Homemade cider press

[amateurjack]

Hi brewers

I have made a homemade cider press with a collection tray made of ply wood.

I want to try to seal the tray as best as possible to stop the apple juice becoming tainted and to prolong the life of the tray, especially as the cut edges will be exposed to regular soakings.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience as to what works best? I was thinking of some food grade expoxy or something similar.

Thanks

Jack

 

[Hagrid]

I think OSMO would work. You’d need to check it’s food grade. But it’s often suggested as a finish for chopping board and I believe it’s as hard as nails.

 

[Stephen Cook]

I've made a couple of wooden cider presses before. I just left them unfinished. The reason being, you don't want an oil based finish as it could tarnish the taste of the pressed juice. But, any man-made finish (polyurethane varnish etc) would be at risk of peeling off when you scrubbed it clean after every press session. Same for the oil based finish as well really. So, you'd be forever applying fresh finishes to it.

So, my advice would be use it unfinished, scrub it clean and then store it somewhere guaranteed to be dry between uses. I understand about the issue with it being plywood. But, again, I would still leave it unfinished. If the glues used in the plywood are a worry, I would reccomend using plain, unfinished timber for the tray instead.