Cider Apple Mills; Grinding and Shredding Apple at Home...
Thursday, May 20, 2010 at 10:26 PM
If you are going to make cider at any decent volume you will find that apple grinding is the one real headache in pressing apples at home. If you've pressed enough apples you find out pretty quick that hand-cranking is OUT. The one exception might be if you have some over sugar'd and under exercised kids around the house and well I don't... Hand turning the grinder on my old barrel press at my place was over in just one quick season.
I read all about folks adding 1HP motors to their on board barrel press grinders and briefly thought about going that route for a bit. Not knowing how long I even wanted to continue with my old home style press kept me considering the other options.
The most attractive option to me was a hobby+ sized apple crusher I could grow with, like this one to the right sold by Vigo in the UK for £745.00. If you check the link you can see a video of this grinder in action. They claim it is for the "enthusiastic cider maker". That mill looks as though it is the Speidel Apple Grinder sold here at Speidel in Germany. No one in the US imports this model but I always like the way it looked. Easy to clean!
I've also read tales of the lower priced Czech made "Fruit Shark" also sold in England here at UK Cider. UK Cider has a great write up on it and some purchase information if you are on that side of the Atlantic.
In the United States here you'll find companies like the good people at St. Pat's in Texas who import the super nice 220V Italian stainless steel version for $1250 plus freight. St. Pat's also has a video linked to their product page which is pretty cool.
I have also seen and heard talk of using garden shredders as potential apple grinder solutions for the advance cider hobbyist. From what's been written on the cider forums some claim success with such devices but I've never seen anything in the local lawn care department that made me want to run out and throw apples through it for consumption.
While browsing around the pages of a recent Harbor Freight Advertisement online and I ran across something I really wish I would have seen last year before I dropped the big bucks on my 220V Italian Stainless Steel Apple Grinder/Shredder. I haven't seen Harbor Freight's Chicago 2-1/2 HP Chipper Shredder in person nor can I endorse it's use but I'd certainly have given it a whirl at $175. Wow! I really does looks sweet. Add yourself a bin to collect the pomace and start pressing!!! If it doesn't work you got a nice little yard chipper and yards of free mulch.
Edit: This post dedicated to Heather and Jason @ The Candle Wine Project whom I recently got to meet. I know they will be thinking about how to grind them up some apples come this Fall.
Harbor Freight Garden Chipper Shredder Update:
Got a couple comments from Rick who checked out these Harbor Freight Chipper Shredder Units. Check his comments for details but he says it looks as thought it may work. Here is his pic! I mentioned this in my reply but this blade looks exactly like a buddy of mine's smaller apple shredder from Germany. I used that for my biggest season yet in 2008 and and it worked really well. Thanks Rick!
Reader Comments (9)
How funny...I saw the Harbor Freight chipper for the first time the other day while checking out their arbor presses! It looks fairly high-quality, but two things give me pause: 1) the input opening is shaped a bit like a dumbell - not too many whole apples could fit through it as-is. Maybe you cut your apples in half, maybe you modify the cover. 2) I'm not sure what the grinder mechanism is made of. If it's not stainless, wouldn't it create corrosion and possibly taste issues?
An update - went back to HF today on another errand, and noticed the chipper/shredder is currently on sale for just $125 through the 27th of May. Plus, I opened the hinged blade cover and noted the cutting wheel is a large, powder-coated steel disk with two removable blades attached. A photo of that part of the unit is posted here:
http://topoform.com/uploads/chipper-01.jpg
The input cover would still need to be modified in my view, but it just might work...
Rick... That is the exact blade my friend's older German apple grinder has!!! It is a smaller home unit that came with the place he bought here in Olympia so he has no idea where it came from originally. I borrowed it for the season before last and it works great. So cool! Thanks for the picture.
I'm looking for something to grind apples as well. Would the blade assembly need to be made from stainless? Also how about the other parts that would be in contact with the apple?
Has anyone tried these with actual apples yet? I looked and they are currently running at $99 here in SW Washington.
I think preferably all parts that come in contact should be stainless or any kind of food grade material. Obviously not for a blade, but plastics like HDPE are great too depending on the use.
I borrowed a small Apple Mill made in Germany that looked exactly like this grinder looks, down to the blade. I have no doubts it would work. It is also like the blades on commercial restaurant slicing machines.
Has anyone actually tried it yet? I'd like to upgrade from the garbage disposal I use but don't like the looks of the coated wheel or the blades. Looks like green cider in the making. Anyone?
Do not get the Harbor Freight chipper! All the apples have to be cut in half to go though, but most importantly, it is a bugger to clean up. I'm sure I'm getting water in the motor, but there is nothing I can do about it.