So what about the fruit, lard, press and sausage-stuffer antiques?

[PatrickShiflet]

I've been making wine for a little over a year now and have realized its pretty tough to press fruits like apples by hand. Now it makes sense why grapes are processed by foot.... So I've been looking at the old Enterprise presses that were for fruit, lard, making sausage and so on. Is this the best machine to get for the money or is a basket press more efficient? They just look cool!

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

For hard fruits like apples, a basket press is by far the best option.

We switched to bladder presses years ago for darn near everything else. They can handle everything we've thrown at them, with the exception of apples. We pick our own local apple cider, and even the large outfits use a basket-esque press contraption for their apples.

I think it would take NASA to create a better way, if there even is one!

 

[Runningwolf]

A regular press will do apples but you have to shred them first. This picture of my apple cider press has a shredder and press.

 

[KeystoneHomebrew]

Dan, that is super sweet.

Did you build that?

 

[Runningwolf]

I did not. I bought it on Craigs list. The are made by Happy Valley. http://www.happyvalleyranch.com/ I can see why they offer a motor option. My neighbor makes one's almost identical to this but engineered and built to take a beating with a motor. He sells them for about $1200. This one is close to $800 new (without a motor) and if you saw his you would appreciate the extra $400 cost. The motor is for the apple shredder.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Does anyone freeze their apples as i do prior to pressing ?

It appears to be soo much easier

 

[PatrickShiflet]

I froze mine before hand pressing. The apples were kind of rubbery. I'm needing a press!!!

 

[spaniel]

Don't confuse crushing and pressing. An antique sausage press will press grapes...I should know, that's all I use...but you still need to crush them first (I still do it by foot though my volume is getting high for that). Otherwise, your yield will be very low. This style of press simply does not apply enough pressure to press grapes without crushing them first.

For apples, an antique sausage press is fairly useless pre-fermentation. Just not enough pressure. I chop them up in a homemade fruit chopper, ferment on the fruit, then press out the wine about 5 days in. If you see people in here pressing apples in a basket press they are often doing it hyraulically, not a hand screw.

 

[Julie]

Spaniel, do you freeze your apples first? While I have a press, I also have the sausage stuffer/fruit press. I am assuming you are talking about the cast iron one. As long as you freeze your apples first the sausage stuffer/fruit press woks well but if you are just now looking for something to buy, go with a press, something like Dan posted. You will use it for more than apples.