DIY Cider Press - Clean and Simple

Fresh pressed apple cider is amazing. And a completely different and much more satisfying taste than commercial apple juice. But it's usually very expensive.

But apples are cheap and plentiful here, so it made sense to make a cider press. So my neice Rachel and I built one and created this Instructable together. It's our 4th project we've now built for the site, since we both enjoy making and sharing projects together. And it didn't take very long at all, only a couple of hours between starting the project and enjoying our first glass of cider. So take a look at what we did, and then build one yourself, or improve on that design.

5x - 2x6 lumber, 8 foot length (We used salvaged lumber, so some of ours has paint on one side. But it doesn't matter because none of this lumber comes in contact with the finished cider. And we couldn't use the full lengths as these had rot at the one end that needed to be cut off. You might be able to do the layout onto 4x planks if they are in full good condition.)

½ sheet – ¾ Plywood (4 foot by 4 foot)

1x - 18 inch aluminum pizza pan

1x - faucet, ½ inch NPT female threads

1x - steel EMT connector, ½ inch

1x - plastic bucket

1x – 3/8” x 6 inch bolt

1x – 14 inch hydraulic bottle Jack

1x - king size cotton pillowcase

Tools:

Chopsaw

Jigsaw

Planer

Impact driver

Drill

Our goal with this cider press was to create a simple and easy to use tool, that was also very easy to clean and keep food safe.

Most of the original designs for the presses used a threaded rod (the Ram) to apply pressure down from the top into a stationary press basket made out of wooden slats. We wanted to create a hydraulic version, but we didn't want the hydraulic jack (dirty and oily from car work) to be over top of the clean Cider. And we still needed to be able to remove the Jack easily so it could be used on vehicles and equipment.

So ours has a ram that we fixed in place at the top, and a sliding platform supporting our press basket made out of a bucket that gets pushed up against that. It's a modification of the basic steel hydraulic presses made by a lot of metal shops, but out of lumber and lighter duty.

Once we had the concept done, we made some measurements of our bucket and pizza-pan catchbasin and created a cut list for the lumber. It's a pretty rough set of drawings, but it was all that we needed to get started.

We laid out all of our lumber on the floor, and marked out where we would cut each of our components from. We did also high grade the lumber, and picked a piece with straight grain and no knots to become the ram section as it will take the greatest amount of pressure.

Once we had that laid out, Rachel cut all of the lumber on the chop saw. Each piece was marked so we would have an idea where it was going later on. In order to describe that to you, we will give each of them a letter to designate that.

Here is our cut list.

2x – 43 1/2 inches (Vertical side supports* Parts A)

6x – 29 inches (Top and bottom frame pieces, and outside pieces for the sliding platform. Parts B)

1x – 17 3/4 Inches (inside support for the bottom frame piece. Part C)

1x – 17 1/4 Inches (inside support for the sliding platform. Part D)

3x – 26 Inches (2x base legs and 1x ram piece* Parts E)

2x – 6 inches (Ram guides for the top centre frame Parts F)

Note that three of these pieces have Asterix’s*. Those are the three pieces that we planed down to become a little bit thinner in our next step. This will be done to allow the slide platform and ram to move without binding)

For those that are wondering how we laid out the cuts, here they are listed per plank.

Plank 1 – 2x Part B and Part D

Plank 2 – 2x Part B and Part C

Plank 3 – 2x Part A

Plank 4 – 2x Part B and 2x Part F

Plank 5 – 3x Part E

Because the operation of this requires pieces to slide without binding, both of the vertical leg supports and the ram needed to be planed down. (Made thinner.) Not by a lot either, but just enough to allow some movement. 

We took the following pieces and Rachel used the plane to make each of them about 1/8 inch thinner.

The ram piece needed to be made thinner the entire length along. But the vertical side pieces only need the sliding span to be thinned down. Thinning the entire planks won't work. So we squared a line across the tops and bottoms of those pieces at 5 1/2 inches from the ends and only planed down between those.

2x – 43 1/2 inches (Vertical side supports* Parts A)

1x – 26 Inches (Ram piece* Part E)

This is a pretty fun step, and the plane takes off a lot of large and beautiful wood shavings. But it takes a bit of cleanup as well.

Because the slide will be locked in place, this next step must be done in order.

Layout the 2x vertical supports (Parts A) and place a top and bottom frame piece (Part B) across both the top and bottom. Square that all up and then screw down those pieces. (You can use part C to check that you have the proper spacing between the vertical supports between them if you want. And if your half sheet of plywood is around, laying these out along the manufactured edges will help you keep these pieces square.)

Flip that frame over, and place the base centre (Part C) across the bottom between the vertical supports and screw it there. 

Take the ram guides (Parts F) and screw those in next to the vertical supports at the top end of the frame. You can use the actual ram piece as a spacer between them just to make sure that it is not binding up.

Take an outside piece for the sliding platform (Part B) and slide it underneath the frame midspan. Centre the inside support for the sliding platform (Part D) on there and screw that to the sliding platform piece (Part B). Make sure that you are only fastening parts B and D together. This should not be screwed to the vertical supports (Part A)

The last thing to do for the frame is take all of the remaining frame pieces and platform pieces (they are all Parts B) and screw those across the top of the frame, bottom of the frame, and sliding platform. Then stand the frame upright and fasten the leg bases (Parts E) so it all stands upright. We did also cut a bevel on our leg bases just for aesthetics.

Time was also made for Eli the cat to get some attention. He is not very food-safe though and sheds a lot, so we also had to get his shed hair off our press.

Trace the pizza pan and the bucket onto your piece of plywood.  Because the ram head needs to fit inside of the bucket, trace a second line inside of your bucket circle that is 1/4 Inch smaller and cut along that.

Before these were cut out, we found the centre of each of these circles. That way we would be able to centre the support piece and the ram head onto our components.

These were all cut out with a jigsaw. And the pan support had a large notch cut into it that would allow for our faucet drain. We did this by using a hole saw to cut a hole, then cutting up to the edges of that.

The base support was screwed onto the sliding platform, and the ram head was screwed onto the planed down ram (Part E).

At this point, all of the wooden components of the press can be tested. Make sure that the ram is able to slide up and down in its channel, and that the sliding platform is also able to slide up and down between the vertical supports.

The very last step is to make a bunch of peg holes in the ram support. We did that with a drill and 3/8 inch bit. Drill right through the top support and the ram piece together. We then slid the ram piece down by a couple of inches, used the top support holes as a guide, then drilled through again and repeated that process until we had the ram piece set up with multiple holes that would allow us to adjust it. To hold the ram in position we used a 3/8 stainless steel bolt.

The bucket needs to be perforated to let the juice out. We took a scrap piece of lumber, drilled a set of evenly spaced holes in it, and then used that as a guide with a sharpie to mark out where we wanted to drill through. Spacing does not need to be perfect, and you want to leave enough material in the bucket that it won't collapse under pressure during usage.

Once it was marked, Rachel used the drill with a 3/8” step bit to punch all of these holes into the bucket. Then we washed it well to get any shavings out.

The pizza pan is the catch basin that will gather the juice as it is pressed out of the bucket. But then you need a way to get it from there into your bottles. We did this with a faucet and electrical connector.

1st we used a ball peen hammer to dent down the aluminum pan where we were planning on placing the drain. Otherwise the lip over top would prevent the juice from getting into it. Then using a drill with 1/2 inch step bit, we cut a hole through the aluminum pan.

With the hole cut, we pushed a steel 1/2 inch EMT connector through that, and then placed a rubber washer on the outside and threaded on 1/2 inch threaded faucet. We tightened these both together using wrenches so that we would have a liquid-tight fit. (EMT is an acronym for electrical metallic tubing. Often referred to as conduit. You can find this piece usually in the electrical section of a hardware store. They are available either as a steel component, or a zinc component. The steel ones are stronger and allow you to get a tighter fit which is why we chose that.)

Then using a flush trim tool, we cut off the upper section of the connector, only leaving the flared lip inside of it so that the cider can flow over top of it. Last of all we dressed that up with a grinder. Then everything got a good wash, as this catch pan would be in full contact with the cider when we start pressing.

Lastly, we used a hose connector and small piece of tubing on the faucet so that we would easily be able to fill the containers.

This is pretty straightforward. Make sure the ram is in place and pinned in its highest position. Lift up the sliding platform and place your bottle jack underneath that. Make sure the bottle jack is in its fully retracted position. Slide the catch pan onto the platform, and place the bucket on top.

With all that assembly done, you should now be on to the fun part of pressing cider.

Start by going through your apples. We usually buy cheap apples from the feed store, where seconds are sold as horse food. They might have some blemishes or the occasional rotten spot. It doesn't matter, using a paring knife you just need to clean them up. Shred them, or cut them into eighths or smaller, taking care to roughly remove any rotten or heavily bruised sections. You can cut out the cores as well, although it really won't matter as none of that will make it through into the cider.

Once you have a bucket partially full with these, you want to pulp them down a little bit. You can mash them with a chunk of lumber, or my preferred method is to use a paint stirrer (the red tool in the picture) and cordless drill. You want to try to get them down to a pulpy consistency a little bit coarser than applesauce so that you can free the juice.

Once you have your apples shredded or pulped, you need to put them into a cider filter bag. We used a clean king size cotton pillowcase. We place that inside of the bucket on the press, and then poured the apples into that. Then we folded over the top so that the apple pulp would not be able to push out.

We then dropped the ram as low as we could so it was pressing up against the closed cider bag. We pegged it at that position using the stainless steel bolt. Then we started to operate the hydraulic Jack, which slid the sliding platform upwards. This forces it against the ram and presses out the juice. Make sure the jack is centred so that it presses up evenly. Otherwise it will bind if the platform is not kept level while pressing.

We would continue to press upward until we reached full extension of the Hydraulic Jack. Then we would retract that, dropping the platform and compressed cider bag. We would then slide the ram down another peg or two to takeup that room. and then re pin it and press back up against that.

Overall, it was a delicious success. We made about 8 liters of cider from a 30 LB box of apples. And now with the press built, we can do so again whenever we want.