Posted: 9/5/2025 6:58:18 PM EDT
[Last Edit: johnh57][Edited]
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We have 3 apple trees. If i prune them they produce enough apples to fill a pickup bed. For the last few years a friend comes and gets them and makes cider. I've been thinking about just getting a grinder and a press so we can process a few buckets of apples at a time rather than throwing the windfall in the trash until my friend has time to come pick apples. Any recommendations? I'm looking at the Pleasant Hill Grainery apple grinder (manual with a weighted flywheel type drive handle, and their corresponding stainless tank screw type press. Together it comes in at near $1,000. I've looked at the bladder type which look awesome, but I saw the Amazon one has been known to blow up the bladder - which is not sold as a part, rendering the thing useless. Grinder https://pleasanthillgrain.com/maximizer-fruit-apple-grinder-press Press https://pleasanthillgrain.com/maximizer-fruit-apple-cider-press |
Growing up we had one similar to this. We cut the apples into quarters and use the press. No need to grind them. |
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| My understanding is a coarse grind will about triple the yield of cut or whole apples. My in- laws used to make cider using cut apples and a homemade press. Their little press wouldn't hold more than maybe a dozen to 18 apples. The friend that comes and does them has a grinder and a press similar to the one you show, but it's bigger and about 75 years old. Still works. Last years crop wasn't very good, still managed somewhere around 100 liters of cider, but I probably throw 1/4 of the apples out in the weeks prior to him coming in and emptying the trees. |
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Wow. With a setup like that, you could probably help neighbors and friends in time of need. That grinder looks like a beast. I'm jelly if you get it. 
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Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
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First try: 24 lbs apples (one 5 gallon bucket) gave me 1 full gallon of cider plus about 1 juice glass. Press works really well, grinder / masher thing is a bit awkward to use by yourself. It really helps to keep the wheel spinning and add apples. But it can be done by yourself. The hornets love it. Attached File |
| I saw a thing on instagram a while back where someone bought a new but very cheap garbage disposal and mounted it to a cleaned sink salvaged from a renovation. He had it on a plug, and dumped it into a bucket to put into his press, which he had mounted in a cheap harbor freight press. Looked easy and economical. |
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Originally Posted By johnh57: First try: 24 lbs apples (one 5 gallon bucket) gave me 1 full gallon of cider plus about 1 juice glass. Press works really well, grinder / masher thing is a bit awkward to use by yourself. It really helps to keep the wheel spinning and add apples. But it can be done by yourself. The hornets love it. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/335829/Resizer_17578757010191_jpg-3624183.JPG That's a neat all-in-one unit, I've never seen one like that. An electric motor would make it easier to operate by yourself. |
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Originally Posted By TinSpinner: That's a neat all-in-one unit, I've never seen one like that. An electric motor would make it easier to operate by yourself. |
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Not quite knowing how much cider to expect I ordered 50 milk jugs (1/2 gallon) with caps. I have seven left and there are still a few apples in the last tree, maybe 4 - 6 buckets worth. Gave one 1 gallon jug to ex-son in law and his girlfriend, and I keep an overflow jug in the refrigerator. I usually press two 5 gallon buckets worth of apples and it fills four 1/2 gallon jugs plus a quart +/-. The quart goes in the overflow bottle. So so far I've fiiled 43 1/2 gallon jugs, plus one 1 gallon, and filled several overflow jugs - probably 3-4 gallons worth. Fairly impressed with the set up. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes to grind a full to overflowing 5 gallon bucket of apples. Probably another 5-10 to press the juice out. 1 bucket is about 100 apples and about 24 or 25 lbs. I also bought mesh bags to line the press bucket with so the cider is free of larger chunks and it doesn't leave a layer of settled sediments in a jug even after a few days. |
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Originally Posted By SandHillsHillbilly: There has to be something harder to make with the leftover squeezings. Apple Cider Vinegar (soooo useful) Apple wine  |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
| All said and done i think I ended up pressing 30 gallons of cider. I used all 50 of the half gallon jugs I bought, plus a one gallon jug, plus anywhere from a quart to a half gallon surplus after every 4 gallons or so that we just put in a container in the refrigerator to drink. |
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Froze maybe 1/2, gave a bunch away to family and friends. Tried using it to press Concorde grapes. Juice is fine, but the shredder didn't shred well enough - too many grapes get past the blades. The grapes then squeezed into the pores of the filter mesh bag and plugged it up pretty solid. If I ever try grapes again it will require some thought. The friend who used to collect our apples has a source for grapes and he brought me 6 or 7 gallons of grapes. |