Bad Press!!

On the cutting board you see the very last apple of the season. It must be thinking "Bad Press!!" as it contemplates it's fate.

Hmmmm. Funny it doesn't roll right off. I'm trying to edit the original photo, but however I rotate it in it's file it still lays on it's side here.

Thanks, goldnut.

I was finally able to upright it. But, I've got to ask how you were able to do that without access to the original file.

Saved it to my download folder then went in and rotated it. So simple even a caveman could do it T rex!

Could you explain the set up? My press is a motor driven shredder, with a threaded screw press. I use an air gun to run it in and out.

Ugg!

• I quarter the apples
• push them through the garbage disposal (previously unused with all stainless interior)
• drop the puree into a pillow cloth lined perforated bucket.
• press with a hydraulic jack
• collect in another bucket below

That setup is brilliant! I never thought of using a garbage disposal! Ingenious.

I agree, although I don't take credit for it.

I have a little tabletop juicer, Juiceman Jr®. The garbage disposal works on the same exact principle, although easily ten times more efficiently. After I realized that I did a quick internet search and found a lot of people were already using them.

What do you do with the pressed remains? deer food?

I've wanted to do this same setup for years, but with a log splitter for the pressing. Unfortunately, I've never found a decent source of cheap enough second apples to make it worthwhile (I would want to buy a whole crate at a time).

Neat stuff...

Nice set-up.
But there are some things to consider:
—-clean the apples with a wash designed specifically for food. This will remove any herbicide, insecticide, mold, dirt, wax, etc.
—-freeze the apples first. Thaw. Then shred. You get a better yield because freezing breaks the cells and releases more when pressed.
—-get food grade buckets. Not all plastics are equal. Apples are acidic and will leach some of the chemicals into the juice.
—-depending on what leaches out, you may end up with juice loaded with endocrine disrupters which are bad for kids and young adults.
—-use food grade catch bags instead of pillow cases. There are cheesecloth bags made just for this purpose. And they last for years.

I like the idea of the stainless steel garbage disposal but you can’t get them apart to get everything clean. This will result in pockets of mold forming in the machine. Some mold spores survive very well thru periods of being dry and ‘activate’ when they get wetted with more juice. At my age, I don’t take chances, so I heat the juice on the stove to 160 degrees, ice bath it, bottle in A&W plastic jugs they sell me and freeze till used.

Now you're making me miss cider making and cider drinking! Weather this summer didn't leave many apples, so we had to pass on the squeeze.

I decided to just use my meat grinder for pulping the apples. Grinds em nicely and easy clean up.

Always love seeing other people's contraptions and ingenuity! Enjoy!

It doesn't have to come apart to sanitize it. Water through it while running takes care of a lot. I add a sanitizing solution, StarSan®. It's a foaming solution readily available at homebrew/wine shops, that reaches all internal parts. That is generally what commercial food producers do with their CIP (clean in place) systems. I use sodium metabisulfite (campden tablets) right after pressing. It kills all the wildlife and pretty much gasses itself out of existence in 24 hours. It then somehow turns itself into hard cider and migrates to my kegerator which children and young adults don't have access to.