Freezing apples for later pressing in a hydropress

[KAB]

I have searched the forum and read up on pressing frozen apples. Seems feasible. What I haven't seen is any info on having dsafely done it in a hydropress, only speculation as to the status of the bladder.

Has anyone actually pressed frozen apples in a hydropress. Our apple timing is wrong this year (actually our holiday timing) and we were thinking of freezing.

Thanks

[Andrew Lea]

Not sure if I'm missing the point here, but quite a number of kitchen scale cidermakers (who don't have a mill) freeze and thaw their apples before lightly pressing to extract the juice. The freeze / thaw cycle breaks down the cell walls so much less pressure is needed.

Don't see why you couldn't do the same, and hydro-press the apples after thawing (not pressing the frozen apples). You might have to go easy on the pressure for fear of pulp creeping through the cloth and basket, though. But I would have thought it doable.

If you are trying to make ice cider, well of course that's quite a different thing.

Andrew

Wittenham Hill Cider Portal
www.cider.org.uk

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[Claude Jolicoeur]

Le mardi 29 août 2017 03:46:36 UTC-4, KAB a écrit :

I have searched the forum and read up on pressing frozen apples. Seems feasible. What I haven't seen is any info on having dsafely done it in a hydropress, only speculation as to the status of the bladder.

Has anyone actually pressed frozen apples in a hydropress. Our apple timing is wrong this year (actually our holiday timing) and we were thinking of freezing.

For my part, I have done it on a basket press and on a rack-and-cloth one, and works fine either way.
I can't see there could be any issue with a hydro press, but it would have to be tried...
As Andrew mentioned, I would restrict the flow of water so it inflates more slowly to avoid bursting the apples.
Also, don't wait too long after the apples are thawed - better press them with still a bit of ice in them (this would increase the SG slightly) than too late, as it could then make a mess.
Claude

[nick....@gmail.com]

Hi, I have pressed Frozen and thawed apples with a hydropress and it worked surprisingly well, although as Andrew said the pulp tends to pass through the cloth and if the apples are not fully thawed the juice comes out as a syrup. I first thought that it had developed a brown cap as the juice cleared with most of the pulp rising to the surface of the juice.

Nick

[Andrew Leighton]

If you're freezing the apples before full starch-to-sugar conversion, I don't think they'll make very good cider.

[KAB]

Thanks all. Will give it a go and post back after pressing.

On Tuesday, 29 August 2017 08:46:36 UTC+1, KAB wrote:

[KAB]

A bit late but thought we'd post results.  We froze some of our apples. When we were ready we took them out to defrost slightly, such that when pressed with a thumb you could see an indentation.  We then put them into our 20L hydropress, whole and un-scratted.  Ran the press. Sounded lovely, like popcorn. Juice flowed out no problem, slightly thinker than unfrozen apples, very very sweet and concentrated. Even with the bag in quite a bit of pulp came out through the sides of the hydropress, but we caught all of it in a sieve before it went into the fermenter.  First 5L batch actually came out a lovely pink. I don't know what the mix of apples was that created that.  I then proceeded to drop the darn glass demijohn on a cement floor. The first one I have dropped ever and it had to be the one with the lovely pink juice!

The image attached is the "pomace" - results of pressing the frozen apples. Not greatly efficient.

So pressed a second batch, which did not come out pink.  And it is fermenting slowly away in the shed.

Thanks for all your suggestions and help.

Bottom line - you can press frozen apples in a hydropress with no damage to the press.

On Tuesday, 29 August 2017 08:46:36 UTC+1, KAB wrote:

[CiderSupply.com]

Several years back I froze about 58 or so different cider apple cultivars and accessed how the pulp would press. I wanted to know which cultivars I had to press immediately and which ones I could freeze for the last pressing of the season in winter. The differences were radical. Most of the common English and French cultivars did well in the sence that they stayed fibrous and pressed well. But after sweating and freezing the hydraulic press was clearly the most efficient with these dryish apples. More of the dessert apples tended to move to the mealy side of things and hold their juice. My bladder press was the only way I could get reasonable juice out of the mealy ones. Enzymes made the mealy cultivars even worse to press. Sort of like trying to squeeze oil out of grease.

If I can find my spreadsheet I will post the results of the survey.

Best regards
Chris Rylands
Renaissance Orchards