Well, yesterday was the big day. I pressed two bushels of apples, and it all worked as expected! One coup was the low-cost (dirt cheap) cheese frame made out of schedule 40 PVC pipe. It worked just fine. I used 1 1/2" PVC cut to 17" with 90 degree elbows to make the frame. It just fits inside the tray, and does a good job of containing the mash while filling the cheese. Having to cut the side lip to make room for the arbor upright did create a leakage problem, but I'm going to Walmart tomorrow to get some flexible cutting boards to put on the sides and end that problem once and for all. I got more than 3 gallons per bushel, so it's meeting my expectations. The cheap rack cloths seem to work just fine, but I don't know how they'll survive over time. I'm thinking that I could press as much as 4 bushels at once if I lowered the press tray to the lowest setting. That would require me raising the entire press up on pallets so that I could get the catch bucket underneath. A valve on the press tray would be a good thing.
Keywords: cider press, Harbor Freight, apples, cider, ayelvington
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