Build a Beautiful Apple Cider Press

Building an Apple Cider Press is a rewarding and challenging process. These plans are meant to guide you based on our process of building one. The end result is a beautiful, vintage-inspired design that not only presses cider efficiently, but also makes a great decorative piece and conversation starter.

This design is intended as a standalone press that is built to the dimensions of a 5-gallon bucket. Meaning, it can fit 5 gallons of apple pulp in the basket, and it can drain into a 5-gallon bucket for juicing. Make sure to use food-grade buckets!

All of the design files listed are drawn to scale, meaning that you can print them to scale and trace the design if you desire. Keep in mind that most of the dimensions exceed typical printer paper sizes. Make sure you appropriately scale your printouts if you intend to trace the design. Measurements are included in most files.

Prep Part 1: Assembling Materials.

Estimated Project Cost: $400.

The press rack can be made from framing timber. Depending on what’s available from your lumber supplier and how you can haul lumber, you’ll need varying lengths of 4x4, 2x4, and 2x6. Take a look at the basic cuts of rack construction to get an idea of what you’ll need. 

The press base, basket, and plunger all need to be made from a food-safe hardwood like Maple or Oak. We made ours from a live-edge oak slab that we got from a friend of ours. You might also want to make your handle from Oak but you could also use a pipe. You choice!

You’ll need fasteners. This will include some carriage bolts with nuts and washers for your press rack as well as the wheels (if you decide to put wheels on it). You’re going to need quite a few stainless steel screws. If you can’t get them locally, you can order them online.

We used ½” stainless lath screws for the basket, 3” stainless wood screws for most of the 2x4 construction, and 1” stainless wood screws for the press base construction. Most of these can be acquired at your local hardware retailer. Start with a 50-pack of each and go from there. 

Finally, you’ll need some stainless steel strapping. It's nigh-impossible to find this stuff locally, but it really is the best option for longevity.  

20ga 10ft Stainless Steel Strapping

Prep Part 2: Acquiring Parts.

You’ll need a vise-screw for the press. 

Heavy Duty Workbench Vise Screw

You’ll also need a stabilizer for the plunger. 

1 3/8 Short Foot Pad

If you add wheels, you’ll need those too. I got mine at Harbor Freight.

8in Solid Rubber Tire With Steel Hub

Prep Part 3: Assembling tools.

In order to successfully complete this project you’re going to need, at a minimum, these tools:

• Drill
• Impact driver 
• Bits
• 1 1/8" Spade bit (or larger).
• Drill Bits for countersinks.
• Impact Bits, i.e. phillips head, torx.
• Table saw
• Miter saw
• Wrench, likely 5/8 or a adjustable wrench will be fine.
• Drill press or a countersink bit for your impact driver or drill.
• Lathe, Router, or Jigsaw. (Optional, but recommended.)

Countersinks: 

Hardwoods require screws to be pre-drilled for countersinks or they will be very likely to split. For the purposes of this tutorial, assume all hardwood countersinks will be pre-drilled every time. 

Wood Treatment:

These instructions don’t include specific instructions on how to treat the wood, but it is recommended that a quality mineral oil is used for the food-grade portions of the press in addition to a beeswax butcher-block conditioner. It is best to pre-treat all of the pieces before assembling and season these pieces on a semi regular basis. The rack portion can be stained and poly-coated with no problem. We used a Golden Oak Wood Stain.

Wood Stain

Poly-Coating

Beeswax

Mineral Oil

Note: Rack pictured is slightly different from the design files. The reason being, our original version was built iteratively. Make sure to follow the design files, NOT the photo.

The purpose of the rack is to serve as a strong frame to press against. While the construction is straightforward, it is important to ensure it is high-strength and will last through many seasons of pressing.

Basic Cuts

Framing lumber or prime douglas fir are acceptable material for the rack.

• (4) 50in Length 2x4’s. 
• (2) 24in Length 2x4’s.
• (2) 24in Length 4x4’s.
• (2) 36in Length 2x6’s. 

Next, assemble these as shown in the design files. You’ll need to drill holes for the carriage bolts holding the rack together. Use washers with nuts on the carriage bolts. The rest can be screwed together at your discretion. 

Once this assembly is complete, drill your hole for the press screw and mount the screw plate facing DOWN (see design photo). This plate will have a lot of pressure against it so make sure to get good screws and pre-drill your lag screw holes. For even more stability, consider running bolts all the way through the 4x4. 

The rack construction should go relatively quickly. I recommend a set screw for your press screw handle, but it’s completely optional. The handle can either be a wooden hardwood dowel or a pipe. The diameter should be around 1 ⅛” but be sure to double check your specific vise screw.

There are many names for the parts used in cider presses, however I have come to refer to the slatted portion as the "Basket" and the pushing part as the "Plunger". These two pieces constitute the heart of the cider press and are used to contain and press apple pulp through the deck.

This step is the most time-consuming and complex part of the entire press. Take your time and try not to get frustrated!

Basic Cuts

Hardwood such as Maple or Oak are recommended. Cut ALL Length cuts inline with the grain for the highest strength.

Basket:

• (16) 12 ” Length x 2 Width ” x ⅝ ” Depth

Plunger:

• (1) 11 “ Length x 11 “ Width x 1 ¾ “ Depth
• (1) 4 “ Length x 4 “ Width x 1 ¾ “ Depth

Note: If depth is unavailable, multiple layers may need to be glued and/or screwed together. This part needs to be very strong!

Order of Assembly

I’m going to break the assembly into sections. Depending on the tools you have, you may want to be cautious about what order you assemble the Plunger and Basket. The ideal is to get the plunger to fit tightly within the basket with a small amount of clearance for maneuverability (i.e. ⅛ “ on all sides), but this can be very tricky, depending on the tools at your disposal.

 If you have access to a lathe I recommend assembling the basket first, cutting the plunger to a slightly oversized circle, then gradually shaving it down to fit in the basket. 

If you’re using a circle jig and can only get a rough size for the plunger, you should assemble your basket after you cut the circle for the plunger, then modify the slat spacing to fit around the plunger. 

If you don’t have any of these things, you’re going to have to cut a 16-sided shape on your mitre saw. Take your time and be as precise as possible. There are pros and cons to this method but work with what you’ve got.

Basket

Once you have your basic cuts for the basket slats, you’ll need to set your table saw to a 7.5 degree angle and make the angle cuts as shown. If you’re not super comfortable with angles, make sure to watch some explainer videos on how to cut angles on the table saw and then make some practice pieces out of leftovers from the framing timber. Feel free to print off these design scale-models of the cut to check that you’ve got it right (make sure your print settings are set to accurate scale!). 

Now that your slats are cut, it’s time to cut and drill the stainless strapping. When cutting your strapping the rule of thumb is to cut more than you need. In other words, treat the length measurement as a minimum. Cut two pieces of equal length and drill 16 holes at the provided spacing. You’ll notice that there is a length at the end labeled “Adjust for overlap”. Wait to drill these holes until after you’ve drilled the first 17. Since these holes will overlap, their spacing will end up slightly wider than the interior. While this could technically be calculated, it’s going to be more practical to drill the last three holes in place. 

When mounting the straps, you will notice that our files suggest more spacing at the top than the bottom. This is to help account for the stress of pressing.

In order to do that, mount all of your slats except slats 1-3. Line up the 17th hole with hole #1 and mount that slat with the blank overlap on the outside. Next, use a vise-grip or other clamp to secure down the strap, and drill the final two holes from the inside out. It’s generally best practice to drill and mount one strap at a time to ensure maximum alignment. 

Plunger

Once you have your large square piece cut out, it’s time to make it into a circle. A lathe is the ideal tool for this, but there are some explainer videos on YouTube about creating a circle jig for a jigsaw or router if you have that. Matching the plunger to the basket size is the trickiest part of the whole design. Take your time, always remember you can subtract more but you can never add more to the size of the plunger. If you get to a rough size that won’t quite fit, don’t be afraid to spend some time sanding it down to make it fit a little better!

Once you have your circle fitting within the basket, it’s time to prepare the top block. The dimensions given for the block are meant as a minimum size. Feel free to make the block a larger size as that will add even further support to the plunger. Just keep it within the diameter of the plunger itself. It is recommended that you pre-drill the holes for mounting the stabilizer, but it can be done afterwards as well. Attach the block to the center of the plunger base using 3” Stainless Screws. Next, mount the stabilizer to the block. The stabilizer might come with a securing bolt but you should remove it as it won’t be needed. 

Basic Cuts

Again, hardwood such as Maple or Oak are recommended. Cut ALL Length cuts inline with the grain for the highest strength.

Trough:

• (2) 14 ¼” Length x 4 Width ” x ½ ” Depth
• (2) 15 ¼” Length x 4 Width ” x ½ “ Depth
• (1) 14 ¼” Length x 14 ¼ “ Width x 1 ¾ “ Depth

Note: If depth is unavailable, multiple layers may need to be glued and/or screwed together. This part needs to be very strong!

Deck:

• (7) 14 “ Length 1 ⅞ “ Width x ⅜ “ Depth
• (4) 14 “ Length 1 “ Width x ½ “ Depth

Trough

Trough construction is fairly straightforward. You are essentially building a type of drawer. Feel free to use a silicone sealant around the edges of the drawer, but we had success with simply using extra beeswax to seal the edges. It’s up to you! 

Drilling the drain hole is a little bit tricky since you want there to be a small drainage trough to feed the exterior drain. 

The best way to do this is to use a sacrificial block. 

1. Find a piece of wood that you don’t mind destroying and cut it to fit behind the area you are drilling your drain hole. 
2. Secure the piece down with screws. 
3. Drill the front drain hole at a slight angle such that it will drain well. 
4. Remove the sacrificial block.

Another way of doing the drain hole would be to use a chisel to clear out the trough and just drill the front drain hole separately. Whichever works best with the tools at hand. 

Deck

This piece takes some time but is fairly straightforward carpentry. It might be helpful to make all of the marks along the skids before attaching, or make some spacers that will help. Either way, the spacing does not need to be perfect. Just make sure the deck will fit squarely within the trough and the drainage will work well. You will place the skids running towards the drain. Also note that the skid thickness is a minimum number as well, feel free to make the skids thicker and the deck board thicker.  

Once you've completed all of the sections, you're ready to put everything together and start pressing cider.

Note that you will need an apple scratter (grinder) to use this unit. I've heard that some folks get around that by freezing their apples and thawing them to press, but I've never verified it personally. If you've done that successfully, feel free to leave a comment! I'll be posting an instructable at a later point showing how I built a couple of different scratter designs. Stay tuned!

Mesh Bags

You will need some kind of mesh in order to press apples as well. Here are the bags I use:

Mesh Brew Bags

These fit perfectly in a standard 5-gallon bucket. I typically will pulp my apples in to a 5-gallon bucket that is lined with one of these bags. Once it's full (don't overfill!), it's easy enough to transfer the bag into the press and get the juice out.