There has never been a better time to think about buying a cider press. Why? Well, cider itself is these days at the top of its popularity, sales having grown steadily over recent years. Also, there is a great movement back to 'do it yourself' - growing your own fruit and vegetables, foraging, making use of everything nature provides - including apples. Popularised by TV chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, perhaps the ultimate expression of this would be to make your own cider or even just apple juice. If you have an apple tree or two and don't know what to do with all the fruit you get a cider apple press might be just the thing to make use of it all. Or, if you have a neighbour with a tree, what about asking them if they aren't using all their apples - you could pay them in juice or cider? Or maybe the village could get together and pool their apples to make cider?
However you get the apples, the one thing that is essential when making cider or apple juice is a cider press or fruit press. They come in many forms and sizes, but for most domestic use a small cider press should suffice. Normally made of wood (beech or oak are common) with a stainless steel inner, a cider press may also be made entirely from stainless steel. Whatever its construction, making cider or apple juice with a cider press follows a standard method.
Firstly, whilst proper cider apples are the ideal for making your own cider, many people successfully make cider from eating apples, cooking apples or a combination of the two. Whatever apples you use, before they go in the cider press they must be crushed - this enables the press to extract the maximum amount of juice from them. Cut them in half, put them in a large bucket and pound them with a large block of wood to pulp them. This is effective, but does require a bit of energy. An alternative is to buy a fruit crusher. These are usually hopper shaped and designed to fit over the top of the cider press. Put halved apples in, turn the handle and the combination of blades and rollers in the crusher will reduce the apples to an ideal pulp to extract the maximum amount of juice in the cider press. You then turn the handle on the cider press to press the juice from the fruit - most cider presses have a plate that presses down on the fruit, this being forced down by the handle attached to a large screw thread. The juice runs out of the bottom of the cider press to be collected and made into cider or drunk as apple juice.
You can build your own cider press - just Google for instructions - but for those of us more time and DIY ability challenged, there is a wide range of cider presses available to buy. We've listed a few below - do check them out! Also, if the cost of a new cider press is too steep for you, you could always look for a used cider press on eBay. Again, we've made it easy by including a selection of cider presses from eBay for you to look at.
Wherever it comes from, a cider press will give you an interesting new hobby plus the thrill of drinking your own cider or apple juice. Can you imagine the satisfaction you will feel when you give bottles of your own cider or apple juice away to friends and family as presents? It would certainly beat the traditional box of chocolates!
 Fruit Apple Press Make your own fresh juice or cider £62.00 |
 Vigo Cider Press £93.00 |
 WHITE 500 grade POLYTHENE CIDER PRESS 420 X 420 X10MM £15.99 |
 WHITE 500 gr POLYTHENE CIDER PRESS 420 X 420 X10 X4N0 £57.99 |
 Large wine cider press £112.00 |
 Quality 20L Fruit Press Apple Wine Cider £139.00 |
New Italian Aluminium, Steel and painted , kitchen fruit press 1.3 litre for- Fruit Grapes Cheese Herbs Honey Tomatoes. Not suitable for apples. Brand new 1.3 litre capacity Italian made steel and aluminium fruit press. This kitchen press is suitable to make juice from fruit and vegetables, and also for pressing herbs,cheese, honey and tomatoes etc. This press, when screwed down measures 29cms high and 23cms wide. The steel construction it is well made and will last for very many years. the press is very robust yet light weight. When not being used this fabulous press will look great displayed in any kitchen. The straining cage and stainless steel collecting bucket can be easily removed for washing and is dishwasher safe.
The 6 litre spindle press represents fantastic value. This superb quality press has a heavy duty pressed steel base covered with a hard wearing coating, a hardwood cage bound with enameled steel rings, a stainless steel spindle and cast iron press mechanism. Operation: * Place your pulped fruit in the cage * Place the pressing plate on top * Stack up the hardwood padding blocks on top of the plate and then screw the pressing mechanism down onto the blocks thus pressing the fruit, and squeezing out all that valuable juice. Sizes and Capacity: * Cage Dimensions: Diameter: 15cm Height: 23cm * Grape capacity per pressing: 10kg (22lb) * Crushed apple capacity per pressing: 4.5kg (10lb) * Approximate juice yield per pressing: 2l (3 pints) All of our presses come pre-assembled, with only the handle and ratchet blades needing to be placed into operational position.
The Pulpmaster Tool And Bucket Are Ideal For Pulping Apples Etc. Prior To Juice Extraction. Simply Attach Blade Tool To Any Mains Powered Drill (Not Supplied), Fill Bucket With Fruit, Fit Lid Including Blade And Operate Until Fruit Is Pulped.
Ideal for pressing apples to make cider (as well as a other fruits for fruit juice), this 6 litre attractive fruit press is on offer at an unbeatable price. Made from a steel base plate with a hardwood pressing basket, the base plates features a lip for easy juice collection and a wide stance for stability.Featuring a 'twist and extend' mechanism where the supplied blocks of wood are put in place as the handle is twisted to exert more pressure on the fruit, giving the maximum yield. Requires easy home assembly.
7.90 min. | 4.8333335 user rating
Shot on site at our little Stone cottage farm, here in NE Ohio. We made a fruit cider press using a 12 ton hydraulic jack shop press. Purchased from Harbor freight ( dot com) for $89. Total price for this press was under $120 with very easy pieces put together for its completion. We have 12 bearing apple trees on our new land. A few ripen in the early season which have made a nice combination for cider. I make hard cider as well as non alcoholic cider. I do not go over the hard cider in this video but will consider one for the future from start to finish. In this video, I give the overview of how our cider press iwas made and a few safety features we added. I go over selecting your fruit for pressing, as well as some basic inexpensive must haves for pressing fruit at home. ~Do you have a suggestion for a video on homesteading? Please free free to send me message for consideration. I am always looking for new and interesting subjects which pertain to a more self sufficient way of life.~ **The editing is not perfection thanks to my less amped laptop. A few spots, as always, get cut off short by a second or two. Please overlook this issue until a faster higher memory computer can be purchased. Or if someone would like to donate one. :) ** Thank you to our sponsors: Overstock.com & Lehmans.com for their support in making our videos. Thank you to our honorary sponsor Farmboybrands.com (Farm girl & Boy clothing) for supporting our fresh from the farm episodes. And THANK YOU ...
