Fruit and Apple Crusher - 7L Manual Juicer Grinder,Portable Fruit Scratter Pulper for Wine and Cider Pressing(Stainless Steel,1.8 Gallon,Red)

I was kinda bummed that I bought his after looking over YouTube videos of how to make your own crusher that's as effective, because it is kinda pricey. But it's worth it completely. My husband and I we both amazed at how effortless it was to crush an apple. We did find that running the mash through a second time yielded a bit more juice, so that's the way we do it now. And we mounted it on a couple of sawhorses and fit a bucket snugly under the crusher so we wouldn't lose any mash. Worked perfectly. I'm glad I did waster my time making a DIY crusher....this one's going to last longer than I will on this Earth, so it's just one less thing to build.

We have a lot of apple trees, so in season we need crush massive amounts of apples, and this crusher does the job. Obviously, an electric crusher would be preferred, but way too expensive. We crush the apples and freeze them in gallon freezer bags, then when thawed we make hard apple cider. YUM

The media could not be loaded.  This thing is a BEAST! An apple-monching MONSTER! (Yes, I spelled it monching, with an 'o'.)This device is your go-to for crushing apples, pears and other hard, tiny-seeded fruits, prior to pressing for juice and cider. It's very sturdy, and has excellent leverage on the handle. The gears are just the right sharpness for the product, and the apples flow through easily!This unit is *not* expensive for what you get. There's a few minor issues, but at $89, I am supremely happy with this device!You will definitely want to strap it down. I set mine on top of a 5-gallon bucket, then ran ratchet cargo straps over the legs and under the work bench. If you watch the video, you'll understand why it really needs to be strapped down, especially if you're working by yourself.Assembly was fairly easy, but some of the holes required the use of a prying tool to force them to line up. Some of the nuts weren't properly spot-welded to the steel, and popped off during assembly. After recovering the fallen nut from under the freezer, I was able to put it on, but it was considerably more difficult.Take your time putting it together. There are some sharp edges on this thing, and rushing through carelessly will give you a good nick or two.Tips:1. KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT! This thing will absolutely MANGLE your fleshy digits, so keep your hands well away from the gears. For this reason alone, I do *NOT* recommend motorizing this unit.2. Don't go fast. If you go too fast, the apples will bounce around a lot, and the teeth will keep missing their bite. Again, another reason to not motorize the unit, unless you go with a slow-speed, high-torque motor. Which again, brings up the man-killer aspect. This thing is a monster, so you need to respect it's teeth.3. Pretty easy to clean overall, BUT...it's got some narrow cracks and crevices that can be difficult to clean out every last bit of fruit. Dental picks would work well for that.Again, I want to suggest this unit be kept entirely hand-cranked. If you want to build a proper cradle, with a properly grounded motor that has a safety cutoff, such as a "dead man switch", then okay I guess. But if you watch the video, just try to imagine your hand, hair or clothing getting caught in that.

Very easy to grind down the shaft and slip on a 7/16 socket! DONE!ALSO, if your gonna use a drill (like a sensible person)#1 you’ll need a lid (lots of splatter)#2 retighten the bolts holding the drive-unit to the Frame (mine vibrated off initially)#3 I’d recommend a corded drill (the cordless drill worked, but is too light and the extra mass of a big corded drill helps to keep the inertia going)

We bought this to process apple’s for Apple butter and to make mead. Works great. It really needs its own stand. It was difficult to get the right angle to turn on top of the press. N my ales quick work of a bushel of apples!

This saves me a lot of work. No more messy crushing grapes. I processed Muscadines and the seeds did not get chewed up in the process. The unit cleans up nice with a hose. Busted seeds would make the wine bitter so this was a perfect tool. Crushed my semi frozen blackberry's as well. I recommend this unit.

You have to either quarter or half your apples depending on the size. However if you are using their squeeze master tube to press the apples you won't get a great yield. I can't speak to how it works with their wooden cider maker. When we put it through the tube, the apples didn't seemed smushed at all. In fact they looked the same as when I cut them. We put the batch through twice and I then knew something was wrong. I then put the apples through the food process to mush them and get another 1/3rd more liquid. The next batch I did we used the food processor. It is very time consuming to use the food processor. That batch had so much more liquid come out of the apples and the leftover apples were dry mush unlike the other batch. So if you don't mind not getting a great yield, then this product is fine. It does not give you a 50% yield on your apples. I would say maybe 25 to 30 percent at best. You need 2 people unless you can clamp it down. Remember you have to clean it so you may not want to do something that fixes the unit to a table.

No problems have to use the wood piece to push apples down and they crush very nicely.