Building a Simple Cedar Fruit Press

Why a cedar press earns its place in a small orchard

A decent apple year in a British garden can leave you with far more fruit than you can eat, store, or palm off on neighbours. A simple press turns that surplus into something genuinely useful: 20kg of apples will give you roughly 10 to 12 litres of juice — around 50 to 60 per cent of the fruit's weight, depending on variety and how ripe it is. Bramleys and other culinary apples press generously; sharper eaters like Discovery and Katy give a livelier juice but slightly less of it.

Western red cedar is the right timber for the job. It is naturally rot-resistant, light enough to move about the shed single-handed, and stable in the damp conditions of an October pressing day. One caveat worth knowing: cedar extractives can taste faintly resinous, so keep the wood out of direct contact with juice. The fruit should meet only a food-grade bucket, a clean pressing bag and stainless or plastic surfaces — the cedar provides the muscle, not the flavour.

Sizing the press and cutting the timber

A press large enough for a garden orchard needs a pressing area of about 300 to 380mm square and a travel of at least 250mm. Smaller than that and you will be refilling constantly; larger and the screw becomes hard work.

• Four uprights: 45 x 45mm cedar, 600mm long
• Top and bottom rails: 45 x 100mm cedar, 450mm long, two of each
• Bed: 450 x 450 x 45mm cedar, grooved and drilled for drainage
• Pressing plate: 380 x 380 x 45mm cedar, chamfered on the underside edges
• Screw: 500mm of M20 stainless threaded rod with a flange nut, or a reclaimed bottle jack
• Fixings: stainless steel coach screws, 6 x 80mm

Buy untreated timber only. Pressure-treated wood, varnish and polyurethane have no place anywhere near juice. A food-safe finish of raw linseed oil or a beeswax and mineral oil blend is ample.

Assembling the frame

Cut everything to length and pre-drill every screw hole — cedar splits readily if you drive a coach screw into it dry. Work on a flat surface so the frame comes together square.

• Fix the bottom rails between the uprights so the bed drops in flush and can be lifted out for cleaning.
• Run a router or circular saw down the bed at 15mm centres to cut shallow drainage grooves, then drill a grid of 6mm holes through it.
• Screw the top rails on, then drill a centred hole through the top cross-member to take the screw or jack.
• Fit two thin guide battens down the inside of the uprights so the pressing plate stays level as it descends.
• Attach the plate to the screw with a loose collar or a shallow countersunk recess, so it can be lifted off for washing.

The bucket, the bag and proper sterilising

Stand a food-grade 20-litre bucket on the bed and drill its base and lower sides with 3mm holes. A coarse nylon press bag — 1mm mesh is ideal — lines it; a doubled clean pillowcase works at a pinch for small batches.

Hygiene separates juice that keeps from juice that fizzes by Tuesday. Wash everything in hot soapy water, rinse thoroughly, then sanitise with a no-rinse acid sanitiser or a sodium metabisulphite solution mixed to the strength on the label. Keep a spray bottle of sanitiser to hand and use it on hands, buckets and the plate between pressings. Never mix cleaning chemicals, and never rely on household bleach without rinsing repeatedly.

Wash your apples and discard every mouldy or badly bruised one — windfalls carry mould flavours that survive pressing and sulphiting alike. If you plan to store juice for more than a few days, add one crushed Campden tablet per 4.5 litres and refrigerate.

Pressing day, step by step

• Scratch or mill the fruit into coarse pulp; a fine purée clogs the bag and presses poorly.
• Let the pulp stand for 20 to 30 minutes to help colour and juice release.
• Fill the bag about two-thirds full, tie it, and set it in the bucket.
• Lower the plate and wind the screw slowly. Stop when resistance builds, wait 30 seconds, then wind again.
• Lift the plate, break up the cheese, and press once more — a second pass adds another 10 per cent or so.

Never force the screw. Stubborn cranking bursts bags and bows frames, and it achieves less than patience does.

Looking after the press between seasons

Rinse the frame and plate with cold water the moment you finish — dried pomace sets like concrete and stains cedar. Dry everything in moving air rather than stacking it damp in the shed, and re-oil the timber once a year. Grease the screw thread with food-grade lubricant, check the fixings for tightness, and store the press with the plate raised off the bed. Come next autumn, a quick wash and a spray of sanitiser is all it will need.