Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Discussions of fruits, veggies and grains other then just mashing

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Fredistiller
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

Sorry to repeat myself but yes, finally, I took the time/effort to ask for permission to pick apples in the people gardens! I think of it for about 2 years now without ever making free time for it. So today was history!!! :ebiggrin:

I can now conceptualize why Cranky says that within a few minutes you can have a good load of apples. I believe I have around 10 Kg in maybe 20 min of picking (very rough gestimate). Curious to see how much juice I'll press out with my brother's juice strainer next week!
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Fredistiller wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 11:08 am Sorry to repeat myself but yes, finally, I took the time/effort to ask for permission to pick apples in the people gardens! I think of it for about 2 years now without ever making free time for it. So today was history!!! :ebiggrin:

I can now conceptualize why Cranky says that within a few minutes you can have a good load of apples. I believe I have around 10 Kg in maybe 20 min of picking (very rough gestimate). Curious to see how much juice I'll press out with my brother's juice strainer next week!
:D
The first time I got the nerve to ask someone if I could pick I wound up with 800-1000 lbs of apples in a weekend, when I wasn't at all prepared to process that many.

The 2nd time I did it the lady in the house freaked out and set off her car alarm rather than opening the door or even finding out what I wanted but that sort of thing is a rare occurrence. Around here I find the majority of people are friendly and super happy that someone wants to take the apples away.

For some of them I will bring a rake and rake up all the drops before I start and leave their yard (and tree) completely free of apples. They tend to appreciate that.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by The Baker »

Don't forget that fallen apples are great for cider and apple brandy.
Provided I guess that they are not rotten or anything but I think ordinary blemishes are fine.

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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cranky wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 4:13 pm For some of them I will bring a rake and rake up all the drops before I start and leave their yard (and tree) completely free of apples. They tend to appreciate that.
When I was busy on their threes I though I could maybe rake the rotten ones and take them away. Good for compost and establish a good relationship for the future. I should indeed do this next time.
The Baker wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 7:39 pm Don't forget that fallen apples are great for cider and apple brandy.
Provided I guess that they are not rotten or anything but I think ordinary blemishes are fine.

Geoff
Actually I had more apples picked from the ground than from the trees, but the really rotten ones. I'll cut the blemishes away before juicing.
My grandparents had a small farm, fruits and vegetables. I remembered my grandfathers told me that I should never "pull" the fruit, but "spin" the fruit. That's how you pick the ripe ones. And of course the fallen ones are "the best" but also they are most of the time bruised .
Writing this down, I'm asking myself if this interest for processing fruits isn't a sort of nostalgia? ( even if I also remember I was scared as hell when they pushed me high on the ladder to pick the cherries in the cherry trees! :D )
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by stillanoob »

I love picking fruit. Not just because you get to eat or ferment it but it satisfies some primitive hunter/gatherer urge of mine.

Pressed the pears and asian pears that we picked last week with a few apples thrown in. Saved 2 gallons for sweet cider and 7 for brandy. I didn't bother to measure it but it was good and sweet and tasted around 1.050 or 55. Fermenter blasting away this AM.

Pears are such a pain in the ass. They break down into such fine material that they tend to plug up the mesh bag. If you press too fast the pressure build up and juice spits out the sides. There is always more juice left in the pulp than I would like. Smaller batches, mixing in the asian pears and rinsing the bag between presses helps.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Going to take my gear over to my brother in laws today as their neighbor has two trees that are loaded. Will make apple juice today. Next weekend we take everything out to the islands and process apples from two orchards.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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stillanoob wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 6:43 am I love picking fruit. Not just because you get to eat or ferment it but it satisfies some primitive hunter/gatherer urge of mine.
I think it does satisfy something primal.
Bushman wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:39 am Going to take my gear over to my brother in laws today as their neighbor has two trees that are loaded. Will make apple juice today. Next weekend we take everything out to the islands and process apples from two orchards.
I'm looking forward to hearing how well things go on the island this year. That new chopper will probably double the amount you can process...that is if your press can keep up.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Last week Mrs Cranky expressed an opinion that we don't really need any more plums this year :esad: I couldn't really argue with her, nobody really needsplums, it's more a matter of want but I agreed that I don't need to go pick anything else this year. So on my way home today I stopped and picked a bucket of plums :roll: The two trees with all the plums are getting very late and a lot of them are already moldy in spite of being on the tree but there are still plenty that are not moldy but are super ripe. I'm sure if I don't get something going very quickly The entire bucket full will be moldy.

I think my plan for this one is maybe to see if I can get one or two more buckets of them and do as much of a proper slivovice as I can bring myself to do...that is if I even have a place to distill any more. Currently my garage has been semi taken over and is likely to be off the list of available places, which is a huge problem. My shed is slated to be removed and replaced with a larger one which I'm hoping I can get electricity to which would be helpful. Ideally the shed would be replaced with a tiny house and the garage would remain intact but if it does Mrs Cranky's Mercedes is going in and getting the rebuild started...right after everything that needs distilled is.

I've actually been trying to find a shop willing to do an engine swap so I didn't have to tie my garage up for the next year but whenever they hear 1956-61 Mercedes the dollar signs start spinning around their heads. They can't seem to understand the 4 door sedan is missing a few zeros off that $150,000 the SL is worth but I will figure it out and if it cuts into the fruity goodness time so be it.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today we loaded the press and grinder in the back of my truck. Once we got to my brother in laws with set up picking apples and processing to juice took two hours and we had to stop as we ran out of containers after 25 gallons. The apples were on a neighbors property down the road so we brought them back in a wheel barrel.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Great viewing Cranky, thanks for the short apple documentary :thumbup: :thumbup:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Tummydoc »

That is one heck of a scratter Cranky. Puts my harbor freight to shame. Nice to see it in action, thanks for posting.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:42 pm Today we loaded the press and grinder in the back of my truck. Once we got to my brother in laws with set up picking apples and processing to juice took two hours and we had to stop as we ran out of containers after 25 gallons. The apples were on a neighbors property down the road so we brought them back in a wheel barrel
That's awesome Bushman!!!

I would love to have one of those grinders. I could get a generator, clamp the grinder onto the truck and set up the press in the bed and have a mobile setup :D ... come to think of it :problem: I suppose I could do that with what I have now but it takes a lot more room.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I figure if we were buying the apple juice in the store (I picked Walmarts price as I thought it would be one of the cheaper prices) it would not taste as good yet with two times using the grinder in purchase price of apple juice we have 1/2 way paid for the grinder. It is so unbelievably easy to clean and I could definitely process more if I could auto feed the apples as I cannot hand feed as fast as the grinder chews them up.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:42 pm Today we loaded the press and grinder in the back of my truck. Once we got to my brother in laws with set up picking apples and processing to juice took two hours and we had to stop as we ran out of containers after 25 gallons. The apples were on a neighbors property down the road so we brought them back in a wheel barrel.
Bushman, what grinder do you have? I have to either buy or make something as I am tired of cutting apples in half. Or rather, my wife and sister are. :lol: The chipper is OK but still needs cutting in half.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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stillanoob wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:37 am
Bushman wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 5:42 pm Today we loaded the press and grinder in the back of my truck. Once we got to my brother in laws with set up picking apples and processing to juice took two hours and we had to stop as we ran out of containers after 25 gallons. The apples were on a neighbors property down the road so we brought them back in a wheel barrel.
Bushman, what grinder do you have? I have to either buy or make something as I am tired of cutting apples in half. Or rather, my wife and sister are. :lol: The chipper is OK but still needs cutting in half.
ESE 018, it is expensive but works as well as the large commercial ones that are 3-4 times more expensive. It is portable and takes minutes to clean. It’s an overseas company but provided great service for me.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Here is the link, watch the video it truly works that fast. Only the really large apples might need cutting yesterday we ran two different variety of apples and cleaned both trees that were loaded and didn’t cut a single apple.

https://apple-presses.com/electric-frui ... apple-mill
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by subbrew »

Very impressive video. I can see that your chopper produces a much finer "mush" than mine and you are getting a much better yield as well. Thank you fro sharing
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by stillanoob »

Dammit. I had decided to go nuts and order a ESE-018. But they are out of stock on the 120V model.

:evil: :thumbdown:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Saltbush Bill wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:04 pm Great viewing Cranky, thanks for the short apple documentary :thumbup: :thumbup:
Thank you SBB. It started off totally different than it finished. When I took everything apart for cleaning I decided to record about the chopper then I got a new phone with image stabilization and it went a totally different direction. Mrs. Cranky just bought me a tripod for shooting videos which would have made that one much better but now I can do a lot of things I couldn't with my old phone so I want to video a lot more.
Tummydoc wrote: Sun Sep 12, 2021 10:11 pm That is one heck of a scratter Cranky. Puts my harbor freight to shame. Nice to see it in action, thanks for posting.
I never get tired of watching it...or running it. It's just too much fun! Whenever I run it at work people line up for a chance to use it. That day I was filming and needed a steady feed so allowed only one person to feed. He did a good job but Mrs Cranky is faster. She has a knack for knowing the right pace to shove the apples in.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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stillanoob wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 12:39 pm Dammit. I had decided to go nuts and order a ESE-018. But they are out of stock on the 120V model.

:evil: :thumbdown:
It’s a great product. I ordered mine during Covid last year so it took a while to ship. Doesn’t surprise me they are out of the 120 v. It has had some great reviews. They make another size with a bigger hopper but I didn’t think it was worth the extra price.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:42 pm It’s a great product. I ordered mine during Covid last year so it took a while to ship. Doesn’t surprise me they are out of the 120 v. It has had some great reviews. They make another size with a bigger hopper but I didn’t think it was worth the extra price.
I think if I had one I'd be working on a folding table that funneled down into the chopper so I could load up the table and Mrs Cranky could feed it.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Cranky I have been thinking of ways to improve the operation although currently the press process will always be slower.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Neighbor this morning come over with a box of pears so we ran them through the grinder with some extra apples I had. Little sweeter than just apples.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Deplorable »

I really enjoyed that video Cranky, and I am a fan of your perspective on safety and common sense. I'd like to subscribe to your news letter. :D
The one thing that keeps me away from fruit is all the equipment needed. I just don't have the room for it.
Fear and ridicule are the tactics of weak-minded cowards and tyrants who have no other leadership talent from which to draw in order to persuade.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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subbrew wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:59 am Very impressive video. I can see that your chopper produces a much finer "mush" than mine and you are getting a much better yield as well. Thank you fro sharing
Thank you, I have it pretty well tuned for a fine chop without breaking seeds. When I started making the video it started out about explaining the number of blades I use and their orientation to achieve a fine chop while still being able to clear a jam should it get overloaded. At one point while building the chopper I assembled it with the bottom blades in a fan like pattern, which produced an even finer chop but during testing I managed to overload it and the fan made it difficult to clear.
Bushman wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 8:12 am Cranky I have been thinking of ways to improve the operation although currently the press process will always be slower.
The press is my biggest bottle neck in my whole process. I'm thinking 2 or 3 of them might be the solution. I think my current press can handle up to about 200#s at a time, the press at work can probably handle 250. I think at best I can do a pressing in about 15 minutes depending on just how much juice I really want to squeeze out but with Mrs Cranky chopping 250#s in under 5 minutes it's impossible to keep up.
Bushman wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 2:55 pm Neighbor this morning come over with a box of pears so we ran them through the grinder with some extra apples I had. Little sweeter than just apples.
It's funny how once word gets out the fruit starts magically appearing.
Deplorable wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:55 pm I really enjoyed that video Cranky, and I am a fan of your perspective on safety and common sense.
Thank you :D When I was working on the video Mrs Cranky laughed every time she heard that. Sometimes there is just a total lack of common sense in the world. The other day I got a fast food sandwich and the foil lined paper bag it came in had a warning on it that the bag was not edible :problem: I think that is a sad statement on society...personally I blame Steve Jobs.
Deplorable wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:55 pmI'd like to subscribe to your news letter. :D
This thread is pretty much it :D
Deplorable wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 6:55 pmThe one thing that keeps me away from fruit is all the equipment needed. I just don't have the room for it.
I don't think the equipment needs to really take up all that much room. A lot of stuff can be made so it disassembles for storage, after all fruit season is only so long in most places. Or depending on the volume of fruit it can be mostly handled with ordinary kitchen equipment. I started out with nothing but a food processor and a fairly small press and managed to process several hundred lbs a year that way. The main thing with the big equipment is speed. Small equipment tends to be slow but there is also a trade off. I feel with my large equipment I can't do small amounts. I've had a bucket of apples sitting around for several weeks now just because I feel anything less than 100#s is too much trouble to process.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Warning: in this post everything I do in the process of making a wine is wrong! Don't do this yourself and don't think it's a good idea to ferment this way, because it's a very bad idea

Monday I took my bucket of plums to work and washed and sorted them. Any that had begun to split at the bottom were showing signs of mold starting so I wound up cutting away the moldy bits, which didn't amount to too much. I then decided I would use these to make another batch of Sugarplum Fairy wine. Even though I removed any sign of mold I decided that because of it I would do a full pasteurization rather than just pouring boiling water over the plums. Fortunately we have a full kitchen at work and I had previously brought in a large stock pot. So I put the plums in the stock pot, added 1.5 gallons of water and heated the whole thing up to a simmer.

I think I should note that I would never bring apple juice up to this temperature since it changes the flavor but these are plums and for Sugarplum Fairy wine it's fine.

I then let it cool a bit and put it in a sanitized bucket. When I got home I dug out one of my sugar storage bins and boiled up some simple syrup consisting of 10#s of sugar and enough water to make it wet. I then added that to the plums. Then I got the left over skins and some of the pulp from plums we processed to make jelly out of (but haven't made jelly with yet) I added some sugar to that and heated it up as well to dissolve the sugar and pasteurize it and added that.

When it all cooled down I aerated it by pouring it back and forth between two buckets then split half in one bucket, half in the other and pitched some 1118 yeast. If you're wondering how high the S.G. is...well it's crazy high...so high I would never ever even think about fermenting if I hadn't had such success with it in the past and would certainly never try to make a distilling wash this sweet. When I pitched the yeast the must was 30 brix, which is about 1.129 S.G. or 19% potential alcohol. Now I will note that actual sugar plums reach a brix of 28+ so this is actually not out of line but 1118 is the only yeast I know of that can handle that high of a gravity. In the past I've actually been able to get to 21% alcohol using this same method.

It is worth noting that Sugarplum Fairy is a long term commitment. If I managed to get everything right it will ferment dry in 10 days but will be absolutely dreadful and undrinkable for the next 4-5 month when it will be repeatedly racked off the sediment and re-sweetened until the yeast finally give up and clean up after the party then it magically comes around. It will still need to rest in the bottle for at least another 6 months after that but in the past this has resulted in an absolutely superb high alcohol sweet dessert wine. My plan is to have it for summer sipping by the fire pit and Christmas gifts next year.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Tuesday I went to my brother. We extracted 8.5 L. (Sg1.043) out of the 16 Kg of apples I picked last Friday. It was quite long (1.5h) but the strainer worked very well, the pulp was very dry when it came out of the machine. If I can pick more apples in the future I'll definitely need faster equipment.
Nevertheless I'll try too pick some more this year to have enough for a run...
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:47 am Here is the link, watch the video it truly works that fast. Only the really large apples might need cutting yesterday we ran two different variety of apples and cleaned both trees that were loaded and didn’t cut a single apple.

https://apple-presses.com/electric-frui ... apple-mill

4545E063-55E5-4324-8127-E3ED197B3E3B.jpeg4458C8A1-DD94-4492-B9EB-9763C2FB695A.jpeg
I'm currently thinking of buying or making one of them. If possible could you post a pic of the tagplate of the motor? Is it possible to remove the cutting plate for cleaning?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

Very nice video Cranky :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: good info's in here!

Makes your "apple stuff" very concrete.
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