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educate me oh wise ones

i have a big apple tree

i have a barrel

i have an obsession to feed



what do i need to know? can i make one/bodge one?

I think freezing reduces allot of the aggrevation.

When thawed chop and you could proabably get a fair bit out using jelly bags or pillow cases etc etc.

Or you could just chop and put the pulp in a barrel when its a bit cooler and go for a sweeter "Keeved" cider, basically fermet the apples in a barrel and then syphon off the cider once it's been fermenting for a while, apparently you get more Pectin out of the apples, which inhibits the fermentatin and gives you a sweeter cider.

I bought a press from VIGO, it was about £100, its the wooden block type, I broke the stainless steel type after one year!

There are also "cider clubs" here and there where you can take your apples to them from chopping and pressing, thats a good idea?

You can make a press using a hydraulic car jack quite simply using some biggish timbers and some bolts. You can also make your own grinder (to chop up the apples) although this requires a bit more in the way of DIY skills, otherwise chopping with a knife can get a bit tedious.

What sort of apple is it, unless it is a Dabinett or Kingston Black (hopefully I've remembered them correctly, pretty much the only apples you can make cider out of a single variety) it will make cider but do not be surpised if it is a bit bland.

no idea what they are the tree was already here when i moved 10 yrs ago! looks like a pink lady but crunchy like a golden delish and is sweet but dry if that makes sense!

The car jack press (I think it's a bottle jack?) always looked good to me. You can buy (or make) a chopping attachment for an electric drill - a long shaft with a couple of not very sharp blades. The shaft is supposed to pass through a hole in the lid of a bucket to do the chopping. At high speeds, you learn why that's a good idea.

Unless you're an absolute purist, you can always add a bit of flavouring to an insipid cider.

Mike

EDIT: Here you go ...

http://www.van-vliet.org/dempseywoodwor ... ress.shtml

And a much cheaper version ...

http://www.the-gift-of-wine.com/cider.html

The Dempster one looks more like a wine press. You normally don't use a basket, the hoop of staves, to press apples, which means the press is that bit simpler to construct.

Usually they are pressed in a stack of 'cheeses'. The apples an inch or two thick laid on and wrapped in rectangular strong sacking type material, stacked one on top of the other and then pressed. I assume this is because of the greater percentage of pulp in the apples compared with grapes which would make pressing with the basket so much more difficult.