The monster is here:
Its driven by a 13 ton jack that in theory should press my 18" diameter basket at 100 psi!
The press is almost finished! I just need to finish some SS Welds in the morning and then we are ready for the first squeeze!
First Squeeze? What is that terminology?
Well, new astronomical telescopes celebrate "first light" when theyget the very first image, so for a press "first squeeze"??
Attatched are some photos and a word doc with the drawing.
Also pictured the scratter from HBW. The Hitacci drill matches the colour scheme perfectly. Just keep fingers out!
Drool! So is that all pine, then?
jazus Will I thought u were drunk and spoofin when u were tellin me about ur press down in tipp.....
dats a fine piece of enginneerin....so how many of Una's flowerbeds did u have to dig up to house that then ;D
Quote from: Tom on September 23, 2013, 10:06:37 PM
Drool! So is that all pine, then?
Oak for contact with juice and strength in apple juice presses, Will where is the dining room table? :o
You NCB'ers are spoilt :)
Tis like a medieval seige weapon. Very impressive indeed. Orchardinator! Good luck with the first squeeze.
The structure is pine as I was given it free :).
This is a prototype! ;).
The press plates and baskets are the real deal: White oak and stainles steel. (new and expensive)
The dial gauge at the top is to measure distortion and deflection when I start to press with up to 13 tons pressure.
If the pine can take the strain then it will be kept as is.
If not the basic structure will be done in structural steel sections!
I have some 4 x 2 channel section already and the rugby club has some great steel fence posts!
Nearly finished the welding of the Juice pan. So tomorrow if you hear a sound like a plane breaking the sound barrier or a high velocity rifle then you you will know I've had a structural failure!
Quote from: imark on September 23, 2013, 11:13:28 PM
Tis like a medieval seige weapon. Very impressive indeed. Orchardinator! Good luck with the first squeeze.
There's something medieval about it alright. With a couple of mods you could convert it to a guillotine when the apple harvest is over?
Well done Will :)
Looks awesome! I made a smaller version of that back in 2010. I had an old floor tom drum to hold the pulp & a turkey tray underneath with a notch cut so the juice could fall to the bucket below. Timber frame like that with a bottle jack. It worked great! Cider tasted like ass though. The apples tasted horrible to begin with. Dunno what I was thinking.
Hats off for the engineer 8)
So after a day of chasing leaks with the TIG we now have a water proof juice pan.
So lets try and squish something cheap!
Like alu tins.
It crushed a large bin bag full down to about 1/3 volume. After Pic 1, it was crushed down about 50% and rest of cans added. Bottle jack was nearly maxed out (ie. using the supplied two tubes I was exerting nearly max force) and upper beam deflection was only 2mm. Some creaks and groans but so far so good.
Tomorrow it will meet some apples!
That looks impressive Will ???
Today was the real deal - apples met the press!
I have labelled the photos according to "The Stations of the Press":
Some thoughts:
The first batch of apples were Brambly, less than a week old and not overly ripe;m 50 kg only gave about 10L of juice.
Second batch was based on some small unknown eaters. Also a bit unripe. Have been stored at 2C for 3 weeks and very little deterioration - ok a few had the overall bron colour with the muticoloured spots.
These were also not fully ripe - so again only got about 10 l from 50kg
Moral of the tale: Apples need to be allowed to ripen fully ( anything from 2 to 4 weeks ). Yes some will go bad but the juice yield will be higher.
This is known as "Tumping"
Good news is that the press worked really well!
So the juice collected was 50/50 Bramley/Sweet Desert
Stats: OG: 1052, pH; 3.3
Process so far:
Added 5 Campden tabs, Amylase, Wine yeast & Nutrients, Sachet of Oak chips.
More to follow:
Note that in pic 4, the apples on the left are as to be expected, the middle pair are so heavily bruised that its probably a waste of time! As for the two on the right: Unless you like "Codling Moth Surprise" bin them!
That's an impressive cheese. Have you ever had a go at keeving Will? I'd be into keeving some cider instead of back sweetening and the like. It'd be a technical challenge if nowt else.
Sent using a complex system of semaphore and ninjas.
Was drinking a keeved cider at the Applefest last saturday. Very impressive it was too.
Keeving is a technical challenge so I suppose I will be up for it soon
Keep me up to date Will, I think the world of homebrew needs someone to spread the knowledge and I'd say there's no better man than yourself to demystify it for the average homebrewer.
Sent using a complex system of semaphore and ninjas.
Cuivage is what I mean of course not homebrewing in general.
Sent using a complex system of semaphore and ninjas.
Quote from: Il Tubo on September 23, 2013, 10:00:37 PM
I have 75 kg of fresh Leixlip apples with probably the same again to come. Will I bring them over?!??!
Shane, See my comments above about rippenning the apples.
You can actually use the "Iodine test" ( what we use in mashing ) to monitor the ripeness.
Initially the unripe apples will stain deep blue, after a few weeks rippening there should be much less blue present as the starch converts to sugars.
Also a drop of juice on the old refract-o-mometer will give a sugar value.
Naturally I was so pre-occupied with thypress I fogot about these two tests Doooh!!
So what to do with all that pulp?
Compost it - definte option
Feed to neighbours pigs and chickens ( I live on an estate so this is no-no)
Make apple wine:
Take 25 Kg of the dry pulp
Add:
9 litres of water.
Add 2 Kg of sugar
Amylase
Wine Yeast and Nutrients
The low amount of sugar and water is just to get the ferment going.
Allow to ferment for a day or two then add another 2 kg of sugar in another 9 litres of water.
Ferment for a few more days then strain and press the pulp.
Check gravity and body - adjust to taste - ferment out.
This particular recipe is theoretical so beware!
BTW: The rest went on the compost heap.
The yield is also affected by the quality of the pomace. From your photos it looks like your pomace is a little chunky. I'd aim for pea sized pieces or smaller.
Also, it might help if there was some channels make though out the cake to allow the juice reach the sides of the container. Maybe you could cut some circles of 25mm plywood, cut 5mm deep tracks in both sides 25mm apart. Coat each with a couple of coats of polyurethane varnish. Place four or five of these at various levels thought the cake and try another pressing. I bet you'll see a significant increase in yield.
I'd be aiming to get a 50% yield at least, i.e. 1 litre juice per 2 kgs of apples. Last time I worked a press (homemade rack and cheese type), that was the level of yield achieved. I used a 20ton bottle jack.
/J
Truly impressive press Will.
Quote from: JD on September 26, 2013, 10:36:29 AM
The yield is also affected by the quality of the pomace. From your photos it looks like your pomace is a little chunky. I'd aim for pea sized pieces or smaller.
Also, it might help if there was some channels make though out the cake to allow the juice reach the sides of the container. Maybe you could cut some circles of 25mm plywood, cut 5mm deep tracks in both sides 25mm apart. Coat each with a couple of coats of polyurethane varnish. Place four or five of these at various levels thought the cake and try another pressing. I bet you'll see a significant increase in yield.
I'd be aiming to get a 50% yield at least, i.e. 1 litre juice per 2 kgs of apples. Last time I worked a press (homemade rack and cheese type), that was the level of yield achieved. I used a 20ton bottle jack.
/J
Agree with the above. When I dug out the pressed pulp it was pretty uniformally dry.
I know that sometimes people add some water to a dry pomace to help extraction.
Re the size - this is what the scratter makes. Don't thing I can do much else ?
So what else can you do with a press like this?
Hmm: A few birthdays ago my grandson gave me one of those "Eco Log Presses" that turn old newspaers into fire-logs.
Why not a quick mod from hand pressing to hydraulics:
Result: Easy Peasy Squissy old newspapers!
Quote from: Il Tubo on October 16, 2013, 08:15:43 PM
Will, what sort of extraction rate are you up to? We're going to have some more apples fairly soon :)
With hard/dry apples its not very high! Had more success recently with a week long ferment on the pulp.
There are some numbers in my posts - Its too late now - but will try to dig out a summary in morning