Tips on Building a Cider Press

Wood

The kind of wood you choose to make your cider press determines how long it lasts and even how the cider tastes. Soft woods such as pine, tend to add a bad taste to the cider as the wood breaks down during pressing. Hard woods such as maple or oak are ideal for your homemade cider press. You could even use apple tree wood to maintain the apple cider theme.

The trough is placed directly under the press to catch the juice. When you are building your trough, remember to give it a slight slope of a 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch from front to back that will run the juices toward the collection basket. If you give the collection trough too much slope, you will get solid fruit parts in with your juice.

The smashing pot is the part of your press that you dump the fruit into as it gets pulverized to produce juice. To maintain cider taste and reduce bacteria build-up, this pot should be a material that is easy to clean and does not rust. An obvious choice is a stainless steel cooking pot that can be any size you want. Poke holes in the bottom of the pot to allow the juice to run out.

The screw assembly is the mechanism that grinds and presses the fruit as you make cider. It is a large, threaded piece of metal that has blades attached to it. The blades and press are in the smashing pot and you turn the screw to make cider. As you turn the blades, the threads also bring the press down to extract the juice. A quick way to get a good screw assembly is to use an old piano stool or office chair. These often have the screw and threaded receptacle ready to be mounted on your press.