What have you made/created today?

It's some regular air dry clay I had left over from a previous project. Got a couple weeks worth of detail work to do but I'll be sure to post the end result.

Cheers yo.

 

I was wanting to do something with the extracab windows. Too cool.

 

More food for my every other friday food post. My mother will be in town for the next one, so I need to make it this week. I'm thinking beer dice

 

Promised I'd show the finished product.

"Phobiaphiliac"

Acrylics and clay on canvas.

Really wish I could get black 3.0 as a paint for my truck.

 

It'll be a while until finished, but I started my annual batch of cider yesterday. 140 lbs of pears from my two trees yielded about 12.5 gallons. Currently settling; will add yeast this weekend.

 

More details on the cider press..please

 

I started with my 20-ton Harbor Freight press. Couldn't justify the cost and space requirements for a dedicated cider press that only gets used once a year.

The lower drain board is marine plywood and oak, with cutouts for the press legs to prevent it from shifting. The press foot is built from scrap and held on by a bungee. Press boards are large 1/2" thick cutting boards split in half with slots cut in alternating directions on opposite sides to create drain holes. Using curtain fabric to wrap the pulp into cheeses.




To grind the fruit, I built a table out of scrap and a leftover length of cheap kitchen counter with a 1 hp Waste King garbage disposal built in. Use a food grade bucket below the discharge to catch the pulp.

 

Pretty cool. So the food/disposal doesnt overheat?

 

No, it's practically a constant duty spec. Found this one recommended on a few cider forums. I still shut it off whenever I need to replenish the parts on the table. That disposal is the single most expensive part of this whole setup.

 

So you grind up the pulp and strain juice?

 

Yessir

 

Sorry for all the questions, looks interesting. So how do you wrap the pulp so it doesnt press out the sides?

 

No worries at all!

Each cheese (layer of wrapped pulp) is separated by a press board. I have a wooden frame that fits on the boards which I use as a max size gauge for building the cheeses. The sheer curtain fabric is doubled over and oversized so there is plenty of overlap once the edges are folded over the pulp. Remove the wooden frame, add another press board, rinse, repeat. Haven't had one fail yet.

You can kind of see in this pic. A new layer of fabric is draped over the form, but I still needed to grind more fruit to fill it.

 

Cool, so do you core the fruit? then toss the "cheese" packs or can use them for deer bait/chicken feed.

 

Nope, chuck 'em into the grinder whole. The leftovers basically come out pressed into crappy fiberboard. My neighbor throws them in his compost.

 

Man, deer or bear would love that!

 

Probably would. Been here for seven years and haven't seen either near my house. Got quite a few fox and coyotes, though.

 

Depends how much he is getting out. I used to have a water bottle with a cage for fruit to flavor the water. After filling the bottle 2-4 times the remaining fruit tastes very very bland, no flavor and barely any scent left. Except for cucumbers. Those things have flavor that lasts 5-10 refills.

 

Beer dice?

 

nice.
Need to find some mini mugs