Apple Crusher & Fruit Press Rentals

Bladder Press Rental

Flying Fish Winery rents bladder presses to our customers. The bladder press was designed to improve the quality of juice when compared to traditional wooden-basket ratchet-style presses.

To understand how this works, you first have to know the difference between the two different kinds of presses and how they affect the must. Must is the winemaking term for grapes in a bunch including stems, skins, and seeds. In a basket, or ratchet, press, the must is pressed from the top and bottom between wooden blocks. A bladder press works by filling a central bladder with water, and pressing the must against the sides of the cage.

Ratchet presses do have one advantage; if you crank them hard enough you can get more juice than from a bladder press. The disadvantage is that the additional juice comes with bitterness and tannins from cracked seeds and stems due to the extreme amounts of force.

Bladder pressing is much easier on the fruit; it doesn’t crack the seeds so you avoid the problem of tannins. This is also a more efficient method of pressing; you get more juice than you can with a ratchet press unless you’re willing to crack the seeds. It’s also much faster,  you can press a batch of must in about half the time it would take with a ratchet press.

Comes with a stainless cage, painted lid, and basin; along with mesh liner and plastic splash guard. The drain pipe, pressure release valve and pressure gauge are also included.

Available to Rent:

40 Litre
$35/day
$55/2 days

Commercial Grade Apple/Pear Crusher Rental

Both apples and pears make great cider; the only problem is that you can’t simply put them in a fruit press. The fruit bodies resist compression to the point that neither a ratchet nor bladder press can squeeze them hard enough to extract the juice. Instead, you have to crush the fruit down to a pomace consistency and then run the crushed fruit through the press.

Luckily, this machine makes crushing apples and pears a breeze. Flying Fish Winery rents a commercial grade crusher designed to crush apples and pears only. It will not crush stonefruit or anything else with a large pit. The crusher features a stainless steel mill and large capacity hopper.

All you have to do is drop your fruit into the hopper and catch it in a bucket at the bottom. The pomace will resemble a sauce ready for pressing. From there, just transfer the crushed fruit to our bladder press and you will have pear or apple juice in no time!

NOTE: this press is for apples and pears only.

Available to Rent:

$35/day
$55/2 days