Apple Press

[Luek]

http://www.van-vliet.org/dempseywoodworkin...iderpress.shtml

Looking over this, possibly gonna build something like this with the inlaw... he raised the point that the basket being round seems unnecessary... is there any real advantage of a round basket over a square one that we'll run into later and go "ah shit, should have made it round!"

Ps. how much would ~40kg of apples cost through farmer's markets and similar means?

 

[Phoney]

A mate of mine just uses a juice extractor. It takes him about half an hour to juice 30kg of apples & get about 20L of juice out of them. Not nearly as fun as building your own of course, but a shit tonne easier.

He gets the apples from Bilpin west of Sydney.

 

[Wolfy]

Looking over this, possibly gonna build something like this with the inlaw... he raised the point that the basket being round seems unnecessary... is there any real advantage of a round basket over a square one that we'll run into later and go "ah shit, should have made it round!"

If the juice can flow out the sides of the basket (which I presume it can because it looks like has gaps for that) then a round basket would mean that the juice has an equal path to travel no matter which direction, possibly resulting in a more even press. I presume also the top-circular disk makes it easier to apply even pressure across all the contents, when compared to a square topped one. (Could also be that the circular design is a hold-over from times past when such devices were built by those who also specialized in making wooden casks).

 

[Greg.L]

That design is more for a wine press, but would work ok for apples. The traditional apple press uses layers of boards and cloth to form a "cheese", you get more juice but it takes more time to operate. The essential thing is strong uprights, crosspieces and joins. If you use some well seasoned eucalyptus hardwood and mortice-tenon joints you can get a really strong press without so much fiddling.

 

[troopa]

Luek funny enough thats the exact design i used

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=61014 last pic

Greg is right and wrong .. a traditional cider press is exactly that but todays version is a slat version and is more efficient. I get about 50-55% efficiency (thats by wieght so 10 kilios of apples will get you about 5-5.5 kilos of juice or somewhere about 4-5 litres of juice)
The basket he has designed holds about 12kg of apple scratter so expect about 3 presses for 18-20 litres of juice which should take about 30 mins total to scratter and press where ii recon you could get close to 20kg of scratted apples with a press board and from what ive read closer to 65% efficiency

If you want to skip the basket go right ahead and use a slat board but i wanted that look. Next season ill be making a slat board press to use with it though
the basket really isnt that much harder to knock up cause your already ripping the size slats for the base board anyway so you just keep going

On a side note and kinda important
USE a bag(if you biab use your BIAB bag or buy one) cheese cloth is fine so is nylon
because your using a bag you also dont need the slat gaps to be so fine on the drain board (i think they are 1/8") .. you dont need to be so perfect either.. so dont stress if some gaps are 1/8 and some are 3-4 mm

Make sure you sue some decent Oak.. PINE WILL SHATTER and i mean shatter into a million splinters and not just break nice
I took the press to a mates place a few weeks ago and forgot one off the main legs.. knocked one up outta pine and after the 4th press and my mates over zealous enthusiasm with the jack ended up putting a large chunk of pine nearly through his sheds roof

Also he footnotes near the bottom of the page to make a strong back for the press bar.. use some 12-16mm flat steel(stainless) flat bar about 100,150-200mm long to help protect the timber his little 6mm stuff is a joke and youll end up having to replace it at some stage


HAVE FUN i loved making this project and making the juice with mates was even better

 

[troopa]

The tenon style joints he uses in the design coupled with the 12mm threaded rod is damn strong and the best part damn simple to knock down and rebuild on location or at the end of season

It really depends on what your after
This is damn great basic design that almost look authentic
If you want to go absolute then go with what Greg is saying totally

For complete simplicity just grab a welder and knock up a RHS frame with some oak slats .. and a 6-12 tonne jack

 

[Whiteferret]

he raised the point that the basket being round seems unnecessary... is there any real advantage of a round basket over a square one that we'll run into later and go "ah shit, should have made it round!"

I remember reading elsewhere on another site that the basket wasnt quite round after being assembled but that after doing a pressing the pressure forced it into shape so I think that you would have to over engineer it to keep it square.

 

[troopa]

Yeah i would think something along the lines of 40mm "C" channel for both top and bottom rails welded at the corners would do it

You are dealing with some decent pressure (u use a 2 stage 12 tonne jack from gasweld ) and would bet that im getting close to about 5-8 tonne on it
I know im getting about 6-8mm deflection on the top press bar. Thats always interesting to see LOL