North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Christopher Mauchline" <mauch1@aol.com>]

I haven't looked at any pictures of your press, but an alternative to 
bags might be to what we use for grapes.  

We have a hydraulic basket press and to help elimnate "blowouts" we 
wrap hardware cloth (i.e. nylon window screening) around the the 
inside of the basket extending to the base of the press.  In our case 
the crushed/stemmed grapes are usually pumped directly into the 
press, but we have used an old stock pot to "ladle" the juice into 
the press.  Sometimes some pomice escapes from the bottom or the 
inevitable rips in the screening, but we keep a seive between  the 
press and the tub that catches the juice.  We then settle the juice 
overnight and ferment the cleared juice.  The screening usually lasts 
about 2-3 years.

Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6 

--- In nafex@egroups.com, Don Yellman <dyellman@e...> wrote:
> For Tom Olenio:  I looked at that picture of a press for quite a 
while,
> and could not figure out why it was so different from mine or how it
> could work.  Then I saw Claude's msg and realized it operates in a
> completely different way.  I don't know how you could make such a 
press
> work with finely ground apples unless you were able to arrange the
> pressing bags around the sides.  However, if  a nylon bag comes in
> contact with any sharp metal object, it will be damaged and quickly 
rip
> open.  I really don't understand how a press of that design could 
work
> with either apples or grapes without pushing fruit out through the
> slats, unless you are able to get a bag in there.
> I certainly agree with Claude's view that nylon is the only 
practical
> material for a pressing bag.  The old fashioned stacked presses used
> coarse cotton or linen cloth, and before that even straw was used.  
But
> with those stacked presses, the pressure exerted was almost entirely
> downward.  When you are using a pressing basket,  some pressure 
develops
> on the sides, which might blow out cotton material or even 
lightweight
> nylon.  For ease of cleanup and durability, there is nothing to 
compare
> with nylon.  Looking around on the net, I found a number of sources 
for
> nylon bags under "beer and winemaking supplies", and one large 
Canadian
> firm (Spagnol's) with dozens of retail outlets in Ontario.  Happy 
Valley
> Ranch also sells them.  It remains to be seen what quality these 
bags
> are, but be sure to get bags a bit larger than your bucket so that 
they
> do not fall in when filling with pomace.  I put a heavy rubber band
> around the rim of the bucket while filling just to be sure.
> Hope you are able to find some way to make your system work, but 
with
> that particular press I am not sure that a disposal grinder would be
> good for you.  You might be better off with very coarsely ground 
apples
> and just accept the lower juice yields.    Rgds, Don Yellman, Great
> Falls, VA


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