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Tharg drinker of cider
Cider Bus Convert
Borneo
184 Posts |
 Posted - 17/11/2004 : 13:19:07
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Those mills did work nicely, but required a bit of effort, the business part looked like a series of geared cogs. Keith Orchard's mill is a big electric one, you throw in a sack of apples into a washing tank, before an auger (archimedes screw) carries the fruit up into a mill, which produced a very fine pulp, the inside of this monster looks like a giant food processor. This broke down once and we switched to a smaller stand-alone electric mill, with an enormous hopper on it. This mill was prone to jamming, and you could only put a few apples in at a time, otherwise you had to dismantle it and remove all the pulp around the blades, which looked like the kind of blades you get in the juicing jug which goes on the top of your food processor - very frustrating when there's only two of you trying to put a ton of fruit through it - and we had to wash the fruit by hand. I gave my garden shredder a go, it's a Black and Decker, it pulped the apples really well, but I didn't put much fruit through it, so I don't know how prone it was to jamming, this had a single rotating blade above two fixed slicing blades. I was going to bring it back to London, but I couldn't de-gunge it enough to make it cider safe.
And you will know us by the trail of empties.... |
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Gents
HMZ God
Trinidad and Tobago
2214 Posts |
Posted - 17/11/2004 : 14:36:48
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When we used a scratter i thought it was effective but hard work, we strapped it down to two metal rack things (picture here: http://www.hannahmorezider.co.uk/images/Stu_and_Scratter.jpg) which was essential to get it working properly. Now I have seen a garden shredder at work i'd have to say this is better at getting the pulp into a juicy state to press easily, and also less work to use. To be honest, i can't make a totally fair comparison becuase the apples i used with each different device were very different from each other, but i think next year i'd aim to use a shredder. If you can't borrow a scratter, a garden shredder is also much cheaper to buy too.
As far as presses are concerned i suppose the bigger the better. I'd like to use a square/rack press, but its getting hold of one thats the problem. Maybe making one could be a possibility. They cost £540 from Vigo!
ZIDER! |
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Tharg drinker of cider
Cider Bus Convert
Borneo
184 Posts |
Posted - 17/11/2004 : 15:09:28
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Making a press is a good idea, a mate of mine uses one that's powered very effectively by a car jack, I'd get a hand mill as reserve, you'd be stumped if your shredder gave up the ghost half way through.
And you will know us by the trail of empties.... |
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Ivanhoe Martin
Cider Bus Convert
Oman
273 Posts |
Posted - 18/11/2004 : 12:18:25
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<<As far as presses are concerned i suppose the bigger the better. I'd like to use a square/rack press, but its getting hold of one thats the problem. Maybe making one could be a possibility. They cost £540 from Vigo!>>
Our PressMan is selling one for (a marked price of) just under £450. Given our experience with marked price vs actual price charged, I reckon you'd get it for cheaper than that (but it'd still be pricey). Alternatively, you could hire one like we did and pay just a few quid (it cost us £35 to hire all the kit you saw on our photos. For you, you'd have to factor in petrol, but it'd still be cheap).
But really Gents, if you want to use a rack and cloth press, then I reckon you should come and press with us next year.
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Tharg drinker of cider
Cider Bus Convert
Borneo
184 Posts |
Posted - 18/11/2004 : 12:28:49
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That's a good idea! Bring your apples, convert them into juice with us, and carry the lot back to Nailsea.
I think we've heard back from everybody, and they're all reporting froth and bubbles.
And you will know us by the trail of empties.... |
Edited by - Tharg drinker of cider on 18/11/2004 13:35:41 |
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Ivanhoe Martin
Cider Bus Convert
Oman
273 Posts |
Posted - 18/11/2004 : 14:44:59
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| I'm always frothing and bubbling |
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Al Caholic
Cider Bus Convert
Vatican City
145 Posts |
Posted - 18/11/2004 : 14:46:52
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Do you eat a lot of spicy food then Ivanhoe?
Al 
Zider I up barkeep! |
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Gents
HMZ God
Trinidad and Tobago
2214 Posts |
Posted - 18/11/2004 : 15:49:19
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cheers for the offer, i'd love to come up to London and help out for the weekend, but im not sure how practical it would be bring a tonne of apples up and taking loads of barrels back, especially as i haven't got as car! There is only so much weight my bike can handle.
My frothing and bubbling looked like it had seized up completely this morning, i'll be consulting the medical cider-making book later for any last-gasp ideas they may have.
ZIDER! |
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Ivanhoe Martin
Cider Bus Convert
Oman
273 Posts |
Posted - 22/11/2004 : 11:42:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Al Caholic
Do you eat a lot of spicy food then Ivanhoe?
Al
Zider I up barkeep!
No, but I knew I should have had those rabies shots :0) |
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Ivanhoe Martin
Cider Bus Convert
Oman
273 Posts |
Posted - 22/11/2004 : 11:43:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Gents
cheers for the offer, i'd love to come up to London and help out for the weekend, but im not sure how practical it would be bring a tonne of apples up and taking loads of barrels back, especially as i haven't got as car! There is only so much weight my bike can handle.
My frothing and bubbling looked like it had seized up completely this morning, i'll be consulting the medical cider-making book later for any last-gasp ideas they may have.
ZIDER!
I got worried as well, sometime last week. I fitted an airlock, and then you could see that there was gas coming out (and so it was fermenting), even though it wasn't that apparent to the naked eye. |
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Gents
HMZ God
Trinidad and Tobago
2214 Posts |
Posted - 22/11/2004 : 11:57:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Ivanhoe Martin
I got worried as well, sometime last week. I fitted an airlock, and then you could see that there was gas coming out (and so it was fermenting), even though it wasn't that apparent to the naked eye.
when i first put the airlock on it was bubbling slightly, but not as crazily as our HMZ last year, but at the end of last week the bubbles had ceased completely... however, this morning when i was cleaning my teeth i counted 2 bubbles coming thru the airlock so it looks like it still may be fermenting slowly! there is still hope! Hang in there you brave cider.
ZIDER! |
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Tharg drinker of cider
Cider Bus Convert
Borneo
184 Posts |
Posted - 24/11/2004 : 15:08:21
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Gents, a while ago you asked me a question regarding yields from hydraulic presses? I’ve just been to the Forest for more cider pressing, and on Monday, we pressed 1 tonne of very similar fruit as used in the London pressing. Two of us worked for an hour bringing the fruit into the mill and preparing the equipment, we then spent 3 hours milling and pressing, we could have gone faster had the apples been in bags, as it was, we had to shovel the apples from pallets. We then spent a further hour cleaning the equipment. This gave us 150 gallons. If you remember, in London, it took more than a dozen of us a day and a half to press the apples using two hand mills, and two hand operated presses. This gave us a yield of 94 gallons.
The pressing we did on Sunday which Ivanhoe came up from London to attend, would have been faster still, apples in sacks, and five of us working, but for the rather long and leisurely lunch break we enjoyed.
And you will know us by the trail of empties.... |
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Ivanhoe Martin
Cider Bus Convert
Oman
273 Posts |
Posted - 25/11/2004 : 16:56:25
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| I'd use the words, "tasty", "well-earned", and "just about the right length" to describe lunch myself, but then again I suspect your hard work threshold is higher than mine Tharg |
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Gents
HMZ God
Trinidad and Tobago
2214 Posts |
Posted - 26/11/2004 : 09:32:39
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hmmm 150 gallons in 5 hours between 2 people is almost too depressing to think about, when you consider how long and how many people it took to produce our smaller scale efforts! I remember thinking a similar thing when i watched an old video of the Coates production line in the 60's just after we'd made ours last year, they made about 10x more juice in half an hour than we'd made in a weekend.Realistically we aren't going to be able to compete with this equipment, or Mr Orchards for a good few years at least so the main decision for next year is whether we try and stick with a few basket presses, or make an effort to get a bigger, more expensive, flat-bed square press thing... is it worth the extra expense/trouble
ZIDER! |
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Ivanhoe Martin
Cider Bus Convert
Oman
273 Posts |
Posted - 26/11/2004 : 10:18:09
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IMO, it was really good to have a rack-and-cloth press, but I'm not convinced that it was that much better at getting juice out of the apples. It was really interesting to use, and felt more traditional (but that's hardly an objective assessment, is it).
It was probably a little bit better (but by the end of the weekend, the basket-press-cases were getting really dry pulp out of their efforts). I reckon that on a cost/benefit scale, it'd be better to spend money on more apples, or a super-efficient scratting set up, or Tharg's suggestion of a big board to bolt the press to (so you can stand on it and really get some pressure onto it without it waltzing across the floor, or an extra barrel of cider for the pressing.
If you want to use a rack-and-cloth press, but don't want to spend £500, get a cheap ticket to London and come and help us for a day. |
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Cider In London
