How to Make a Hydraulic Apple Press

No matter if you are making cider at home or running a commercial cidery, having access to a high quality apple press is indispensable. These plans from The Urban Farmer provide quality instructions for creating your own hydraulic apple press with items found around your house/garden/shed.

This large capacity hydraulic apple press uses both traditional rack and cloth and hydraulic ram methods of pressing fruit for maximum juice yields, including 6 machine-washable apple press cloths, acacia racking blocks, and a hydraulic jack jacking mechanism.

Material

Hydraulic apple presses are used to extract juice from crushed apples. As this task requires significant force, it's vital that the frame can withstand it without succumbing to breakage. Also bear in mind that you may pound away at wood frequently which could result in blisters forming; so gloves might be useful here.

Bladder presses are more commonly found in the wine industry, but can also be used for cider and perry production. Available in different sizes with built-in cloth filters to remove sediment before pressing, they offer flexible solutions for creating delicious beverages!

To make a homemade hydraulic apple press, first build the frame's base. For optimal results, the base should cover an area the width of your bucket with an overhanging baking tray; its height should equal that of two vertical beams plus the height of the car jack; powder coating will add further strength.

Size

Homemade apple cider stands apart from its pasteurized, filtered counterparts in grocery stores in both taste and texture, providing pure, fresh flavor that's ideal for making use of imperfect apples. But to do it successfully in large batches you will require an appropriate press to extract your cider from its pulp.

While a basket press may suffice for hobbyists, commercial cideries require something much larger - this is where hydraulic apple presses come into their own.

Hydraulic presses utilize hydraulic jacks to push wooden blocks against an inner ring of a bladder-like container containing ground apples, creating enough pressure between these blocks and the pressure created by pressing together to squeeze out all the juice from these apples, quickly and efficiently producing cider. These presses typically made from wood or oak for durability and quick cleaning between uses; additionally they can even be easily taken apart for cleaning purposes between uses.

Design

Few things evoke autumn like a delicious cup of homemade cider. While there are numerous methods for extracting apple juice from apples, one of the easiest and most efficient is using a hydraulic press - these presses are easy to operate while yielding excellent results.

Start by cutting up and crushing apples into pulp before pressing. The base of an apple press should be wide enough to accommodate a baking tray with bucket overhang, with an overhanging bucket equipped with pierced holes aimed at collecting juice that will later flow down into a waiting cider jug. Finally, this set-up must be placed within its hydraulic frame with its jack strategically positioned below.

Pumping up the jack generates hydraulic pressure that pushes down on racks of fruit press to crush fruit and extract juice, creating cider which can then be stored away until ready for consumption.

Assembly

Manual hydraulic presses can create significant amounts of pressure for extracting juice from fruits like berries, apples and pears. Once placed inside, a perforated basket is inserted and expanded barrel membrane squeezes crushed fruit through holes in its membrane membrane to release its juice directly into a storage tray.

Some models of hydraulic apple presses include an apple grinder to chop up apples before they're crushed by a screw, making for more efficient crushing while preventing pulp clog-up of juice escape holes.

To assemble a hydraulic apple press, interlock three base boards with four vertical ones before sliding the top horizontal board in place. Drill holes into each joint, insert bolts with washers into them to secure them together, affixing a wooden dowel centered above a hole for the smaller Jack, pump up your Jack to begin pressing! Apply more pressure as that increases juice production faster.