Home Distiller

Hi all, my siblings and I are trying to find present for our father for Christmas and I trust the opinions on here more than product reviews.

He makes wine and distills fruits and such in a pot still. I'm thinking he could use a crusher, grinder or press. We have a couple of peach, apple and cherry trees and he plans on planting grapes soon when he retires. We have been using a juicer/extractor and it works OK, but takes an hour or two depending on volume. We'll generally do a 5 gal bucket or two of mash at a time. Usually 1-3 5 gal buckets of fruit or 1-2 cases from store at a time.

Given the volume we do, does anyone have suggestions on some good equipment? We have around $300 to spend.

Thanks!

Check out Jimbos for a fantastic DIY option. Link is in his signature.

Prefab, you want all wood or metal construction. There are lots of nice products and brands on the market right now. $300 would get you either a nice grinder or press at retail, but I doubt the budget could cover both. A Weston press is $225.

Personally I would rather try and find equipment made locally with some age on it. I have a soft spot for high quality (old) tools. Craigslist would be the best place to start IMO. We have lots of apple orchards in my neck of the woods, so that sort of thing is not uncommon.

Thanks for the reply bear! I looked on Craigslist and there are a few options on there, but they look a little large for our needs. The Weston press looks nice. Would he need a crusher/grinder too or does just the press do the job for small scale?

You need to break up the fruit (grinder. Blender ext) in order to extract the juice effectively.

You can buy one for under 100 or build one for whatever your material costs are.

Yak

We have used a meat grinder for years to grind apples for pressing. I have since bought an actual apples grinder at an antique shop for 80 $. Have yet to put it in service though. Two of us ground and pressed 17 bushel of apples this year in 4 hours start to clean up. If you freeze the fruit then thaw prior to grinding the apples will get soft enough go through whole without having to cut them up.

Here is a link to my set-up.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... pple+press

Thanks for the replies guys, great suggestions there.

Wtdskin, I have read that some people freeze the pulp after pressing to get more juice out.

Also there is reported to be a flavor difference, but you would have to check that out with one of the resident professionals. Cranky and Jimbo are probably the most active apple heads, so I would be sure to dig through posts.

I would suggest that if you can only afford one or the other, make the press the priority. There are ways to grind apples and other fruit on the cheap. Take a look at Cranky's "Let's get carried away with fruity goodness" thread for his build using a $4.00 mud mixer attached to a drill. I used a very rudimentary version with good results after a short learning curve.

Just today, I saw that Harbor Frieght has its 12 ton shop press on sale for $99.99. A few here are using that shop press for pressing fruit and grain mashes without a lot of modification.

Good luck with it. Your dad is a lucky man.

There are SO MANY options out there....


MY ADVICE?


Spend the money on quality.

I've bought many many brands and the only ones worth a flip are the ones I didn't cheap out on.




Carry on....

Copper Thumper wrote:There are SO MANY options out there....
MY ADVICE?

Spend the money on quality.

I've bought many many brands and the only ones worth a flip are the ones I didn't cheap out on.

Thumper - Have you used the Weston one? Any input on quality there?

Happy Valley Ranch makes nice stuff
http://www.happyvalleyranch.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Not exactly sure what you are wanting. I use a 3 gallon table top apple press but I don't know who made it. Last year I pressed 35 gallons of cider with it chopping and coring the apples by hand and grinding in a food processor before pressing. This year mid season I switched to a home made apple chopper and pressed 1000lbs of apples, 160lbs of pears, 100lbs of grapes and 60 or so lbs of blackberries but it is hard work and time consuming on that small of a press. Bushman's wood chipper and harbor freight press are good options if you don't mind it not looking like a conventional grinder and press. It all depends on how much work you want to put into it I guess.

Hey John,

Are you talking about their press? That's the one I own and it works great and going on three years.

Problem is it's almost $300 of your budget if you buy locally and new.also you should really prepare larger fruits with a crusher for something like apples in order to fully utilize it and that's another expense.

I think you should look at what he needs the most and go from there....

If your trying to stay under budget I would look on Craig'slist in your area and possibly buy used or lightly used.


Weston makes many products, grinders too.... If your talking grinders don't, I repeat do not buy a hand crank. Your father will have a heart attack and sore shoulders at the end of the day.

Look at the commercial grade units of any grinders you might be interested in. If you buy new you have the ability for warranties on the reputable brands/companies. If you buy used your missing on that spectrum.

Don't try to cheap out and buy a cheap press AND a cheap grinder...etc...buy one nice thing and he will thank you for it when he is still using it years later.

Look around at pawn shops, closeout stores, yard/estate sales and even on eBay.

Just because you buy a nice piece of equipment doesn't mean you can't find it at a great price.

Don't buy anything like that from walmart, they outsource the manufacturing to the lowest bidder in those types of items and it really shows even if the packaging is the same or similar.


Good luck and I hope your father enjoys his x mas!

Thank you all, this has been a great help!