# Fair warning to all the apples out there



## lukem (May 26, 2013)

I'm now armed.  Picked this up today.  All the castings are in good shape but the wood is shot.  I have some oak stock I've been saving for this.  Going to take everything apart and media blast the castings...build the frame... and make some cider this fall.


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## save$ (May 26, 2013)

Please post a picture of this when you have the rebuild done. Thanks


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## Defiant (May 27, 2013)

Wait till SmokeyTheBear sees this !!


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## SmokeyTheBear (May 27, 2013)

Go for it lukem and once you press that cider harden some of it for those hot days the next summer.  Be sure to use more than one kind of apple (three is the lower limit) in each cider batch.


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## Backwoods Savage (May 27, 2013)

lukem said:


> I'm now armed. Picked this up today. All the castings are in good shape but the wood is shot. I have some oak stock I've been saving for this. Going to take everything apart and media blast the castings...build the frame... and make some cider this fall.


 
Luke, do you also have the tub for the chopped apples to fall into? And be careful about what you wish for. A neighbor and I built one a year ago last January and have not been able to use it yet! However, so far it appears we should have a decent apple crop this coming fall. Here is our setup.


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## lukem (May 28, 2013)

It came with three baskets.  They are pretty rough but the steel bands are salvageable.  

After getting the grinder apart I found a couple very small pits in the flywheel.  I think they are defects from the initial casting...doesn't appear to effect the rotation so I'll just fill them with some JB and paint over.


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## lukem (May 28, 2013)

SmokeyTheBear said:


> Go for it lukem and once you press that cider harden some of it for those hot days the next summer. Be sure to use more than one kind of apple (three is the lower limit) in each cider batch.


 

We put up 42 gallons of cider last year.  We have 3 very large trees that we get apples from and have several more lined up for this year.  Last year's cider was great...the apples were pretty "dry" but the juice we did get from them was so concentrated it tasted like caramel.  I assume that was from the drought.

I made 3 batches of hard cider and they all turned out great.


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## lukem (Jun 4, 2013)

Tinkering away as time allows.  Media basting done and paint underway.


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## lukem (Jun 4, 2013)

Grinding drums in not bad shape.


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## lukem (Jun 4, 2013)

Lumber for press cut to rough dimensions.  Next stop...planer.


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## lukem (Jun 4, 2013)

Going to give the paint several days to cure before assembly.  Still need to media blast the press screw assembly...that's next on the list.


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## lukem (Jun 19, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Luke, do you also have the tub for the chopped apples to fall into? And be careful about what you wish for. A neighbor and I built one a year ago last January and have not been able to use it yet! However, so far it appears we should have a decent apple crop this coming fall. Here is our setup.
> 
> View attachment 103181
> View attachment 103182


 

Dennis,

What kind of finish did you put on your wood?  The lumber I'm working with is still a little green so I'm going to leave it unfinished for a while.  I'm thinking about giving it a couple coatings of butcher block oil.


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## lukem (Jun 27, 2013)

Making some progress.  Time is tight but slowly chipping away.  Had to improvise quite a bit because my lumber...mainly the 4x4's were not big enough.  The lumber was sawn before I got the press...not much I could do.  Just need to make the hopper and tub...and baskets...and a few misc hardware items that could not be salvaged.


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## lukem (Jul 2, 2013)

Making some more progress.  Was short a board for the hopper so need to plane down another this weekend.  Finish up the tub...make a push plate and I'm done till I seal it this fall.  The wood is still a bit wet so I'm going to wait as long as I can.


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## begreen (Jul 2, 2013)

You're getting pretty close now. Looking good!


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## lukem (Jul 3, 2013)

Yep, it won't be long.  I've put quite a bit of time into this project, but in the end I'll have a pretty nice setup and only be into it for about $130.

I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do the tub yet.  I have an old kitchen sink countertop cut-out sitting in there now that I'm using to mock up everything and kind of like it, but it's too short if I go with the traditional tapered spout opening at the end of the tub.  I'm tempted to make the front square, drill a hole, and drive a small piece of schedule 40 in the hole for a drain.


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## lukem (Aug 27, 2013)

Done.


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## Defiant (Aug 27, 2013)

I'll take a gallon


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## lukem (Aug 27, 2013)

Come on over.



Defiant said:


> I'll take a gallon


.


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## Thistle (Aug 27, 2013)

that's awesome


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## save$ (Aug 27, 2013)

Sweet!


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## ScotO (Aug 27, 2013)

Lukem, that baby looks beautiful!  You did a great job, can't wait to see it in action.  I can almost taste that apple cider and a piece of gingerbread.....


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## save$ (Aug 27, 2013)

Scotty Overkill said:


> Lukem, that baby looks beautiful!  You did a great job, can't wait to see it in action.  I can almost taste that apple cider and a piece of gingerbread.....


Try that with a gingerbread whoopie pie or a hot apple crisp with ice cream.   Yum........


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## fossil (Aug 27, 2013)

Too pretty to use.


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## lukem (Aug 28, 2013)

Scotty Overkill said:


> Lukem, that baby looks beautiful! You did a great job, can't wait to see it in action. I can almost taste that apple cider and a piece of gingerbread.....


 

Heading to the beach next week for some R&R, but should be pressing cider shortly after we get back.  It's usually a full tilt operation, but I'll try to get a few pictures along the way.



fossil said:


> Too pretty to use.


 
Nah.  I wanted to make sure I took my time and did it right so my kids can use it someday (if they want to).  This was my first real woodworking project (I've done a lot of rough carpentry though).  I learned a lot doing it.  I don't think it turned out bad for a rookie.


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## Jags (Aug 28, 2013)

Very nice job.  Ever think about motorizing the grinder?  I don't care for that part.


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## lukem (Aug 28, 2013)

I have definitely considered that.  I plan on giving it one season of manual operation to make sure all the metal parts hold up as they should.  I need to get a good estimate on RPM to size the pulleys too, and I won't be able to do that (correctly) until I get it under load grinding apples.


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## Adios Pantalones (Aug 28, 2013)

lukem said:


> Done.


Damn thing is a show piece. Looks great


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## SmokeyTheBear (Aug 28, 2013)

Now on to the apples .


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## Backwoods Savage (Aug 28, 2013)

Lukem, we too have considered a motor on the grinder but will do one season first. We're thinking we may do some pressing in about a week or so.


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## lukem (Aug 29, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> Lukem, we too have considered a motor on the grinder but will do one season first. We're thinking we may do some pressing in about a week or so.


 

I got the second coat of mineral oil on all the wood last night so it is ready to go.  I might do a test run Saturday to see how it works and make any adjustments before the big press in a couple weeks.


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## Backwoods Savage (Aug 29, 2013)

We paid a little extra to get food grade coating and it is supposed to last longer but I'd have to look it up now to find out how much longer.

I stopped at a neighbor's this afternoon and assured them I'll be picking up apples for them tomorrow. Might do a bit of squeezing if they aren't too bad.


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## lukem (Sep 13, 2013)

Tomorrow is game day.  I picked about 10  bushels tonight...a lot more to pick and press tomorrow.  Apples are very juicy this year but not super sweet.  Should get a lot of decent cider to go in the freezer.


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## happycamper (Sep 13, 2013)

lukem said:


> I'm now armed.  Picked this up today.  All the castings are in good shape but the wood is shot.  I have some oak stock I've been saving for this.  Going to take everything apart and media blast the castings...build the frame... and make some cider this fall.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


love to buy gallon of apple cyder
i love it but it gives me the shits
direa


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## heat seeker (Sep 13, 2013)

We're making our cider this weekend. Looking forward to sipping some fresh cider!


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## Paulywalnut (Sep 14, 2013)

Wow that is nice Lukem,is apple wood too hard to work with lol?


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## lukem (Sep 16, 2013)

Sorry guys, no pics, but I promise it happened.

We ended up filling about 88 gallon jugs with cider.  We only fill the jugs going into the freezer about 75% full so they have enough head space, so I'd say be did a solid 70 gallons.  We started pressing about 2:30 and finished cleaning up about 8:00 Saturday.

The new grinder/press worked very well.  Compared to the one one I've used in the past, it is a BEAST to crank, but it works 3x as fast.  Everything worked out very well, but I sheared the bolt the holds the crank to the grinder shaft twice.  I need to improve that connection...it has a fair amount of slop in it.

It will have an electric motor before next fall.  I'm still pretty sore today.


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## SmokeyTheBear (Sep 16, 2013)

Wrong order lukem,  you first harden the cider off and then freeze it ...... the bad bear is now running for his cave ....


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## lukem (Sep 16, 2013)

SmokeyTheBear said:


> Wrong order lukem,  you first harden the cider off and then freeze it ...... the bad bear is now running for his cave ....



Actually, I freeze to kill the bad yeast and give the press operator a chance to rest, then harden it.  I've never "accidentally" frozen it twice, but I understand interesting things happen when you do .


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## charly (Sep 16, 2013)

I'm thinking of getting a press for next year. We're selling no spray apples.. I realized picking we are never going to get to use all the apples on our 65 trees.. They're loaded! Sign wasn't out 30 minutes and people starting stopping.. Have to make some pies in the Esse!


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## heat seeker (Sep 16, 2013)

We made about 5 gallons of cider yesterday. We did it the hard way, grinding the cut up apples in a hand cranked meat grinder, then using a small press gotten at a tag sale. A lot of work for what we got, but we had some friends over to help.  We all had a good time, a nice dinner, and everyone went home with some great cider.


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## SmokeyTheBear (Sep 16, 2013)

lukem said:


> Actually, I freeze to kill the bad yeast and give the press operator a chance to rest, then harden it.  I've never "accidentally" frozen it twice, but I understand interesting things happen when you do .



I told my boss aka the wife what you said about you killing yeast in cider by putting it in the freezer she just looked at the ceiling walked to the kitchen opened up the freezer door and took out the pint jar of yeast she keeps there and said don't think so.

We do homemade bread all the time.


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## lukem (Sep 16, 2013)

Good point.  I guess I have been misinformed.  Hard cider tonight.


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## Backwoods Savage (Sep 16, 2013)

We've done about 18 gallons so far. Lots and lots of apples.... Seems like all the neighbors want to give us apples.


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## Pallet Pete (Sep 16, 2013)

Backwoods Savage said:


> We've done about 18 gallons so far. Lots and lots of apples.... Seems like all the neighbors want to give us apples.
> 
> View attachment 111827
> View attachment 111828


My buddy has an apple and pear tree side by side Dennis If you want some Id bet he would give them away without any hesitation. he has about 1/4 acre land and it is covered this year. 

Pete


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## Freeheat (Sep 17, 2013)

Looks great let us know how the first run tastes


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## lukem (Sep 17, 2013)

OK, need some help guys.  I am less than excited about cranking this thing for another 6 hours next fall so I want to fit it with an electric motor.

I think the grinder shaft RPM should be about 75...any faster than that and it would get too shaky.

The current handle that is on there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 16", give or take, from the grip to the center of the grinder shaft.  This would give me room for a 30" +/- pulley on the grinder.

If I have a 1.5" pulley on the motor, and the motor is turning at 1750 RPM then I'd need a 35" pulley.  I'm not sure If I can fit that, but I can take some measurements later.

The biggest questions I have, and need some ideas/input on, are:

1.  Any ideas on a good donor pulley?  I've heard dryer pulleys are pretty big, but have never actually seen one to confirm.  I've also though out making a wooden one out of a plywood.

2.  How much HP would I need?  I'm not sure what my right arm dyno's at.  Would 1/3 or 1/2 be enough?


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## Jags (Sep 17, 2013)

A 1/3 hp motor "geared" down to 75 rpm is gonna have a lot of grunt.  Any chance of finding an electric motor that has a gear reduction on the end of it? Something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leeson-moto...658?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d12a6cf0a

Even if you wanted to pulley up or down, you are much closer to your intended speed which makes for mild pulley size adjustment.


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## Freeheat (Sep 17, 2013)

lukem said:


> OK, need some help guys.  I am less than excited about cranking this thing for another 6 hours next fall so I want to fit it with an electric motor.
> 
> I think the grinder shaft RPM should be about 75...any faster than that and it would get too shaky.
> 
> ...


 
The first thought was a garage door opener motor , Its a gear reduction motor  and wouldnt turn too many r's


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## lukem (Sep 17, 2013)

A gear motor is on the list of options, but I'd like to do this with found parts.  I can get a free motors pretty easy from my BIL who works in a shop that rebuilts a lot of them, but coming up with a gearbox is harder for me.


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## Jags (Sep 17, 2013)

Jack shaft.


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## lukem (Sep 17, 2013)

Freeheat said:


> The first thought was a garage door opener motor , Its a gear reduction motor  and wouldnt turn too many r's



Not a bad idea.  Keep them coming.


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