Fruit presses from Devon

Press your own apple juice and cider

Presses, crushers and kits from Vigo Presses, run by the family behind Courtney's Cider. From a 4.5 litre worktop press to a 50 litre hydraulic.

How much juice?Shop the presses
  • 2 kgof apples for about 1 litre of juice
  • 3pressings an hour
  • 7 kgof fruit in a crusher hopper
  • 1985first Vigo presses sold, still in use
40 years of pressing

Devon cider makers. Cast iron and beech. Stainless steel cages. Spindle, cross beam and hydraulic. Kits for first timers.

Apple to juice

How pressing works

Four jobs, the same on every size of press.

  1. Step 1: Crush

    Crush to a grated pulp

    Apples must be crushed before you press them. Aim for a grated pulp, called pomace. Slices are too coarse and a food processor makes it too fine. A crusher hopper takes 7 kg at a time.

    Use sound fruit only. Wash windfalls and cut out any rot.

    Hobby Fruit Crusher£145.83 ex VATinc VAT
  2. Step 2: Or mill

    Mill it for more juice

    An electric mill shreds the fruit finer. Vigo say it lifts the juice from less than half of the fruit's weight to up to 75%. Worth it if you have an orchard to get through.

    1.5 kW Stainless Steel Apple Mill£529.17 ex VATinc VAT
  3. Step 3: Press

    Press it slowly

    Fill the basket with pomace and turn down a little at a time. Wait for the juice to stop running before you turn again, and stop when it gets hard to turn. You will manage about 3 pressings an hour.

    Spent pomace is good for the compost heap or farm animals.

    12 Litre Cross Beam Press£254.17 ex VATinc VAT
  4. Pasteurise it, or make cider
    Step 4: Keep

    Pasteurise it, or make cider

    Fresh juice keeps 2 to 3 days in the fridge. Pasteurised at 72°C for 20 minutes, bottled juice keeps for 1 to 2 years. Or let it ferment into cider with a starter kit.

    6 Litre Hobby Press Cider Making Kit£165.83 ex VATinc VAT
Juice calculator

How much juice will I get?

Pick how many apples you have. Vigo's rule of thumb is about 2 kg of apples for each litre of juice.

How many apples do you have?
kg

A small bush tree gives about 50 kg in a good year. A big standard tree can give more than 250 kg.

0 litres
of juice, give or take

Good fit means the smallest press that gets through your apples in about 3 hours, at 3 pressings an hour. Basket sizes are Vigo's own.

Four kinds

Which kind of press?

Tap what matters most to you.

Spindle pressFrom £72.50

Spindle press

A screw and a pressure plate. Gentle pressure and simple to use. The 12 litre basket holds 11 kg of pulp.

  • Gentle and simple
12 Litre Hobby Press£87.50 ex VATinc VAT
Cross beam pressCast iron and beech

Cross beam press

A step up from a spindle press, with more juice for the same effort. The beam swings aside so a crusher can sit on the basket.

  • More juice for less effort
  • Room for a crusher on top
12 Litre Cross Beam Press£254.17 ex VATinc VAT
Hydraulic press3 tonne jack

Hydraulic press

A hydraulic jack does the hard work. Steel frame and a stainless steel cage. The 50 litre has a 5 tonne jack.

  • Most pressing power
23 Litre Hydraulic Press£308.33 ex VATinc VAT
Worktop press4.1 kg

Worktop press

38 cm high and light enough for the kitchen. Holds 3.4 kg of fruit, about 1.7 litres a pressing.

  • Fits on a worktop
  • Gentle and simple
4.5 Litre Worktop Press£86.67 ex VATinc VAT
The range

Shop Vigo Presses

The people behind it

Cider makers in Devon

Vigo Presses is owned by Paul Courtney, who makes Courtney's Cider. The family orchard at Whimple is the old Whiteways orchard, with over 450 trees and no spraying.

It makes about 6,500 litres of cider and 10,000 litres of apple juice a year, on Vigo equipment. So the advice comes from people who press every autumn.

1985the year Vigo sold its first presses. Many are still in use.

Videos

Set up and get pressing

Short films from Vigo Presses.

How to

Juice and cider, step by step

Written from Vigo Presses' own guides.

Before you press5 minutes

Pick and store your apples

Ripe, sound fruit gives the best juice.

Steps

  1. A ripe apple comes away from the tree with a gentle twist, and the pips are black and glossy.
  2. Press cooking apples later, in December or the New Year.
  3. Store apples for 2 to 4 weeks at most. Any longer and the pulp turns slimy.
  4. Keep heaps no deeper than 2½ to 3 feet.
Juice30 minutes

Pasteurise your juice

Keep it for a year or more.

You will need

  • A pasteuriser or a large pan with a thermometer
  • Clean bottles or bag in box bags

Steps

  1. Fill the bottles or bags with fresh juice.
  2. Heat them to 72°C and hold for 20 minutes.
  3. Bottled, the juice keeps for 1 to 2 years. Bag in box keeps for 6 to 12 months.

Tip: The 27 litre pasteuriser holds 13 bottles of 75 cl, or 2 bags of 5 litres.

See the pasteuriser
Cider3 to 6 weeks

Make your first cider

From juice to dry cider, the simple way.

You will need

  • A fermenting bucket or demijohn with an airlock
  • A hydrometer
  • Cider yeast and Campden tablets

Steps

  1. Check the juice with the hydrometer. A gravity of 1040 to 1060 gives about 5% to 7.7%.
  2. Add Campden tablets, then the yeast 24 hours later.
  3. Ferment at about 15°C. It usually takes 3 to 6 weeks.
  4. Rack it off the sediment once the gravity is below 1005.
  5. It has finished at 1.000 or below. Dry cider under 1.003 can be bottled without pasteurising.

Tip: Below 10°C a cultured yeast can stall, and above 21°C the flavour suffers.

See the 12 litre cider kit
Cider2 minutes

The best apples for cider

Bittersweets give body, crab apples give bite.

Steps

  1. Vigo's picks are Foxwhelp, Kingston Black, Yarlington Mill and Dabinett.
  2. Add a few crab apples for tannin.
  3. There is no need to peel or core them.
Care10 minutes

Look after your press

A few minutes after each pressing keeps it going for years.

Steps

  1. Rinse everything with water straight after pressing.
  2. Let it dry fully.
  3. Put a little food grade grease on the metal parts that do not touch the fruit.
  4. Store it somewhere cool and dry.

Not sure which press?

Tell us how many trees you have and what you want to make. We will help you pick a press.

Email usWork it out