Posted: 10/15/2011 7:52:45 PM EDT
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Cross post from the GD Forum...
So a good friend of mine brought me a cider press from his family's farm and told me to rebuild it for him...so I did... The press looks to be from the 1870's ––1880's... The wood was too far gone to have any real value, so I decided to replace all of the wood. Research indicated that white oak was the wood of choice for these things...so I headed down to high desert hardwoods in Boise and picked up some 4/4 and 8/4 white oak. I rebuilt it as close to the original as possible including the mortise and tenon joints for the frame and the tongue and groove joint for the bottom pressing tray. The 2" thick oak pressing circles were cut on a jig I fabricated for my bandsaw...I turned the press bat out of a stick of 8/4 oak I had left over... I tried to salvage as much of the original hardware as I could, but most of the bolts were too far gone...I had to use an air impact wrench and a pair of vise grips to get the bolts free from the nuts...I used a tap to chase the threads in the nuts and I was able to salvage all of them...which is a good thing as the square nuts lend a period look to the thing... For the metal parts, I blasted them with a sears sandblaster...for the inside of the grinder, I just left it bare and coated it with USP grade mineral oil from the drugstore....did the same with the cast iron grinding wheel and the other parts that touched the apple juice... I finished the frame with a mineral oil based butcher block finish and Minwax water based poly (what ever happened to my favorite Carve Trip water based poly?)...for the tray, I just left the inside bare (only raw white oak should touch the apple juice...this is the way things were done 120 years ago...) and coated the outside with the butcher block finish, but left off the poly (I don't want a problem with warping by only coating part of the wood with poly). The press baskets, I left unfinished, save for the iron hoops which I coated with USP grade mineral oil. The reason I coated the frame with poly is that during a test run I found that the apples would severely stain the wood, even with the butcher block finish applied...with the poly, you just use a damp rag to wipe off the frame. I wanted this to be sort of a showpiece for my friend, so keeping most of the wood looking nice was an important objective.. The press tray was sealed with pure beeswax and a heatgun. I just placed a small chunk of beeswax on the inside corners of the tray, melted it with a heatgun and tilted it, so that wax melted into the cracksand filled any tiny gaps...worked like a charm! I lubed the grinder shafts and the pressing screw with beeswax and a bit of USP mineral oil. Now as for raw apple cider...wash your apples before you press and cut out the rotted spots...otherwise, just dump them in the grinder and grind away core and all...drink within 3 to 4 days....if you need to store, either freeze it raw, can it, or harden it. I did a little bit of each to mine..I'm hardening 5 gallons of the ~ 30 gallons that I pressed...canned about 15 gallons and drank/shared the rest with friends and neighbors... Use a mixture of sweet and tart varieties for the best results...Unpasteurized, fresh pressed apple cider is like drinking pure sugar! I pressed about 540 lbs of apples (you can them real cheap if you go directly to an orchard and make a deal with the owner).... Before: 
The press in action: 
Ready for fermentation into hard cider: 
Secondary fermentation vessel: 
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Very Nice Work! Fresh cider is second only to fermented We have a Happy Valley cider press and these bags really help contain the mess.
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