James and other cider making folks....

[horseyrider]

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on something. I have a lot of apples to go through soon, and already have plenty of applesauce, pie filling, brandied rings, apple butter, yada yada. I don't have a cider press and feel pretty reluctant to invest that kind of dough right now.  And the steam juicer just really doesn't do the trick for apples.


For small batches, what do you think a lard press might do?  I could easily strain it.  I can chop, grind, or shred the apples pretty fast, and lard presses are everywhere around here.  (But not cider presses.)  Do you think it might work?  Would the metal give it an off taste? 


I know the best cider comes from a mixture of apples.  That I don't have right now; just an abundance of Golden Delicious with some Honeycrisp leftover.  Is it worth it?  Or do I just need to make yet more apple butter? 


I counted, and I have 48 jars of apple butter left from last year. 

[terrilynn]

I have a Jack Lelaine Juicer and I love it.

But before I got that I would grind the apples in my Vita Mix (you  could use a blender) and put it all in a clean wet cotton pillow case. I would put the pillow case between 2 wood cutting boards and I put one of my husbands cast iron weights (25 lb I think, if I remember correctly) on the top board (My husband is a weight lifter). 

I put the cutting boards on 4 upside down pint canning jars (wide mouth) inside my large turkey roaster and just let it sit and drain for a couple of hours. 

[Deleted]

It will work, just fill bucket with cheesecloth fill with apples and press. You will need something to make pulp out of the apples....James

[horseyrider]

Thanks, folks! I'm going to give it a shot.