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nafex - [NAFEX] garbage disposal as an apple grinder

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  • From: "Erdman, James" <ErdmanJ@uwstout.edu>
  • To: "nafex" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] garbage disposal as an apple grinder
  • Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 12:16:52 -0500

After making 30 or 40 gallons of apple cider (maybe more), I thought I'd
comment on our cider making outfit. We are using a 3/4hp Insinkerator
disposal, with stainless steel innards, set up in a small table made of a
piece of formica covered countertop on 4 legs made of 2x4s. We are using a
small computer fan to blow air at the disposal in hopes of cooling it a bit,
and we removed all the decorative enclosure over the disposal. We found that
if we put large chunks of apples in it, the disposal overheated in 20 minutes
to a half hour of use, and required 20 minutes or so to cool down enough to
run again. By cutting apples into quarters or eights, we can feed apples
into it for hours at a stretch, without overheating unless they are really
dry apples (such as the Northwestern Greenings that we did yesterday).

The press is a hydraulic jack in a welded steel frame that pushes a plate
against a second fixed plate. On the first plate, attached to the jack,
(the jack is underneath and push up) is a stainless pan with a drain, and in
the pan sits a cylinder of perforated stainless steel, about 12 inches in
diameter and 16 inches tall. This is filled with apple pulp, a plate fits
inside the top and is braced against the top of the welded frame, and we
start jacking the apple filled assembly upward. A friend with a similar
press (we copied his) uses a hammer mill to grind his apples, and figures
that we can get a half gallon per bushel more from the same apples as he
does. We pressed some mixed Cortlands and Prairie Spys for some friends the
other day, and they took home 6 gallons of cider and had about 1 1/2 bushels
of apples to begin with. The softer apples tend to plug the holes in the
stainless basket so we pressed, then emptied the basket, and refilled it with
the same pulp and pressed it again.

Although it takes a bit of time to grind and press apples with our outfit, we
are pleased with it as it is fairly easy to clean and produces a lot of cider
per bushel. We can press a bushel or so and be done in an hour or so, if that
is all the apples that are ripe. I am thinking it is time to get a larger
freezer, as we have lots of cider canned, and all the refrigerator space
filled, and so far 4 five gallon carboys plus some gallons fermenting away.
And we are drinking it as much as we want.




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