SelectionsTraditional Fruit and Apple Press (18 Litre) with Straining Bag

Update 22nd November 2016Well it's really important to have a good apple crusher/scratter as I've now purchased an electric apple mill/scratter that does a much finer pulp and after doing 80kg of apples last weekend I got 62% juice recovery (and there was still some juice in the finished pomace) compared to 37% using a manual crusher, I ended up having to buy another fermentation tank with all the extra juice from this pressing, I had 4lt of juice just from loading 18kg of pulp into the press without any pressure on it, well impressed with this cheap little press.Update 2nd November 2016I've just pressed 120kg of apples at the weekend but got a poor juice recovery of only 37%, I was under the impression from reading lots of books & websites that you should get around 50% recovery from this type of press, not sure why this is could it be:1. Mash not fine enough, I've used a hand cranked crusher and it's quite chunky compared to what I expected?You can press the finished pressed mash between your fingers and still see juice, I think I will upgrade my masher to an electric scratter or mill and see if that improves the recovery on my next batch this weekend, if that does not improve it then I will build my own rack and cloth press for next season.---------------------------------------------------------This is my first press and for the cost I'm pretty impressed as it's easily less than half the price I was about to pay for a 12lt one from a shop.I've knocked 1 star off for 2 things:1. not including enough wooden battens, you'll need at least 12 more to compress the pulp, luckily I had some wood in the shed I cut down.2. The plastic washer is junk and got jammed up in the threads and jammed the spindle onto the threaded bar the first time I used it, once I eventually got the spindle moving again and removed the chewed up bits of plastic out of its threads I chucked it in the bin, now I just put food grade/safe lube between the spindle and crusher bar and it works fine.I managed to get 5lt of apple juice out of a full press which I think is about normal for this type of press.The kit could do with more than 1 turning bar but luckily I found a small metal bar in my tool chest that works OK for now.You will need to mount the press to something sturdy, I've mounted mine to a half size pallet and then I clamp it onto a fold up workbench which puts it a just the right height for me (I'm 6ft 2) and have a funnel and 1" tube mounted under the drain lip that feeds straight into my 5lt plastic water bottles (the large 5lt mineral water bottles from super markets are great, mine were £1.09 each from asda).I've also brought an apple crusher which is great and found 2 large buckets (14litre ones) of apples crush down to just enough apples to fill the press.I could have saved myself £10 as the press came with a straining bag but didn't say it would and I purchased one separately which was identical to the one provided but I guess it doesn't hurt to have a spare.So all in all highly recommended and only a couple of niggles.

Not cheap but couldn't make a decent diy press for much less so I decided to go for this as it was cheapest at 18l of a number of identical products. Easy to set up, you will need an electric power driver to make short work of the oak staves which make up the pressing barrel. These come unattached and need screwing to the two metal bands. You also screw a metal plate to the pressing block and that is about it. The central screw comes in two parts which screw together and then into the metal base. You will benefit from securing the three feet to a fixed surface when you are ready to press and some additional packing blocks to keep the screw mechanism above the barrel top. It feels really sturdy and the metal screw pieces took a lot of force when I did my first pressing last weekend. Happy with this product and the bprice was the best I could find.

We went on a cider making course in 2014, aimed at cider fans who have access to apples, a bit of space and a desire to experiment. The course was excellent and it demystified the whole process. Cider making was actually quite simple and the results pretty good.We were planning to move to Somerset and were all geared up. However, few second hand presses appeared on the market and in the end we sought out the nearest equivalent to the press we had used on the course, albeit much, much smaller. The 18 litre was the smallest worth buying, in our opinion. It was easy to assemble and the parts of good quality.In our calculations one plasterer's bucket filled with washed apples equated to one demijohn of decent juice. And at those sizes moving, storing and washing is not hard.As for tips, get some more blocks for the pressing, and screw the press to a wooded workbench. Make sure you have funnels, tubing, a decent scratter and an extra pair of hands. Oh, and a supply of apples...

Good product, but could be great with a few changes and get 5 stars. Value for money if you can get it for under £100. My two improvements would be:Firstly only comes with two blocks. You will definately need to buy or cut yourself some more.Secondly, base plate legs aren't very sturdy. If they were wider with a bigger hole to be able to screw it more securely to a work bench itested wold be ideal.Assembly is really simple and I've used it to produce two 25l batches already. My only problem now is getting enough apples to make more.

This is a robust piece of kit that could be helped by instructions how to use it for novices (like me), and guidance as to how you 'pulp' apples prior to pressing them (buy a robust hippo tub and use a bit of 3" by 2" or an old bed leg to pummel them first) - and add a crushed campden tablet for every gallon of juice if you intend to make cider. To use it to its full extent you need to saw a dozen or so 6" lengths of 2" by " timber because only 2 beech spacers are provided. And you need to screw it to a sturdy anchor point so it doesn't move when it's being used....but it is well built and it does work if people just let the juice run rather than trying to force it.