North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Don Yellman <don.yellman@webformation.com>]

Anton:

1.  Have you considered using a new kitchen disposal to grind your 
apples?  I have been doing this since the fall of 1997, and wrote it up 
in the January, 1999 Cider Digest and the 1999 winter edition of 
Pomona.  I think quite a few small-scale cidermakers have adopted this 
idea, though I have no way of knowing how many.

2.  The idea occurred to me after we had installed new countertops in 
the kitchen, and I was left with a nice new piece of formica from the 
sink cut-out.  It seemed that piece of formica should be used for 
something, so I went over to Home Depot, bought a Badger 1 disposal 
(from ISE), built a small table from scrap lumber, installed the 
disposal, wired it up, and began grinding.  It worked much better than I 
had reason to expect.  The fall grinding/pressing has been a family 
project here, and we are easily able to process 20 gallons of cider in 
an afternoon, which requires about 7 bushels of apples.  My cider yield 
immediately doubled  from about 1 1/2 to nearly 3 gallons per bushel.  
The hand cranked grinder I had been using produced apple chunks, but the 
disposal produced a beautiful pomace, which I pressed in a basket press 
after removing the pomace from plastic buckets lined with Happy Valley 
nylon pressing bags.  I cannot explain why no one had ever tried this 
before, but, as far as I know, no one had.

3.  Veteran NAFEXer Claude Jolicoeur has recently published a new Cider 
Maker's Handbook, which included a description of the disposal grinder, 
along with commercial models, and his own home-built apple grater, which 
is surely the Rolex of apple grinders.  But if you are not an engineer, 
and favor the conservation of financial resources, a disposal grinder 
can be put togther in around two hours at very low cost.  My total 
expenditure was $33, the price of the disposal, but I think the bottom 
of the ISE line, which is what I recommend, is more than double that 
now.  You may also have to buy a switchbox and extension cord, and 
possibly a little lumber for the table.  I had those things on hand.

4.  If you have questions about any aspect of the disposal concept, 
please post here or e-mail me directly at: don.yellman@webformation.com.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA