Headed to a local orchard tomorrow to get apples pressed. All these from my dad's and my little trees.

McIntosh, sweet 16, Hudson gold, king David, Melrose, winesap, golden delicious, a real nice mix.

That's awesome. We have different old wild apples on our property. Do you have a store bought or home made cider press? would love to see some pictures and the process. we may be getting into this next year.

The orchard has the press. It's a big homemade contraption. 3 hydraulic cylinders. About a 4 foot square pressing surface. They'll do all these apples in one go. I'll try to take pictures.
We've thought about our own press, but the grinding part has held us back. Presses are fairly easy to come by, but grinders seem more scarce. And for what the orchard charges, it's honestly not worth it for us to gear up for the little we do.

Kyle how much will that bunch of apples make and how do you store the cider?


Bryce

Bryce, we got 33 gallons. We have a spare fridge. Dad gets 10 gallons, he freezes a lot of it. And we'll ferment 5 gallons.

You should add all the extras that went into Rocky Mountain Taos lightening on the fermented ones!

I see a bellyache in your future! Remember your limit!

Thanks Kyle. I am still in the applesauce making and not any cider.

Bryce

Mmmm.

I wish we had access to good cider around here.

Bought a press 25 years ago. Usually make 25-30 gallons every fall. I like to add pears to the mix …..1 part pear, 4 parts apple.

Nice!

Many moons ago my dad would send us kids out to the back yard to pick apples and pears from our trees and wed haul them to some Amish guy that squeezed them.

He had two wooden barrels, probably old whiskey barrels that they put it in. We kept it out in the barn and would bring it in TBE house a gallon at a time.

I used to sell pear-apple cider in the local stores. Definitely is special. I had a graphic arts friend who made me a label. It had an attractive looking gal holding a jug and the caption read: "What a pear" and then in smaller letters below "cider".

Is than an antique, with a grinder at the bottom if the chute? Nice setup.
The Hudson gold apples we use have a pear flavor.