Pressing Apple Cider

[Urbish]

A couple of weeks ago we processed 20 bushels of apples through my Whitman's Americus cider press. The yield was about 48 gallons. It was a great time and I am looking forward to doing it again next year.

[Urbish]

Here are a few others:

[Bob McCarty]

That looks like a lot of work, both the picking and the pressing. What do you do with all the cider?

Bob

[Urbish]

I bought the apples from an apple farmer in West Michigan for $80. They are all Jonathans. The Cub was hitched merely to keep the trailer from popping an unintentional wheelie during unloading. We had a big group of people turning the crank and got through them all in under five hours. It was a great time and an excellent opportunity to involve the kids in an old-time tradition. About half of the cider went directly into brewing vessels and is being turned into hard cider. All who came to help went home with a gallon or two of fresh cider for drinking. The rest went into my freezer for enjoyment next summer.

[Stanton]

Looks like a fun venture. Thanks for sharing the pics!

[Urbish]

I'm reviving this thread. I have a 900# (20 bushel) crate of apples ordered for October and plan to do another round of pressing with friends and family. If I can get it going in time, I plan to run the press using my IHC Model M 1-1/2hp stationary engine.

[mozer71]

Very nice!

[Urbish]

I needed a small flat belt pulley to for the engine so I could run the press at low RPM. A forum member suggested a Cub brake drum. It looks dandy and should work just fine!

[ricky racer]

What do you do with the apple pulp?

[outdoors4evr]

What do you do with the apple pulp?

Looks like Yellow Jacket bait in that wheelbarrow. The first pic shows it going into a garden bed.

[Urbish]

What do you do with the apple pulp?

Looks like Yellow Jacket bait in that wheelbarrow. The first pic shows it going into a garden bed.

Yes, the tailings do attract a lot of yellow jackets. I'm not sure what I'll do with the tailings this year. Perhaps leave an offering to the deer. The photo of them going into the garden was at my old house in the suburbs. That was my tomato area and the acidity of the tailings helped them a lot.

[mozer71]

I would like try some of the cider. Your pictures are spectacular !

[Urbish]

One step closer. Since taking this picture a couple weeks ago, I have moved the engine to a much shorter cart. We'll be pressing apples in two weeks! A Cub brake drum fits perfectly on the output shaft of the engine, giving me a 5:1 reduction to the flywheel of the cider press. I still need to build up a crown on both out of tape, but my in my test the belt stayed on without issue; even without a crown.

[Urbish]

I ran the engine for an hour today in preparation for pressing next weekend. I noticed the governor seemed sticky, so I shut it off to diagnose. I found the cast ring that holds the governor weights/springs is cracked in half on one side and was allowing some slop that accounted for the sticky behavior. I don't want to risk it breaking the rest of the way and flinging the governor weights at high speed while I have 30 people here for our pressing party.

I thought I'd take a crack at removing the flywheel so I could get the governor casting off to braze it. The gib key is rooted firmly into place, where it probably has been for the last 80-90 years. I hosed the whole area with PB blast and let it soak for a few hours, then went to work with some wedges to drive the gib key out. No dice. So I got out the torch and heated up the hub of the flywheel. I was prying on the head of the key while applying light taps to the side of the key with a hammer when I heard a loud, 'tink'. One of the spokes of the flywheel broke right at the hub. I dropped everything and began reconsidering my life options.

About 10 minutes later the adjacent spoke broke as well. So I guess we'll be hand cranking the press next weekend, despite all my efforts. Phooey!

Meanwhile, over to the smokstak forum to look for a flywheel and maybe a governor ring if I'm lucky.

[Urbish]

Here's the carnage: