pressing

A bit about the press equipment at the Cider Press:

[clic a pic for full size]

The main machine

The press plate is 27" square, w/ dual 5" x 30" cylinders above a 32" throat, run by a pump capable of 3000psi, though most of the time only 2000psi is used, and as the fruit gets softer [overripe], less is used so by the end of the season, 1000psi or less is required to obtain maximum yields, with a slower pressing.

The press tray is a cart about 30" square

and 'travels' off the press to be loaded, being dropped onto the press "table"

Press racks are 24" square polypropelene, 3/8" thick, grooved half depth each side

with a form 22" square and 3½" high.
With early, fresh picked fruit, the cheese can be made a bit thicker than that, while late in the season, thinner works better [about 2" max], with slower pressure application and longer "drip" time. Slippage is not a problem with fresh crisp fruit, but the lack of texture in pulp from "dead ripe" fruit clogs the cloths and will cause distortion of the cheese and uneven pressure, hence slippage, if pressed too quickly.

Place a cloth on the form/rack

Add pulp

to appropriate depth [about 2" here]

And wrap it up in a way that will minimize slippage

The "grinder" we use is a hammermill shredder with ½" holes:

with a wood/fiberglas shroud:

the white area is where the fruit "breaks", the hammers sweeping it down thru the screen

With these end of the season Jonagolds we idle along using 6 layers each load, and running through 1 - 2 bins a day to pasteurized and bottled product - early season pressing will use 9 layers, sometimes barely fitting in the fully opened press bay, and allowing production of up to 500 gallons [7-8 bins] if the operator doesn't give up!