Cider day yesterday! 75l using a juicer !!

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olriley

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Location
Grantham, Lincs, UK
First time cider making! :party:

What a great day, genuinely warm sun, friends and beers. 75 litres from 145 kg apples, using a domestic juicer!

Starting gravity 1050 so mostly will leave unsweetened but might "turbo" a few DJs when I rack, with some extra sugar.

2/3rds is sulphited, pectolased and awaiting champagne yeast and nutrient, 1/3rd will go "wild" and totally untreated.

Loads more pics and words here on my blog.

P1040043.JPG
 
You're tellin me! We bought a fairly heavy duty machine and it coped admirably.

If its all a success and I upscale next year I may build or buy a press, but for the quantity we did this year I can't imagine an easier way to do it. The little fruit press we tried was pretty **** tbh.
 
I've got one of those juicers! It made a bit of a mess when I ran about 30kgs of grapes through it last year but good to see it cope with that volume of apples!

What did you do with all the pulp? There must be loads!
 
wow that looks hard work :shock: its a wonder it did not blow up bangggggggggg

a word of warning about following

1- i would use cider yeast
2-wild yeast you stand a good and no camden tabs you could verry easy lose it if it goes pete tong

champagne yeast and nutrient, 1/3rd will go "wild" and totally untreated.
 
I'm extremely impressed with a juicer that processed that quantity of apples and didn't blow up, and also the fact it only took 4 hours!

You've actually swayed my thinking... I was going to build an apple scratter/press (probably with a combined cost of £100+), and goto a relatives house in a few weeks time to turn those apples into cider, but I was unsure how I'd get the time to build it. Given the price point of the juicer you've used (£75) I'm seriously considering buying one. Surely if it blows up after one day's use you could take it back to the shop? :? :hmm:

Are there any tips you can give for your whole "process"? Such as any steps you did and things to make the whole process quicker and more efficient. I'm guessing (from your blog), you washed all the apples, had one person halving them, then one feeding the juicer and that was it?

How long does it take to liquidise one apple, and did you ever have "cool down" periods for the liquidiser to stop it overheating?

Sorry for the many questions, just hoping to do something very similar to you so I'd really appreciate any tips/advice you may have!
 
Taz, can I ask why you purchased the £199 machine when you managed only 10-20 litres less with your £10 machine from eBay?

As awesome as your new machine looks, unfortunately it's out of my price range until I'm more serious in a few years time, processing as many apples as you. For the time being, I'll think seriously about the liquidiser as it replaces the need for a scratter and press.
 
Dunc, you are just about spot on with your assessment of the process. Top tip is for the "chopper" (poor soul) to whip out the stem of the apple when they are quartering it. Eases clogging. To liquidise one apple takes literally three or four seconds.... every 5 mins or so the juicer needs to be stopped and the pulp hopper emptied - this gives it a slight cooling time. We also took a few decent breaks for lunck etc. The machine coped admirably.

As I said, if I ever moved to larger volumes I'd scrat and press, but our experience with a small (inexpensice) press was not good. Have been away from home last night but off back now to see how the juice is doing :pray:
 
I racked it today and did a bit of twiddling by adding some sugar to some of it. I've written more here

12 gallons, some more still in the FV (needs to settle again). Lookin good!

P1040169.JPG
 
when you see machine in action its awsome apple pulp is finer you get a better rate and i had my 3 numbers come up on irish lottery so i had £601 to spend :D did you not see any of my vids when i taken up north for cider day :D :thumb:
here is my cider day
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=30003

here are some vids in action
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyqtnKhZ ... e=g-high-u

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVJ-KDsw0vU

BigDDunc said:
Taz, can I ask why you purchased the £199 machine when you managed only 10-20 litres less with your £10 machine from eBay?

As awesome as your new machine looks, unfortunately it's out of my price range until I'm more serious in a few years time, processing as many apples as you. For the time being, I'll think seriously about the liquidiser as it replaces the need for a scratter and press.
Click to expand...
 
why are bottle your cider now ??????????? it needs to sit in a barrel for 6 months easy also when you store it in bulk barrel it will be far better :thumb:
my 140 ltr barrel in shed not even been rack of yet

olriley said:
Got it bottled tonight!!!!

52 litres in total :cheers:

P1050027.JPG


More info here
Click to expand...
 
That looks like lovely stuff. :clap:

In your earlier post you mention small press not being much use.
What size was it. Got me worried as I recently got a 12L one :|
 
nowt wrong with a 12L one wot you got to think bigger press more pressure bigger jack etc :D :thumb:

jmc said:
That looks like lovely stuff. :clap:

In your earlier post you mention small press not being much use.
What size was it. Got me worried as I recently got a 12L one :|
Click to expand...
 
@ jmc, cheers :cheers: can't remember the size it is an old fruit press from Boots, not a dedicated cider one, pretty flimsy. There's a pic on the blog, link on the OP.

@ tazuk, the reason for bottling now is simply that we want to drink some at christmas and it needs to condition in the bottle. My only alternative is to store it in 1 gallon DJs and I'm not sure that would have any benefit over 75cl bottles. From what I recall of your cider day thread, you store yours in a drum or cask - is this wooden or plastic? I can see the possible ageing benefits (or at least differences in wood. But this would be down to the storage material, not the "bulk", wouldn't it? If it works for you, that's what matters :thumb:

I like your new scratter, it looks ace. The website looks good too. Yorkshire scrumpy sounds like good stuff, lets hope for a better crop next year! :party:
 

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