Since I made my cider press last year, I have had numerous people ask me for the plans I used to build it. I couldn’t find any plans either so I sort of just starting cutting and drilling and painting. I figured that when it finally looked like a cider press, it would be done.
I suppose I did sort of congolomerate the ideas of plenty of folks and I added a few of my own so I can’t take all of the credit. My press is made soley of pine lumber. Hardwood is probably better but it costs more of course. I do sort of wish I would have had some plans when I was starting though so I will provide a few measurements that might help you build your own…
Click the image above to see the cider flowing. (Click here for a quicktime version)
By the way…you can see some of our first cider of 2009 over at Not Dabbling in Normal today.
Anyhow, here is my homemade cider press:
The length between the red and blue squares is 3 feet.
Between the red and green is 3 1/2 feet.
Between the green and brown is 1 foot.
I just added the yellow square because I thought it looked nice
The uprights are 2×4 pine and everything horizontal is 2×6 pine.
Hopefully these additional shots will help it all make more sense as well…
You crack me up!!!
I laughed out loud at the “yellow square”
Lookin Good!
Hey I need some honey too…
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Our Family Happenings…. =-.
Yeah. I was totally confused until I saw the yellow square, but now it makes perfect sense.
I want to see it in action, but I have to wait for my personal AV specialist to come home.
I want some apple cider! They are so good and of course, even better when it’s homemade!
.-= YDavis´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday – Camping Edition =-.
nice work, obviously you didn’t need a plan.
When my husband builds anything, its got to be like he’s building a piano. Thats all well and fine till I get involved in the project, I’m slightly less precise.
Couldn’t open the vid and now I’m curious as to how this works, and whats so funny about the yellow square?
I need one of those! Well, I need the apples first too… but great plan. I’ll have to mark this one when our little apple trees start producing!
.-= Beau´s last blog ..Elementary School Redux: There’s Always Another Way =-.
Cool! You are so handy!
.-= Evil Twin’s Wife´s last blog ..Weirdness =-.
Sorry to anyone having trouble with the video. It works here but I tried on another machine and found it didn’t work there until I closed another web page I had open…it’s weird…
A good book on building your own apple grinder and cider press can be found here;
http://whizbangbooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/wb23.html
Yummmmmmm! Great job, Kim
.-= the inadvertent farmer´s last blog ..Fun With Photo Editing and Manipulating =-.
I’ll second the whizbang cider press reference by Rad – that’s where I acquired most of the ideas for my build. I like the bolts in your frame – good idea to overbuild to that degree.
.-= Kevin Kossowan´s last blog ..Major, Major Beef Sourcing Score =-.
Thanks everyone! We love using this thing and it makes fall almost bearable. I love the flavor of cider and even better is that every batch is different depending on the apples I get.
I have seen the whiz bang press but I built my press a little before he released his info. I like to think that my “holes in the pot” approach inspired him to test his “holes in the plastic bucket” approach that he tested slightly after I showed my initial build.
Anyhow, cider is so easy to make this way. But on a smaller scale. anyone can do it by pureeing a handful of apples and smashing them between cookie sheets (you’ll need to work out the logistics to prevent a mess) or something similar that will allow you to exert manual pressure (you don’t have to use a bottle jack for a small batch) without breakage…
Hahaa, wouldn’t be the same without a yellow square (I love the logic behind it). You are a pretty handy guy, you should live down the street so I could just come borrow yours instead of make my own 🙂
.-= Debbie´s last blog ..Bust a move– Indian style =-.
I had to watch the video to see how it actually worked-you can tell I’m not mechanically inclined. Very neat. Love the sunflowers below too.
.-= tipper´s last blog ..Civil War Letters 4 =-.
WOW! I am impressed once again with your handyman skills. Was this press version 1.0? Anyhow, I don’t think I have ever made fresh cider. My grandma has some apple trees and we usually cut and dried the apples for fried apple pies. The apple trees always scared me because it seems like the biggest hornets I have seen in my life were hovering around those trees. I hope you don’t have that problem when making your cider.
I just run the apples over with my truck and suck up the juice where it puddles in the driveway….is that wrong?
.-= Gary Dillon´s last blog ..simple sunday =-.
Love it. We looked for two years and finally found a slightly used press and grinder that does a superb job and cost a lot more than your homemade version. I’m glad we got one, but never considered the possibility of making one ourselves! go Warren!
.-= Granny Sue´s last blog ..Remembering No. 9: Stories from the Farmington Mine Disaster =-.