Harvest to Bottle: Making Cider

The cider making process has changed little in overall substance for centuries. The

fruit is ground to a pulp, after which it is set in racks lined with a filter (typically cloth,

in the traditional methods) for a press to force the juice out of the mass of ground

fruit. The juice is then fermented; older methods would use wild yeast, while

more modern techniques tend to use commercially available yeast strains that convert

sugar to alcohol at predictable rates and volumes. From there, a host of different

methods are used depending on the desired end result. The dry fruit mass left over

after pressing – called pomace – can be used as a fertilizer, though research is ongoing

in Dr. Olga Padilla-Zakour’s Lab at Cornell's Department of Food Science to reclaim tannins that escape the juicing process.

Cider Pressing Racks
Juice is pressed from pulp in racks at Cornell Orchards.
Apple Pulp

The engravings of cider making equipment below would not be foreign to workers in cider production today, despite being drawn over 100 years ago. Changes in materials, power sources, and efficiency may have entered the industry but the core process remains as it has for centuries - pulp, press, ferment, bottle.

Search Results

1. Manufacturing Press

2. Hand Press

3. Folding Press Cloths

4. Niagra Cider Press

5. Mill and Press combined

6. Two-screw cider press

7. Quadruple Gear Hand Press