Jump to content


Photo
- - - - -

Hey Strangebrewer...


  • Please log in to reply
20 replies to this topic

#1 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 25 April 2011 - 08:33 PM

DuncanDad's thread reminded me that HoPS is going to need another cider press this fall cause we're expanding the cider press event to other local clubs and will be doubling our apple order. If memory serves me right you built a bottle jack type press. What are your thoughts on it's overall performance? I'm on the fence between building a jack-style press, building a press with an acme screw, or splurging and getting a Happy Valley Ranch. Any thoughts on this? Also cheese-style vs. basket press? The cheese-style presses are supposed to get better extraction, but they seem to take longer per press.Thanks

#2 strangebrewer

strangebrewer

    Frequent Member

  • Moderators
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1493 posts
  • LocationDenver, CO

Posted 26 April 2011 - 06:35 AM

DuncanDad's thread reminded me that HoPS is going to need another cider press this fall cause we're expanding the cider press event to other local clubs and will be doubling our apple order. If memory serves me right you built a bottle jack type press. What are your thoughts on it's overall performance? I'm on the fence between building a jack-style press, building a press with an acme screw, or splurging and getting a Happy Valley Ranch. Any thoughts on this? Also cheese-style vs. basket press? The cheese-style presses are supposed to get better extraction, but they seem to take longer per press.Thanks

Overall I'm very happy with it. As Guest mentioned I initially designed it for wine but it did really well pressing pears last year. If I were to do it again about the only thing I'd change is making the gap between the staves a little tighter so it could handle apples and pears more easily. The issue we ran into was once we really started to crank down the pressing cloth would push out between the staves in some places if it were loose. Pressing apples takes a LOT more force than pressing grapes. Thankfully I did build my press stout. The staves are 1x2" oak and the bands are cut and hammered from 1/8" plate steel. A ratchet style basket press with an ACME screw would be a sweet setup if you want to put the time and money into it. As for basket vs cheese style press. I think the basket press is more versatile for pressing fruit.

#3 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 26 April 2011 - 07:07 AM

Thanks...what's the tonage on your bottle jack?Do you have a gap recommendation?

Edited by EWW, 26 April 2011 - 07:09 AM.


#4 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 27 April 2011 - 08:36 AM

Is there any reason why I shouldn't use some 16-20" bike rims as my basket hoops? I figure they're alluminum, won't rust, and come pre-drilled and pre shaped...thoughts?

#5 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 27 April 2011 - 09:09 AM

Will those stand up to applied force?

I think they'd be alright. The whiz bang people use HDPE for their rings, and those seem to work alright. That's a good thought though.

#6 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 27 April 2011 - 12:28 PM

Went down to the local bike shop and pulled these off a bent to hell pink bikePosted Image$5 out the doorID=14" - the aluminum is about .25 thick and .75" side walls on the rims should provide ample reinforement - worth some experimenting

#7 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 27 April 2011 - 09:20 PM

I'll keep you updated....would you happen to have a pic of the top end of the press (where the Jack meets the frame)?

#8 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 28 April 2011 - 10:31 AM

Seems like a farm Jack could work nicely for a pressthe pros:simple mechanics with good leverageno need to fuss with extra pressing blocks like you do with a bottle Jackcheap ~$50quick release allowing you to pull up the press platelooks easy to mount under the cross bar of a press framethe cons:???

#9 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 28 April 2011 - 10:11 PM

Maybe grease? Probably could find some food safe stuff like the keg lube stuff.

Good thought, but grease is minimal. A shot of cooking spray should do it.

#10 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 29 April 2011 - 06:02 AM

Picked out the disposalhttps://www.anaheimmfg.com/company/literature/pdf/Eco_submittal.pdf1 hp SS internals and corded - I'm going to run it to a switched outletcan't decide if I want to mount it directly on the press or have it as a free standing unit

#11 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 30 April 2011 - 01:28 PM

Oak/maple vs. Hdpe? Thoughts?

#12 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 30 April 2011 - 01:43 PM

Any reason besides tradition?Hdpe has a lot going for it.

#13 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 30 April 2011 - 03:41 PM

Doesn't HDPE get brittle in the sun? How does it hold up to force?

Not sure about that, but I'll look into it. They use it for decking, so I imagine it's not too much of an issue. HDPE is appealing cause you can spray it down with a bleach water solution to clean and don't have to worry about decay and rot issues.

#14 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 01 May 2011 - 09:13 AM

Not sure about that, but I'll look into it. They use it for decking, so I imagine it's not too much of an issue. HDPE is appealing cause you can spray it down with a bleach water solution to clean and don't have to worry about decay and rot issues.

Looks like you're correct about standard hdpe and sunlight. There is an FDA approved marrine grade though that does not degrade in sunlight.If I can find some 5/4 or 6/4 oak at a reasonable price it won't be an issue. I should be able to rip the boards pretty easily for the staves on the barrel, but no one locally seems to carry it.Based on the bike rims' predrilled holes and my calculations I need 36 staves measurring 1.25" x .75" x 20-24" for the basket ... This should give me between a 1/8-1/4" gap between each stave.I'm thinking about a doubled up layer of oak plywood, trimmed with 4" solid oak for the base to catch the cider. The actual stand would be built with either a couple 4x4s or muliple layers of plywood (glued and cross bolted).I'm thinking about welding a steel plate to the farm jack so I can through bolt it to the wood cross beam. I'll probably also add some steel plate to the top of the cross beam for additional strength.I have a lead on a small stainless sink that I may be able to pick up cheaply. If this works out I'll build a dedicated stand for the sink and garbage disposal grinder. I figure that if I grind into 5 gallon buckets we can use it for the other presses as well.Any thoughts on my plan/ramblings are greatly appreciated.

Edited by EWW, 01 May 2011 - 09:18 AM.


#15 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 01 May 2011 - 11:37 AM

For the cider catchment, strangebrewer uses a water heater pan with a drain cut out. He loosely lays the basket in the pan and let's the downward force hold it in place. Apparently that works great with grapes, but with the pear pomace, the basket would slide about the pan and was a major pita. If you do the same, but anchor the basket, it should work good for cider.I'm not claiming experience here, just offering ideas to your ramblings.

My design will be a bit different then strangebrewer's ... More likePosted ImageI'm planning on a sealed wood catchment system

#16 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 01 May 2011 - 01:14 PM

What is this - a press for ants!?/Zoolander

LOL...it's a small scale opperation.

#17 strangebrewer

strangebrewer

    Frequent Member

  • Moderators
  • PipPipPipPip
  • 1493 posts
  • LocationDenver, CO

Posted 02 May 2011 - 06:29 AM

Sorry for the slow reply. It was one of those weeks and it kept up into the weekend.Your plan sounds good. A 1/4" to 1/8" gap between the staves would be ideal. You can still press grapes with it but it should be small enough to let you press apples and pears.The bottle jack is 8 ton I believe. Completely overkill but it's what I own. For grapes you never want to be using that much force but for apples it was nice to be able to crank it easily.Where the bottle jack meets the top frame I welded a 1" long piece of 2" diameter tube steel. It serves to give the piston of the bottle jack somewhere to rest and piece of mind that it's not going to kick out when pressing.I built the steel frame over the basket big, even when pressing the pears and using a lot of force there was no deflection in the steel frame. The next most important point though is the connection to the base. The base is 1/2" plywood on top of a 2x4 framing. It's heavy but again, burly and has never shown any signs of flexing under load.The catch pan is a hot water heater pan. It's definitely a piece that needs to be upgraded. As Guest mentioned it works just fine for grapes but apple and pear pommace is slippery which caused the basket to want to slide around in the pan when there was a lot of force pressing down. Resolving this issue is on my to do list :P . It will still be something metal though as I like the ability to easily clean the catchmentAs for material selection. The biggest thing that I'd be concerned with using HDPE is it's ability to handle the outward force as it gets further from the rings. Again apples take a LOT of force to press. I'd think that HDPE would start to flex out at the bottom when you really start to crank down. I like the idea with the bike rims. I'd take a little care to make sure the holes in the aluminum doesn't get wallowed out but otherwise that's a heck of a lot easier than what I did.The bottle jack works great but I can see the appeal to the farm jack. You just have to build your support frame around using it. For me the bottle jack was the simplest answer.If you think it would be of any use I can take pictures of particular parts of my press and post it. Just let me know.

#18 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 02 May 2011 - 07:29 AM

Sorry for the slow reply. It was one of those weeks and it kept up into the weekend.Your plan sounds good. A 1/4" to 1/8" gap between the staves would be ideal. You can still press grapes with it but it should be small enough to let you press apples and pears.The bottle jack is 8 ton I believe. Completely overkill but it's what I own. For grapes you never want to be using that much force but for apples it was nice to be able to crank it easily.Where the bottle jack meets the top frame I welded a 1" long piece of 2" diameter tube steel. It serves to give the piston of the bottle jack somewhere to rest and piece of mind that it's not going to kick out when pressing.I built the steel frame over the basket big, even when pressing the pears and using a lot of force there was no deflection in the steel frame. The next most important point though is the connection to the base. The base is 1/2" plywood on top of a 2x4 framing. It's heavy but again, burly and has never shown any signs of flexing under load.The catch pan is a hot water heater pan. It's definitely a piece that needs to be upgraded. As Guest mentioned it works just fine for grapes but apple and pear pommace is slippery which caused the basket to want to slide around in the pan when there was a lot of force pressing down. Resolving this issue is on my to do list :P . It will still be something metal though as I like the ability to easily clean the catchmentAs for material selection. The biggest thing that I'd be concerned with using HDPE is it's ability to handle the outward force as it gets further from the rings. Again apples take a LOT of force to press. I'd think that HDPE would start to flex out at the bottom when you really start to crank down. I like the idea with the bike rims. I'd take a little care to make sure the holes in the aluminum doesn't get wallowed out but otherwise that's a heck of a lot easier than what I did.The bottle jack works great but I can see the appeal to the farm jack. You just have to build your support frame around using it. For me the bottle jack was the simplest answer.If you think it would be of any use I can take pictures of particular parts of my press and post it. Just let me know.

thanks and no worries on the slower reply.I have a lead on some "country" hard maple (read darker color hard maple) and the price point is hard to beat ($150 for 40 bf). Unless anyone can give me some concrete reasons to avoid maple I think I'm going to snatch up this wood before someone else does.

Edited by EWW, 02 May 2011 - 07:31 AM.


#19 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 02 May 2011 - 08:33 AM

Looks good to me.

Thanks for the link. The darker/brown/country maple is the heartwood...kind of like this floorPosted Image

#20 EWW

EWW

    Regular, normal human being

  • Patron
  • PipPipPipPipPip
  • 26137 posts
  • LocationSomewhere special

Posted 03 May 2011 - 04:22 PM

So here's one of the designs I've been thinking about. For some reason my work pc won't let me take a screen shot so I took a pic of my screen ( sorry for the crappy quality)Posted Imagethoughts?


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users