Pressing Apple Cider at Home with Cider Press n Barrel

www.ciderpressnbarrel.com

Cider Press n Barrel 1212 Double Barrel Cider Press and Grinder

Making apple cider at home is easy, fun, and rewarding. It can be a one person operation, or you can plan a fun-filled cider pressing day with family and friends! No matter how many people are helping, get ready for some old fashioned fun!

Have Your Cider Press Ready for Apple Season!
The wooden parts of any cider press that make contact with apple juice, should be sealed with a food-grade sealer that you feel safe using. Sealers will protect the wood from absorbing moisture, makes clean-up easy, and ensures a long life for your pressing equipment. The sealing of the press frame is optional, but recommended. Once again, we always recommend sealing your juice parts.
If you are using mineral oil, you should apply it two to three times on new wood, and then, once a year thereafter. Other types of sealers will also require as many as two applications on new wood, but will not need to be done every year. Our press frame can be finished with or without a stain, and then top coated with a polyurethane. This is always a good idea to ensure easy clean-up after pressing. It also protects the wood from stains, and keeps your wood looking new.
This is not the place to cut any corners, or to do it as cheap as possible. Sealers like mineral oil can be found at your local drug store, for around five dollars. Our preference, Watco Butcher Block Oil, can be found at your local hardware, or home improvement store for around fifteen dollars.

Get Your Equipment Ready!
Gather your Cider Press, Apple Grinder, several clean buckets (one with a spout, or you can use a funnel), and a Pulp Bag. We use a cotton blend Pulp Bag that can be washed, and reused for many pressing seasons. Your Pulp Bag should not allow pulp, stems, or seeds to go through,or it will end up in your cider. You also need clean jugs with caps, and of course, the apples you wish to use.

Apples!
We let our apples sit an additional week or two after picking them, to allow some of the extra-moisture to evaporate thru the skin. This process is called sweating your apples. Sweating your apples will cause the natural sugars in the apples to condense, making a sweeter cider. You may not want to do this if you only have sweet apples to press.
We wash our apples, and let them dry. We use a plastic bucket, with holes drilled in the bottom to allow the extra water to drain. We spray our apples off with a hose, and the water drains out. We just find this way easier for us. We start off with half sweet apples, and half tart, then adjust to our taste. There are so many varieties of apples depending on where you live, so we will just name a few. The more common sweet varieties include Red and Golden Delicious; while semi-sweet may include Stamen, and York, and of course, Granny Smith is a great tart, or sour apple. Any kind of apple will do when you are making cider, as finding the right blend to fit your taste is always fun!

Setting Up!
After you have washed your apples, you can get set up to make cider. Place your Press, and Grinder where you want it, have your Pulp Bag in your Barrel, and a clean bucket ready to catch the juice. We use our Double Barrel Press, because it allows more people to be involved in the process at one time. . . one person grinds, while the others can prepare fruit, feed the grinder, and press apples. Whatever style of press you use, the process is still great family fun!

Let's Make Cider!
Begin grinding your apples. Our grinder's self-feeding design easily reduces hard fruit to a pulp. Our grinders are very easy to turn, and are made with an oak hopper, and solid maple or ash shredder wheel, with stainless steel shredder screws, and a pulp sizer, so the process moves along smoothly. When you have ground your apples into your barrel, lined with a pulp bag, and it is 3/4 full, fold the bag over the pulp, place your plate, and block on, and get ready to press. Here comes the juice, so make sure your bucket is ready!
When your bucket is full, stop pressing, and remove it. If you have any more clean buckets, place one under the tray so it catches any juice leaking out. The pulp that is left in your bag can be placed in a compost pile, or you may have barnyard animals like we do, that enjoy a sweet treat!

If you are planning on drinking your cider right away, and are keeping it in the refrigerator, you can fill your jugs full. If you plan to freeze cider over the winter, as we do, make sure to allow a few inches of head space, before you place the cap on. This will allow space for expansion when the cider freezes.
Continue the process until you have made all the cider you need. We do it several times in the fall as the apples ripen, and we like to have the extra cider for winter.
When it is time for clean-up, you can easily spray everything off with a hose, and let it dry before putting it away for the next cider-making session.

Enjoy!
One of our favorite treats are Apple Cider Slushies. We get a jug out of the freezer, don't allow it to thaw entirely, shake it so it gets mixed thoroughly, and pour a great slushy!
A cup of Hot Apple Cider on a cold winter day is enjoyable, also!
Most importantly, have fun, and enjoy your homemade cider!