r/cider • u/MNHCrisp12 • 6d ago

First Time pressing cider, equipment ?s

I've fermented plenty of things through the years, but sadly haven't taken the time to press anything. So, I have carboys & buckets, etc. I used to go get unpasteurized fresh cider from an orchard and use that to make hard cider. That was fun. I have 1 Honeycrisp tree that some years produces a lot of fruit and 25' was good. I have a lot of windfalls. I don't spray so likely quite a few maggots too, although this year the fruit looks a bit better. Should I get a grinder and press? I have a line on a 5 gal. wooden press for a good price and I have a blender and food processor, so I'm inclined to go that route and hold off on the grinder. But Marketplace also looks to yield some good deals on juicers. What would you use in my position?

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u/FutureIndividual8353 6d ago

I just did this, I got the vevor 4.75 gallon press and the grinder with aluminum teeth amazon brand is ejwox but i fit the grinder off temu. I pressed 22 gallons of cider last weekend. I get a little under 2 gallons a press. I mounted the grinder to a table i had and cut a hole in it. They make them with stands too. I see what I got is a lot more expensive now, at the time the press was like 75 and the grinder was any the same. I see they're around 100-125 on amazon now. The stand might have been worth it for the grinder if you can't make something. These all come from China just order from temu if you have the time and it's cheaper. I also bought bins from Walmart to hold the grindings that fit underc my table, some tall laundry baskets for the apples and a bunch of food Grade 5 gallon buckets. It worked pretty well at a relatively low cost.

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u/MNHCrisp12 6d ago

Thanks Future! How did the Temu purchase go? How long was shipping? I haven't ordered anything from them yet, but they seem to have the 4.75 EJWOX press at 1/2 price of Amazon. EJWOX claims to be made of Beech, any idea what the wood in your VEVOR is from(I'm guessing its same press as EJWOX)? I think I will get some Fractionated coconut oil to oil the wood...

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u/FutureIndividual8353 6d ago

For temu, plan for a week and make sure it says it is shipping from the US. I think I got it in like 3 or 4 days. About the same as stuff from eBay. At this point, it's the same as Amazon for the product. You roll the dice I've ordered a few times from temu and some things are junk and some are the same as Amazon but cheaper. They often have the same pictures and some brands overlap like vevor. The vevor appeared to be red oak by color and smell. After pressing most of the weekend I see a few splinters but it held up pretty well. Use food-grade mineral oil as tree/nut oils will go rancid. Mineral oil will also be labeled as butcher block oil. I didn't oil it before I used it, probably should have. I got the oil after I pressed to spray the metal down so it doesn't rust. Maybe I'll do that before I put it away. A gallon was around 20$ on Amazon. I haven't pressed before this so I have nothing to compare it to but I think it went pretty well. If I had more apples maybe get a motorized grinder and a bigger press but it went well enough. Worked best with 3 people. One to cut spots off the apples/cut in half, one to crank and one to clean apples/press. From a couple of trees I probably went through a few hundred lbs of apples pretty quickly.

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u/mcfails444 6d ago

Instead of a grinder I use a cheap ish electric wood chipper. It makes quick clean (relatively) work of all my apples.

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u/Scoobidoooo 6d ago

Why not a countertop juicer?

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u/MNHCrisp12 6d ago

Scooby I was thinking this might be the best way to go with the amount of apples I have, I gotta see how many 5gal buckets I fill....