This time of year starts me thinking about apples. Until last year, we had been able to take our apples to our friends’ house and he would press all our apples into wonderful cider and afterwards I would be able to enjoy the visit with his lovely wife. Then we would take the apple cider home to strain it through cheesecloth and can it in jars to use all through the year.
Last year was different because it was the first year that we lived too far away to take our apples to be pressed. So there was only one thing to do. Build an apple press!
Apple press from the side (pardon the van)
When I looked online for plans they were not what I wanted and it was expensive to get the kits. I knew what our friends’ press looked like and so I went about “designing” what I wanted it to look like.
I knew I wanted two barrels like our friend has on his. It is so handy to be able to chop apples at the same time apples are being pressed. Our friend’s uses an electric motor to power the apple chopper and an old power steering pump. The power steering pump is used to power hydraulics off an old tractor to press his apples down.
Ours has the electric motor to run the apple chopper but we don’t have the power steering pump set up so instead we use a standard hydraulic bottle jack. It still works, just not quite as fast.
Now I assure you I am NOT a master builder. With that being said I did manage to put most of this project together. Part of that was from necessity as my husband was not nearly as excited about having our own apple press as I was, however he did catch some of my enthusiasm and “beefed up” the parts that I didn’t have strong enough. 🙂
The metal straps on the barrels came from Orschelns but can be found at most any hardware/farm type store. The barrels are made from rough cut oak (which I got from my dad for free). I cut the slats to match up with the holes in the metal strap. I did cut one side of the wood with an angle so that they would fit together better.
Barrel with lid and jack in place
The tray is slightly angled so that the juice will come out and will empty into a clean stainless steel pain that we put underneath. If you/or someone you know is able to turn wood on a lathe you could make the apple crusher out of wood and not have to cover it. However we didn’t have that capability so we used a round wood post and covered it with stainless steel sheeting and then put the screws in.
Looking down into the apple crusher
You need to use EXTREME caution when this thing is turning because it WILL chop up anything that it comes into contact with! We had a stick for the purpose of knocking down any apples that got wedged above the chopper. NEVER, NEVER put your hands in there! Okay now that I warned you. We just rinsed off the apples then started dumping them in. The chopped up apples drop into the barrel waiting underneath. Then when it is 3/4 full we move it to the pressing area. We put the wood lid onto the chopped apples, insert the jack and press. Beautiful apple cider squeezes out between the slats and starts pouring into the bucket.
It does take lots of apples to make a gallon of juice (approximately a bushel if memory serves me correctly). However, I have had good success getting sufficient apples from people who don’t want the apples off their trees or have extra. Typically these apples are also “not sprayed” which works great for me.
The apple cider will settle out some sediment when left to sit for a bit. You can see the line of sediment on the bottle of this jar. 
Maybe you too can build an apple press and enjoy some of this wonderful apple juice all year long.
Blessings,
Jennifer
Wow! I am totally impressed that you made that apple press yourself! My husband bought me one for a Christmas Gift a few years ago ~ Happy Valley Ranch. Just like yours, but all chopped and pressed by hand ~ no motors!
I am excited for the apples to come on, too! There is nothing so sweet as fresh squeezed apple cider! (We really like adding pears to several varities of apples ~ you can make so many different ‘flavors’ depending on the varieties of apples you use!)
Delish!
Wow, this is really cool! I think I maybe I *could* build this. I’d love to have a cider press. I make real ACV from our apples, but I’ve had to use a juicer in the past, which just isn’t the same. Thanks for sharing the details on how you made yours! 🙂
I so want a press and had never even considered building one myself what a fantastic idea!!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Because of the sediment do you avoid shaking it???
Journey- I am hoping to make ACV for the first time this year.
Cheryl-My kids are kind of picky about the sediment at the bottom so I just pour until I get to that point. It doesn’t taste bad or anything just kind of chunky. 🙂
Amazing. Good job. 🙂
is it possible to get more detailed plans? i mean if you don’t mind sending them? my dad wants a press in the worst way but it is too expensive to buy him one so i was thinking of making one and this looks awesome for what he would need. thank you for your consideration
How do you go about canning your juice in canning jars? Fo you have to heat the juice up so they will seal?
I do heat my apple juice up. I use the recommendations from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/apple_juice.html
Thank you for stopping by!
I’m really interested in how you built your apple grinder, especially how you built your drum and attached the motor. Any other details/plans you could share?
I do hope to get plans put together and published at some point. This first press had a round post with stainless steel sheeting screwed onto it.
This is just awesome that you built your own apple press! Very cool. I have to say, I am curious how it held up and if you are still using it, seeing as the post is several years old.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing on Throwback Thursday Blog-Style. Your post was this week’s featured post.
It held up for quite a while but there were some things we wanted to make better. Like having straight legs for instance. 😉 We built a new-improved one that I love! I still hope to post plans for building one at some point.
Hello Jennifer. Did you ever get detailed plans put together for this press and grinder? I am so very interested and like you will probably have to start building myself as I am more enthused about it than my husband, (I do expect he will come around once I get started LOL) I also have a son with a lathe for the grinder if that would make any difference. Thank you so much and I hope I am not too late with replying to this post. Thanks again!
I don’t have the plans together. I so wish I did!
I’d love to have new and ImProved model or original