Author Archives: buckie10

Okay, so the fermentation is done. The OG was 1045 and our final gravity is 998, so we’re looking at an alcohol content of something like: (1045-998)/8 = 5.9 Not bad at all. The cider is lovely and pale and … Continue reading →

On Cider Day 2010 (17th October) we had about 120-130Kg of apples from around the village… …the scratter, the press and 4 x 30l fermenting buckets to work with.  One bucket of scratted apples weighed about 15Kg and we could … Continue reading →

Here’s Ally’s press. A real thing of beauty: M12 threaded rod and 18mm ply boards. There was also a square frame that fitted over the rods for making cheeses from the pomace in place. The steps were put the frame … Continue reading →

Our first use of the scratter in anger… Amazingly it worked, without any extra tinkering apart from a real lid for the hopper (it’s like making popcorn without a lid on the pan otherwise). The pomace was around 5mm cubes … Continue reading →

…build an entire project 😦 So the only thing left to do is throw the switch and watch the thing start to rotate, right? I did this with some trepidation, a little for my own health and safety vis a … Continue reading →

Before I start this entry I have to say that I am more comfortable with electrics than I am with woodwork but I am also not an electrician so that doesn’t say very much. As the disclaimer goes “You should … Continue reading →

Now that I had a dressed motor, some mounted pulleys and a selection of vee-belts the time had come to put it all together. I’d been wracking my brains to work out a way to mount the motor to the … Continue reading →

As I said, the load pulley didn’t come with any way of securing it to the scratter’s aluminium shaft. When I got it out of the bag I was a bit disappointed and, beyond “Araldite!” I didn’t have a decent … Continue reading →

I found working out my pulley dimensions and belt lengths etc wasn’t too hard. Starting with the rpm of the motor as ~1400, the diameter of the aluminium bar = 25mm and the diameter of the the motor shaft = … Continue reading →