Wine/Fruit presses - suggestions/ideas ?

[fatbloke]

Seen a couple in the online HBS's.

I don't think I need a particularly large one i.e. 3 to 5 kilo's looks about right.

The one that I'm thinking of is made of Ali'/Stainless, it's just over £100 (the local HBS looks too expensive).

I have seen one online advertised at just below the £50 mark, made of stainless and "painted metal" (presume that thats normal steel) that will press about 1.4 kg of fruit. I don't suppose that that matters too much if I need to press about the 4lb/2kg mark of fruit per gallon of wine - I intend to "crush" the fruit with a food processor and then put the pulp into a pressing/straining bag anyway.

Is there anything wrong with this idea and any particular burning reason why I might need the larger and dearer Ali/Stainless model over the smaller, cheaper model ?

regards

the Fatbloke.

[fatbloke]

Last year, for my attempt at apple wine (the CJJ Berry recipe that is very high in fruit @ about 10 to 12 lb per gallon) I just followed the instructions and liquidised the fruit, then got a pressing bag and wrung it out by hand.

Vvv messy and labour intensive. Hence looking into a press.

We would have additional work for it though, as my partner Clare is a jam maker. You have no idea how much seed is in raspberry (well you are probably very well aware of it, but as a figure of speech ...........). So we would be able to pulp/juice and then press so we can make the jam/jelly directly rather than making it then trying to strain it later.

Not to mention having a go at making cheese. It should be ideal for pressing the curd to remove the last of the whey.

I'm just trying to work out whether theres any merit/difference between a larger Ali/Stainless model or the smaller Stainless/"Painted Metal" one (I don't think I'd bother with a more traditional steel/wooden one - I can fully understand the hassles of sanitising wood!)

regards

fatbloke

[kmoorman]

Did you find a press in the end? I'm looking to get / borrow one for this autumn to make some cider...

cheers

Kieron.

[fatbloke]

Did you find a press in the end? I'm looking to get / borrow one for this autumn to make some cider...

cheers

Kieron.

Only a very small one at the moment i.e. about 1.5 litre content - OK for our small kitchen.

I'm still on the lookout - ideally for a small to medium sized VIGO one - I'm not fussed about a mill as I'm thinking that I'll just use the liquidiser and food processor to crush/mill.

We probably won't get any apples from the tree's we've put in for a year or two (even though they're in flower at the moment), but I spotted a place in Wales that was advertising quantities of cider apples, plus the bloke I got the 1/2 gallon demi-johns said that he'd sell me a bag or two of cider apples (he said that it was about 2.6 "crane bags" to the tonne which'd be about £160. I was looking to try a bag full as I can move/handle that amount).

regards

JtFB

[kmoorman]

Can you use a kitchen juicer to make apple juice for cider, or do you need to pulp and then press to make it work?

Kieron.

[Mamgiowl]

It's laborious, but it does work. Wouldn't like to do more than a gallon at a time though.

[NorthernWiner]

Here in the states, many places that sell cider/juice apples will usually crush them for you upon request.

Do the orchards in the UK do the same?

[fatbloke]

Here in the states, many places that sell cider/juice apples will usually crush them for you upon request.

Do the orchards in the UK do the same?

To be honest I don't know. Lots of the orchards in my neck of the woods are just like farms, but with apple trees.

There is one place that I know of that is a big(ish) fruit farm that also has a shop etc as well, but as I only ever drive past it for work, I don't think they'd be very pleased, if I turned into their driveway with 55ft of tractor and trailer (some people can be so picky about what their customers driver ). Might be worth the effort to go for a drive and ask though!

regards

JtFB

[danpug]

Whereabouts did you find out about the person selling apples? I'm supposed to be buying 300kg later this year but the guy has gone quiet on me, could do with a backup supply if it falls through.

[fatbloke]

Whereabouts did you find out about the person selling apples? I'm supposed to be buying 300kg later this year but the guy has gone quiet on me, could do with a backup supply if it falls through.

I'm on a bit of a promise from the bloke who I got the half gallon demi johns from, but he doesn't normally sell apples as he's a commercial cider maker himself. He said I could have a couple of boxes (there's 2 and a half boxes to the tonne - he quoted about £160 per tonne).

The places I'm gonna try are mainly commercial orchards in the West Kent area, plus I just googled for apples and there was a few promising links that came up.

Dunno if that's any help?

regards

JtFB

[danpug]

Ok, i'd best have a good dig around the net then! Thanks.