So ahead we go with Jean-Yves excellent guide to making real Breton Cider in hand http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/cider_1.htmA load of windfalls collected a week or so ago, I've allowed them to age for a bit as they weren't overly ripe.
The press is based on a couple that I saw online. A simple mix of roughly 2"x4" timber made completely from offcuts from the houses being built over the road. It's held together by 4 long bolts with oversize washers and nylock nuts. The tray is made from plywood, the pressing slats from lathe and both are sealed with a food safe wood sealant. Similar presses go for £150+ on ebay.
The apples are sorted, rinsed & mashed using an earth hammer in a bucket. I can only manage a couple of pounds of fruit at a time but its a cheap and effective way compared to a £200 scratter. It could really do with some nobbles or edges on the bottom to cut into the apples. There's defintely a knack to it without the apples bouncing out of the bucket. The pomace is left for an hour to brown, if I had more time I'd leave it for 4-6hrs as recommended as clearly this is where the natural bacteria/ yeast get to work early and in turn help us extract more juice.
Apply a 10tonne hydraulic jack & with the cakes set in old hessian potato sacks (washed at 95oc in the washing machine first) these are also pre-dampened to prevent them absorbing the precious juice.
In all the cakes are turned, mixed and re-pressed 3 times, each time allowing a good amount of time under pressure for the juice to run, about 15-30minutes whilst I mash the next lot of pomace. This press took all the pressure I could throw at it
which is reassuring.
Todays effort is just under 3 gallons UK from ~20kg of apples.
OG1.045 pH3.8 (jean Yves recommends 1.055+ & pH3.2-3.
This is only the first pressing, I hope as per Jean-Yves advice to make at least 2 more seasonal pressings as the best apples are yet to come. One demijohn has had a couple of campden tablets added to subdue the natural yeasts & bacteria, this will be fermented with champagne yeast. The other 2 gallons are for natural fermentation as per real cider.
Bottoms up!
Frothy
Crushing and squeezing apples without the right apparatus is hard work (I've tried it 
) and has put me off in the past. Also, I've never felt like sinking £100s into a press that I'd use once a year. Potentially, I have access to a good mix of cookers and eaters... right then, just need to find an old car jack and some timber! 
