I squeezed some Geneva crab last month and was pleased with the flavor. Geneva is a very big, say two inches, crab that is dark red and has red tinged flesh. It is mentioned as a good cider apple by the Vintage Virginia folks, and while it might not be a good single variety cider for some folks taste, it would be a good addition to a blend. I have two gallons in the freezer and plan to add it to the Gala cider I'll be squeezing this week. Gala is rather bland to my taste, so I am hoping the Geneva and perhaps some Whitney crab cider added to the blend will kick it up. BTW, where would it be good to post questions about press designs? I just put together a rack-and-cloth press using a Harbor Freight hydraulic press, and even before using it I have been thinking about making a stailess steel cylinder to use with it, and if perforated stainless steel could be used without press cloth. Chuck

I haven't got a clue what kind of yield there is. I just had a big mixing bowl full of mixed apples that fell in the windstorm -- Macs, Red and Green Spires, Jonadels, and a lone Korean Giant pear. I think it was roughly a half peck, and I got about 1 1/4 quarts of juice and probably half a gallon worth of pulp. I didn't measure any of it, so I can't say for sure. I cooked the pulp down into really thick applesauce already. It is very tasty just like that, so no loss.

Cooking2day, I actually purchased the metal grinding parts, Dad built the wooden frame for me and put it together. It works really well but after this year when the apples were so plentiful Elery is threatening to motorize it. (grin) Diane, my apples make perfectly good pies and juice, I make Nancy's Apple Maple Jam and apple butter and sauce and any that is left over are happily consumed by the cows and horses. There is never any left for the deer! islay, apple juice here is usually cooked, which happens when I can it, and the fresh raw stuff is cider. The flavor is just so much different. Here, if it's alcoholic we call it "hard" cider. It's all good, that's for sure. Cathy, the cows didn't have any problems at all eating those apples, did they? And the goats wouldn't eat them? Any goats I've ever met would eat anything, including cigarettes, gloves and pieces of paper. Madonna, I'm intact but we did have a confirmed tornado in my county that did quite a bit of damage, and nearly half a million people in Michigan were without power. The power companies are saying that it might be Friday before everyone is back on and there is a lot of damage, flooding, trees down on houses, roofs are ruined. Most of the schools were closed today for structural problems and there is no power anyway. Wind was measured at 70MPH just south of me. It was a pretty wild night, but I'm fine and my power is on. I've got a couple days worth of yard cleaning to do and we've got some barn repair at the farm but that's minor compared to other damage. Now, definitely get your cider press out of the barn. If it's cast iron it can be sandblasted if it's really bad, or scrubbed clean if it's not. The metal parts for mine cost more than I want to admit, and if you try to buy one new, well, Happy Valley has one like mine but with two slatted baskets for the everyday low price of $930.00. Just the metal parts are $575.00. I see them periodically on Craigslist but they want hundreds of dollars for them. So, definitely dig that out, if for no reason other than they are a very saleable and expensive item, you've got treasure in that old barn! Annie

I would prefer to have some sort of stud running between them to help with the deflection but you can probably mull them. When I have had clients that absolutely wanted the zero mullion look, we have dropped structure inside the mullion groove to help with the deflection. That is a large opening and tall. Depending on the unit and frame materials, you might have some noticeable movement.