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Anyone ever seen/tried this fruit press?

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ibwahooka

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 7, 2008
158
0
0
Augusta, GA
Hey everyone,
I was looking around for a fruit press on the internet today and found this site:

http://whizbangbooks.blogspot.com/2007/12/wb23.html

I'm wondering if anyone has ever tried it or knows of anyone who has built one of these. If no one has I'm willing to take the $21.95 jump for the good of the forum. I might even be able to make a mini version of it to help with the size issue that might come with this. Let me know.

Thanks in advance,
Shawn
 

akueck

Certified Mead Mentor
Certified Mead Mentor
Jun 26, 2006
4,958
11
0
Ithaca, NY
Well the picture looks like it will work. Mashing up the apples is probably the trickier part, but it sounds like they want you to buy a disposal unit and use that. Sounds like it will work...
 

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....
GotMead Patron
basically, it's just a set of drawings and measurements.

If you put your mind to it, there's a number of ways of making fruit presses, from a number of different materials.

You just have to think of how to use them to provide pressure and how to direct the juice to a container.

Why waste a basic mechanical car jack for that, when there's a number of hydraulic devices that can be adjusted/modified for the same job.

Ask yourself some questions.....

Like if you can obtain cloth to use as pressing cloths, why go to the hassle of making a containing basket for them, when you can just use fluted pressing boards and wrap the pulp in the cloth and then just use something like an engineers workshop press - that's just as small, but provides considerably more pressure for the actual pressing.....

As akueck says, it's about the actual grinding/milling of the fruit. A kitchen waste disposal unit will do the job brilliantly, providing a nice "apple sauce" quality of pulp - from which you'd get a good amount of juice, probably 75% plus......

regards

fatbloke
 

Chevette Girl

All around BAD EXAMPLE
Moderator
Lifetime GotMead Patron
Apr 27, 2010
8,443
53
48
Ottawa, ON
As always, my main concern with a press is sanitization :)

Oh, and if you or anyone you know is sending an old car to the knackers (and we have so many incentives to get rid of anything "old"), just keep the jack! Or, should be inexpensive if you go to an auto recycling plant or a u-pull-it yard and ask for a scissor jack out of something...
 

ibwahooka

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 7, 2008
158
0
0
Augusta, GA
Fatbloke,
Thanks for the ideas. I sat around brainstorming with my wife and in-laws this morning and we came up with using a 2.5 gallon bucket for the fruit basket, drilled with holes and lined with cheesecloth. For the stand I could make it out of wood or steel. I could find an old car jack to help press down on the fruit. This should meet my requirements of small and easy to use.

I will let everyone know what I do and I will post the instructions here or on instructables.com.

If anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to chime in.

-Shawn
 

fatbloke

good egg/snappy dresser.....
GotMead Patron
Fatbloke,
Thanks for the ideas. I sat around brainstorming with my wife and in-laws this morning and we came up with using a 2.5 gallon bucket for the fruit basket, drilled with holes and lined with cheesecloth. For the stand I could make it out of wood or steel. I could find an old car jack to help press down on the fruit. This should meet my requirements of small and easy to use.

I will let everyone know what I do and I will post the instructions here or on instructables.com.

If anyone has any thoughts, please feel free to chime in.

-Shawn
Well just remember that you'd need to make the pressing board smaller than the bottom diameter of the bucket - oh and plastic buckets have a tendency to split when too much pressure is applied.

Me, last time I played about like that, I found that a decent pressing cloth was enough to wrap the pulp in and then an upper and lower pressing board did the job, the lower one having some flutes cut into it with a router to direct the flow of juice into the bucket I was collecting in.....

regards

fatbloke

p.s. Oh and have a look at this for ideas etc....... it's worth the time.
 

ibwahooka

NewBee
Registered Member
Sep 7, 2008
158
0
0
Augusta, GA
So I get home today and the UPS lady shows at my door with a huge box for me. Now I did not order anything but to my surprise my in-laws did! They got me a 6qt fruit press! I can't wait to try it this weekend! Just thought I would let everyone know.

-Shawn
 
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