Apple Jack
I’m building an apple cider press. Simple enough, you might think, a little wood stand, grind up some apples, squeeze the juice, put it in gallon jugs and voila, apple jack! Drink it now, ferment it, freeze it, nothing to it.
I have an old 1890’s 2 barrel, double geared, high volume press that’s long ago rusted and rotted. Twice, actually, since I rebuilt it once, then left it outside. I’m using the old yoke from that that carries the wormscrew to make the press. I got a more modern ‘grinder’ from a 1920’s cider mill, turns a set of metal teeth through an opposing metal mesh and is housed by its original hopper. The catch barrels are finished now, cedar strips screwed to steel bands up and down, one for catching the crushed apples while the other holds the squeezins. Move one forward and replace it with the other: a 2 barrel operation.
I’m constructing the 4×4 cedar framework, building a body to secure the grinder and hold the press, then adding a ‘floor’ to catch and drain the juice, probably plywood and maybe clad it in metal so we can clean it. E-coli apple juice doesn’t seem too appealing … although I suspect not too many orchardists died of apple jack poisoning before the advent of ubiquitous antibiotics and anti-bacterials in every cleansing agent known to man and industry.
I suppose we could juice with a household blender for all the cider we’ll probably make. But dammit, that’s not the South End Way … and sometimes traditions, sensible or not, are worth saving. Besides, you build it, you’ll go out and find neighbors who want to press their fruit, maybe turn it into an annual event. We still grow apple trees — doesn’t seem too great a stretch to utilize the harvest. If nothing else, I can always donate it to the museum, a cider press spanning 125 years, cannibalized , hybridized and worth nothing on Antiques Roadshow. Sort of like most everything else we still use around this place…..
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