Virtual Tour
- Picking
- Pressing
- Fermentation
- Bottling
Rack and Cloth Press
The mill.
At Merridale, we press our apples into raw juice. The apples are milled into a coarse apple sauce or ‘pomace’ that is moved to the press.
Filling the press with the pomace.
Emptying the press of the dry cake, what's left behind after squeezing the pomace.
We have replaced our old vertical rack and cloth press with a more modern horizontal version. This new press yields the same high-quality clear juice, but allows us both to press more juice from our pomace, but also process more fruit per day. The press’ stainless steel construction also simplifies clean up and sanitation.
The dry cake.
When the fruit is pressed, the fresh juice is tested and tasted before moving it to our fermenters. It takes about 15 pounds of apples to yield one gallon of juice. The press is cleaned and sanitized at the end of each day of pressing.
Our new press also allows us to take the dry pomace and move it to the Brandihouse to make our special cider and fruit brandies.