. That being said, should I still add sulfites if I'm pressing the juice myself?
Yes - we do a sulfite dose 24 hours before adding our own yeast. This is intended to kill wild yeasts that might otherwise take over the ferment. Cider-makers that allow wild yeast to naturally ferment the juice do not follow this step. You are correct that your yeast might likely outrun wild yeasts so I do not think you are taking a huge risk by not following this step but you are taking a measured risk.
Hi. I think any way you get juice works. You do not want to break up the seeds because they have some toxin in them - which is usually the problem with regular juicers. For that scale - it could be a bit of work, but you might core the apples first then use your juicer. Good luck!
Great idea. You can do that two ways. One way is to add the berry juice and ferment it together with the apple juice - or "co-ferment." The other way is to back-sweeten with the berry juice. We have a really popular cider called Black Market that is co-fermented with black currant juice.
