apple press

[Bacchus]

Hi,

Could anyone recommend a good apple crusher / press set up, suitable for 15 trees.?

Thanks in advance.

[mrsbusy]

Hi Bacchus.
we make 10 gallons of apple juice every year which we then ferment.
We don't use a press at all - we tried one and it didn't produce much juice.
Instead we use a domestic juicer. We quarter the apples and roughly core them and remove bruised flesh. We only use the juicer once a year.
15 trees is probably quite a bit more than 10 gallons.
My friend takes her apples to be juiced because she has a big orchard and is charged so much per bottle but she gets the juice bottled with a fancy label too!! I can get you the details if you are interested.

[Nicos]

My daughter hires a mobile one each year for her orchard. I think it’s about £15 for the day. A juicer, a press and a couple of sterilisers.
We got about 200litres bottled in one day.
Is it worth seeing if you have a local association which does this in your area?
If not, maybe ask around if a group of you might buy some mobile equipment and rent it out?
The press she borrowed had a water bladder which inflated under pressure.

[Bacchus]

Thanks a lot for those tips. I'm not that far from orchard County here, with all their bramley trees, so there may indeed be something like that about.