Customer Reviews

Weston Apple and Fruit Crusher

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this grinder to use with the Weston fruit press which I also purchased. (see copy of review below...) It worked really well. My apples are not large, so I didn't have the problem of the apples needing to be cut to feed through. Easy to use and easy to clean with a garden hose. I got just over a gallon of cider for every five gallons of whole apples. It only took about five minutes (or less) to grind each five gallon bucket. I made 25 gallons of cider in six or seven hours...

From my review of the Weston press: "After reading the positive and negative reviews, I decided to go ahead and buy the Weston press and grinder from Amazon this fall to juice apples from our trees. I found it worked very well, and in fact can't wait until next year to do it all again! Many of the issues in the negative reviews are not that big of a deal. In fact many of the complaints are simply not well founded. Yes, the ratchet only advances a quarter inch per pull, but this means you're getting that much more torque as well. Yes, the wood blocks tend to move a little, especially when starting a new press batch, but a little steadying as the ratchet decends keeps them in line until the pressure is sufficient to hold them in place. I found that when pressing our ground apples (I also used the Weston grinder), I got the best results by only loading the press to about 50% capacity. This is the equivalent of about a five gallon bucket of whole apples before grinding. By only loading it to 50%, the pressure per square inch on the fruit is increased by at least double when compared to the pressure on a full press. I got about 20% more juice per press by only loading it to half. I did not press the fruit twice as per the directions, simply due to time constraints as I wanted to get through all of our apples.

I was worried that I would need to make some pressing bags, but did not find that necessary for apples. The design of the press keeps the apple flesh in place during compaction, and I used a simple kitchen strainer as I poured the juice into the jugs for freezing to remove any larger pieces. A friend came by to juice some pears, and I wished I had lined the inside of the wooden pess barrel with a flour sack, or made some simple bags to retain the pear flesh, as it was kind of a mess. I haven't tried grapes or any other soft fruits, as we can't grow them where I live. I would imagine based on the experience with the pears that you would want to use something.

It seems to me that those who had negative experiences expected too much and weren't willing to put forth a little extra elbow grease and patience to make it successful. It's not rocket science, and there is no "on/off" switch. It's a well-built and sturdy version of technology that is thousands of years old. My only criticism is that I wish the mouth of the spout dropped a little lower. Sometimes the juice did not pour cleanly off the spout, but tracked back on the bottom of the pan before dripping. No big deal, but seems like a simple design fix.

I would highly recommend the press and grinder. I got more than 25 gallons of fresh juice/cider in about six or seven hours of work. We'll enjoy it all winter now!"

I bought this in conjunction with the cider press. I was hoping it would take a step out of the process. While it does deliver the apples crushed to the consistency needed to make cider, you will still have to chop them before using this crusher.

Last year we spent lots of time and lots of muscle to get very little results. This year we spent the extra money and purchased this crusher. Easy to set up and easy to use. We just quartered the apples and tossed them in. A slight bit of muscle needed to get it turning but once started it was very easy to turn. Occassionally a quick turn in reverse keeps everything free and turning smooth. In minutes the press was full and ready to produce the juice. Several gallons were produced in a short time. All it takes to clean is a good hosing at full pressure while rotating the drum forward and backward a few times. Money well spent. It opened up another aspect of canning. Now we are making apple cider syrup. Very Tasty!

This apple crusher is every thig I hoped for.I crushed enough apples to make 20 gallons of cider. I am very happy with it. What impressed me more is the way Amazon handled the order. This was my first order through them and was handled very quickly and efficiently.I received my order in 2 days, very impressive indeed.

I bought a Weston press to make apple cider with my nephews. We have a 200 tree apple orchard which doesn't pay to farm any longer really, and my nephews are young and had never had freshly pressed cider before. As many of you know, that pasteurized stuff you get at the grocery store is just cloudy apple juice and isn't anywhere near as amazing as fresh cider. I used this 3 times. What I learned is it does the job well IF, IF you cut apples into 1/8's. I tried quartering them and it worked but your time spent processing apples will be more than halved if you take the time to cut the apples in to eights instead. It is a bit difficult to clean. Were I to design this product I would make the barrel removable somehow, or the back "press plate" removable so it was easier to clean out. I'm a restaurant owner so I'm a little ocd about being able to clean out kitchen equipment. If you're considering pressing apples without using this hopper, forget it, you'll be extremely disappointed.

I got this to crush apples to make cider (also got the Weston Racheting Press). This thing is the NUTS!!! It chews thru apples like crazy. It does take a little elbow grease to run it but it chews up the apples into a perfect pulp for pressing cider. I did about 5 1/2 gallons of pulp in a little under an hour (including sorting and washing the apples and feeding the crusher all by myself- 2 people could probably triple that production). My only complaint is that the mounting board started to come unglued (probably a marine grade plywood) and I had to reglue it. Oh and the exit chute is a little hard to bolt on as it takes a tiny hand to get up in there to sart the screws. Can't wait till next apple season as I'll be a crushing fool!

We have used our fruit crusher now for two products, grapes and apples. We thought the grapes would just slide through the spaces without touching the blades, but the crusher did a fine job and we got a small batch of nice wine.

We tried several methods of sending the apples through the crusher and found that chopping the apples into four parts worked the best. Whole apples got stuck in the blades and had to be removed by hand. I hear some people have hooked the crusher up to a small motor, but we turn it manually. All in all, we are very pleased with the crusher and give it five stars for a small operation. We made about 18 gallons of cider. Mmmm, good! Gave lots away. Had a cider-making party. Fun!

Arrived quickly, Ready to use. I was impressed that the claps were included as well. The only slight problem was attaching the chute, you need some small hands to get the screw through the hole. That is the only downside. I have an older table that I will be mounting this on. I was able crush apples at very fast rate. For the price this is an excellent product.

I bought a house with several apple trees on property, and wanted to make the best use of all of the apples by converting the juice into hard cider. First I attempted to grind apples for cider by using a new garbage disposal, but the disposal broke the bitter seeds open and kept overheating.
I love using this fruit crusher. I can fit all but the very largest apples into the feed chute. Anyone who has at least moderate upper body strength can easily use this to crush apples and pears. It's pretty efficient, it takes me about five minutes to crush a half-bushel of apples, which is how much my homemade press basket can handle. It's easy to clean out with a garden hose spray nozzle, and easy to disassemble for the post-season cleaning. I think it will last a while because it's quite heavy.
I would have given it five stars, but I made a few modifications to make mine easier to use. I attached a crank to the turn handle with some u-bolts so I could turn it continuously without having to grab for the spokes in its original configuration. Also, mine was tight to turn when it was brand new, I shaved off a tiny bit of the side of the grinding drum where it was rubbing on the housing and that took care of the problem. The manufacturer also sells a fairly expensive hopper to put on top, but I built my own out of scrap wood.
I would recommend this crusher for anyone who would like to make 10-200 gallons of juice a year. Any less can use a juicer--any more should get a motor-driven scratter.

This product is heavy duty, but it does not work like we were hoping. It doesn't crush well, it just seems to chop. We tried crushing some apples, all it did was chop them up.