Fancy yourself as a bit of a craftsman? Are you longing for the day when you can smugly present your friends with your own authentic, homemade cider? At Hot Rum Cow, we encourage such smuggery and want to help where we can. Our four-step guide to manufacturing your own cider press should help. Would-be cider makers, your hammer awaits!

1. The frame

Using a form of hardwood, your aim is to construct something that very closely resembles a guillotine (substituting the blade for something a little less sinister). Try to make your structure as robust as possible – you want to produce more than one summer’s worth of cider.

 

2. The basket

Make a series of small holes (a drain) in the bottom of your basket. So the juice doesn’t drip straight off the press, use slats of wood to create an airtight seal around the drain. This will allow the cider to run onto the drip trough, and into your bucket.

 

3. The screw

You will need to create a heavy lid that will sit on top of the apples, to which you can apply pressure in order to extract the juice. A lever that you can twist attached to the drain would be the best method.

4. The trough

Place a bucket beneath the drip trough before you start the process. Once the apples have been pressed, you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour.

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Download our ‘How to make a cider press’ guide as a PDF.

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