Selfsufficientish.com

I'm thinking of investing a couple of hundred euros in a fruit press. Mainly for apples and pears. All the tready alternatine life style celebs have pictures of them using them but is that just a good photo op. and really they are not very useful?

One person I know has a small one and its hard work and can only deal with small batches. She collects together 100kg and goes to a fruit press co-op. With these the juice is pasturised aswell but you have to pay for their bottles as well as the processing. So its costly and not all my apples are ready at the same time!

Any experiences that can help the decision making please?

I have a decent-sized one. It can handle 300kilos of grapes. I got it second hand for two reasons - firstly it was cheaper, and secondly it is better made than the new ones available in the shops. The ratchet mechanism is cast iron and has two gears, whereas the new ones have some aluminium parts and lack the 2nd (lower) gear.

Around here, about now is a good time to find a used one that someone wants to sell, because the winemaking season is drawing to a close.

One thing to bear in mind is that they're much easier to use if they're bolted to the floor, so they really need a dedicated spot. I now have a little room purely for making booze, which is great.

I only make grape wine nowadays, so haven't tried it with any other fruit, but I've read about how to make 'cheeses' if I were pressing apples in it. My apple trees are still a few years off producing a worthwhile crop. Finding the right weight/thickness material seems to be the key there.

we made our own fruit pressand used it for a couple of years, then this year we splashed out on a traditional one - not that the old wone didn't work, but well other people go on holiday .. this was our idea of a treat!

one great tip - if you freeze your apples first, they are far easier to crush, you get lots more juice out, and so long as you have the freezer space, you can save your apples until they are ready all at the same time and press them at a time that suits you.

we use it to make apple juice - which we keep by freezing, and pasteurizing, cider and various apple wines

my suggestion is to hire or borrow one, and see how you like it. if you freeze apples, it will be easier to borrow at a time when its not needed!

After (too much) debating we have taken the plunge and have ordered a 28litre press. It won't arrive for a week so I'll have to carry on using the steam juicer for the apples that must be processed NOW - self sufficiency is as stressful at times as working within the "system"

Anyway thanks for the input. I think cider is definately on the next to try list...

Rather than freezing your apples before pressing them, you could/should put them through a machine - unfortunately I don't know the name in English, but a kind of shreddder than chops the apples up into small pieces. This way you will get a lot more juice out of the fruit. The first time I tried pressing I didn't realise and put about 25kg of apples into my press and after going blue in the face with effort, got about half a glass of juice...

Jeremy is right.

Crush first. Press after. Or else "you will rue the day" (Seymour).

I have just bought a 2 ton bottle jack and am looking at making one - i can get resonable untreated timbers from my local demo yard - im going to trade them an old banding machine (used for strapping loads of timber together) + its miscellany that i got fro free from an old work for the timber.
I just need to figure out what kind and how much?
Obviously untreated and preferably non-resinous, what what fits the bill in NZ?

healer - you don't say where you are but you mention euros...our commune here in Brittany has a communal fruit press (and a still if you want to make eau de vie or apple brandy!) which can be booked out. If you are in France, it might be worth asking at the Mairie if there's one near you.

If you try it first, might help you decide whether it would be worth investing in a press yourself.

Healer left the forum Mrs M - look at his/her last few postings.