Pressing Apples

Today we went to our son and daughter-in-law's house to help them press apples.  They live in a house built around the turn of the 20th century which is blessed with a pair of old apple trees.  Our son built his own equipment for grinding and pressing the apples from instructions he found on the Internet.  All of the wood is sealed with wax to protect the wood and keep the juice pure.  We brought a laundry basket full of a selection of our own apples and our daughter brought 2 big tubs from her own tree.  This is truly a family affair!

Everything was set up in the back yard.  A table on the lawn is the apple preparation centre where we cut up the apples to get them ready for the grinder.

Under the grape arbour stands the grinder.  This is a simple but very clever machine.  Apples are forced down with the tamper which is resting on the top of the grinder in the picture above. Inside the chute is a hardwood drum with screws set in it.

A small electric motor turns the drum.  The screw heads on the drum tear up the apples which fall into a large white bucket standing under the grinder.

The press itself is operated by a car jack which presses down on the bundles of apple pieces.  The juice lands in a tray with a hole at one end which directs the juice into a large container below.

First a slatted rack is set on the tray and a square shaper is placed on the rack.

A cloth cut from a high thread count sheet is draped in the shaper.

Apple grindings go into the cloth-lined shaper.

The cloth is folded over the grindings.

Then the shaper is removed from the bundle.

Another rack goes on top and the whole process is performed again until sufficient bundles are in place so that the jack can operate.  In this pressing, there were six bundles.  Finally a solid piece of wood goes on the top, the jack is put in position and the pressing starts.

We did four pressings today and got 11 gallon jugs of juice plus lots left in the big stock pot to sample fresh - almost 3 jugs per pressing.  The juice was truly delicious!  Tonight the juice will be pasteurized and sealed in double-sized beer bottles.  Lots of tasty juice for the winter from fresh organically grown apples.

All that was left was to clean up after a very productive afternoon - and even that was fun for Gaba and grandson.