The Weston wine press is a great value for the quality of material and construction of the press. Weston makes a ratchet style press, so there is no cross arm to support the screw, rather the screw is anchored at the base of the press through the middle of the press where the fruit tub is placed. This is a great press for grapes and other soft fruits, but I don’t think it’s best suited if you are making cider with apples. It can be difficult to line the tub with a mesh bag, although you could use cheesecloth. But for grapes, the Weston wine press is great as the grapes don’t have as much pulp and excess materials to be filtered out when pressed. You can easily find the Weston Grape press for under $300 as well, which makes it affordable.
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I know this sounds like a stupid question but who makes the Weston equipment – I can’t find out anywhere on the web
Thanks
Ade
Not a stupid question at all. Pragotrade USA is the parent company of Weston Supply. Thier website can be found here at Weston Supply. I believe they are into many different products including meat grinders, sausage stuffers, among other non-food products. There is a contact page on the Weston site if you’d like more info from them. Thanks for your question!
I live in south-western Ontario. I’ve been looking for a distributor of these presses for ages. Do you know if they can be bought here? (shipping would cost upwards of $100 from Weston)
I use a regular nylon cider pressing bag, and just cut a small hole, so the bag fits over the central metal pole that supports the rachet mechanism. It works fine–if you make the hole small enough so it fits tightly, no pomace sneaks through.