BeerBorg

Okay, I have a friend who moved and now has a whole bunch of apple trees in his back yard. After mowing over the apples several times and causing his yard to smell like a cider factory he decided he would make his enterance into brewing by starting with cider. Problem was, YouTube stepped in and got him thinking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj9z7NbO9mk

Being a mechanical engineer, no one else's idea - especially something put together by a bunch of "hillbilly kids" - can possibly be as good as your own so time to innovate and save some money as well. So, he found a stainless steel sink and garbage disposer on Craiglist for $20 and picks that up. Then he finds a small, portable washing machine for another $20. The apples go into the garbage disposer, get ground, the pulp gets ejected into a paint strainer bag, and the bag gets to take a spin cycle ride in the washing machine. I keep trying to get him to send me pictures but he refuses probably knowing they will go viral. But, he's got quite a bit fermenting right now so I guess it is working and a lot cheaper than a decent size apple press.

I did introduce him to OneStep and StarSan to keep his stuffs clean so at least he wont go blind or something.

That's awesome. Genius!!!

I can't imagine how it's possible to sanitize either piece of equipment, especially a garbage disposer.

RickBeer wrote:I can't imagine how it's possible to sanitize either piece of equipment, especially a garbage disposer.

I believe for the washer he ran a "load" or three of bleach thru it, then a bunch more with water to clean it out. I didnt even think to ask about the disposer. As I mentioned, he too is a mechanical engineer and us MEs get pretty stubborn when we come up with a way of doing something. He did say it tasted like cider and there were no blue fuzzy things floating at the top and no one died from the soft cider so I have to say it probably worked.

ME's... My son is one. His senior year, then a year of grad.

That is the most awesome repurposing of a washing machine ever!