North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["loneroc" <loneroc@mwt.net>]

Howdy,

Your arm sorta does get tired turning the flywheel--but nothing like your
back does from bending, stooping and lifting.  Exercise.  If you lack upper
body stamina stay away.  You really need two people involved in the whole
process with the manual one if you want to do it efficiently.  I expect one
person could go through the motorized ritual just fine.

I did notice that the wooden hopper that you can order as an extra doesn't
work well if you just fill it to the top and turn.--jams up way too often.
Especially if your apples have a flat surface or two from having damage
removed.  I'd still buy the hopper again because it helps direct fruit into
the grinder pouring a few at a time.  A slow steady feed kept the grinder
going well without jams and also made the turning of the wheel easier--no
stopping to unjam every couple minutes.

Steve H.




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark or Helen Angermayer" <hangermayer@isp.com>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 2:28 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Centennials / apple pressing


> Thanks for the info Steve.  I had wondered how well the Happy Valley Ranch
> presses work.  I'm anxious to start pressing even though we're several
years
> away from apples.  I've only found a couple non-motorized presses on the
> Web.  Happy Valley Ranch looks like it's the better of the two.
> Incidentally, I've driven by Happy Valley Ranch and it doesn't strike me
as
> unusually  "Happy" or "Valley".  It's a metal building (a nice one) on a
> flat pasture.  The price of the presses don't make me happy either.  I'm
> hoping we won't have to cash in our 401K when it's time to buy one.
Joking
> aside, they look like good quality presses with good quality materials.
>
> I did have a question though, does your arm get tired grinding all the
> apples?
>
> Mark Angermayer
> Zone 5 Kansas
> 20 miles north of Happy Valley
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "loneroc"
> To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 6:31 AM
> Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Centennials / apple pressing
>
>
> > Thanks Del,
> >
> > Centennial must keep its crisp texture longer the less heat there is
(duh,
> I
> > suppose).  Southerners on this list really like Centennial, but state
that
> > it turns to moosh very quickly.  I have a two week window of crispness
> here
> > in SW WI, maybe a little more. With your August average highs of 40F up
> > there things must last a lot longer.
> >
> > I too, took the cider press plunge this year.  I'd used an electric
> kitchen
> > juicer for several years, cutting and coring, before putting the slices
> down
> > the chute.  Fun for a bushel or two.  I went the absolutely extravagant
> > route of paying a grand for the Happy Valley press. I'm not really a
> > tinkerer type--who might fall in love with the internal intricacies of
> > garbage disposals.  Esthetically, I figured I'd get more satisfaction
from
> > using a manual, quiet, old-timey contraption and the Happy Valley fit
the
> > bill.  Now that the press is paid for, I can forget about the economic
> > calculation that I'll need to make several hundred gallons of Juice
(Cider
> > is the fermented product) to recoup my "investment".
> >
> > I'm satisfied overall with the HV's performance.  It did come with the
> > crappiest directions I've ever seen on a US-made product.  I can
> understand
> > why the instructions written by a Chinese widgetmaker might be nearly
> > unintelligible, but Kansan seems to be mutually intelligible with
English
> so
> > far as I can tell. I managed to assemble the press after a couple phone
> > calls to the maker and an extra day or two of effort beyond the
predicted
> > assembly time, but that nightmare has faded into the dim recesses of my
> > 50-year-old memory.
> >
> > Freezing the juice produces magnificent results.  Towards Spring there
are
> > some very subtle changes in flavor and after a year or so you can notice
a
> > slight "artificial apple flavor" tastes starting to become more
> noticeable.
> > Unless your electricity is either very expensive or absent altogether
I'd
> > recommend freezing over any method except fermentation.  But ya can only
> > drink so much hooch!  Canning turns the juice into a product little
better
> > than Del Monte or Mott's.
> >
> > Contrary to the advice of almost every cidermaking information I've read
I
> > use drops to make juice in addition to squeezing the 2nd's.  I remove
all
> > the fallen fruit from beneath the trees all summer long to interrupt
pest
> > lifecycles anyway.  I compost the bad stuff. I have no livestock to
> > contaminate fruit butt he drops that seem to be pretty good are washed
in
> a
> > mild bleach solution and rinsed well anyway.  I then inspect each apple,
> > cutting out bruises, rot, and any other spot where the skin has been
> broken.
> > Can anyone see a down side to this process that I'm missing?
> >
> > I like to allow the trees to drop a third of the actual main crop (not
> > counting June drop and other early falls) or more before I pick . The
> drops
> > are nearly all  fruit that have some sort of insect or disease damage
and,
> > because of the ethylene produced by decay, those fruit fall first---the
> > remaining fruit tends to be the undamaged stuff.  I pick from the tree
and
> > can, for the most part, just bag the fruit.  True 2nds go into the
press.
> > Perfect fruit is separated into more-ripe, and less-ripe.  The riper
stuff
> > is the first fruit pulled from storage and the greener fruit is left for
> > late season eating.  I don't wash prior to bagging because several
months
> > have passed since my two scab/curculio sprays in May.  Fruit with bird
> turds
> > are not bagged but there are only a few of them
> >
> > My small orchard produces more apples and product than I can possibly
use
> > with out adding 200 pounds to the mid-section.  The rest goes to friends
> and
> > family.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Steve Herje, SW WI
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> nafex mailing list
> nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>
> Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
> This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web
sites.
> Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have
permission!
>
> **YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
> Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
> No exceptions.
> ----
> To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be
used to change other email options):
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
>
> File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
> TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
> Please do not send binary files.
> Use plain text ONLY in emails!
>
> NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/
>