Cider presses in our Dutch Country
Kutztown, Strausstown presses relocated to preserve history
There were two basic types of cider presses in this apple pressing industry. The first was the two-screw press, which is built much like an old-fashioned book press. In this method, a wooden beam (about 12 feet long), threaded at both ends, is lowered vertically by two 8-foot-high wooden screws. As the beam descends, a stationary platform upon which the apples are matted has pressure forced upon it. By means of blocking stacked directly under said beam, a press of this size is usually about 12 feet long and often has a roof of thatch protecting it from the elements.
The second type of press, and most common, was the one-screw lever type. Here, the principle of the lever allows the operator to exert a tremendous amount of pressure by raising and lowering a 28-foot wooden beam with the aid of a wooden screw at the opposite end from pressing. As the beam was often 14 inches square and had a good length, the mere weight of it without the lever principle would seem sufficient. Three of the finest one-screw cider presses in Pennsylvania were at last check in the possession of historical groups. The fine 18th century cider press from the 1783 Hottenstein farm at Kutztown was taken to the Quiet Valley Farm Museum at Stroudsburg some years back. More recently, a lever press from the Strausstown area of Pennsylvania was removed and relocated to Historic Schaefferstown in Lebanon County.
A third one-screw cider press, in equally fine shape, exists at the Jordan Museum of the Twenty in Ontario, Canada, which was settled by migrating Pennsylvania farmers about 1800. The lever cider press is akin to the large fruit presses of Europe, which were associated with the wine industry. Its presence in the rural farm industry of America was testimony to the great needs of the successful colonists in handling their harvests of apples. It is because of this abundance of “fruits,” rather the rule than the exception in America, that has created a basic difference between the American culture and its antecedent European beginning. It was the abundance of apples harvested in America that had developed an apple culture here, which was far beyond that ever dreamed of on the frugal European continent.
It is also interesting to note that no substantial wine culture developed around these inventions. However, it would be difficult to state exactly how much cider became vinegar and how much was left to get “hard” or, better yet, distilled. Nonetheless, the most curious entry remains from the Oley Forge Ledger of John Lesher in the late 1700s. Lesher records among beverages used at his household: 1. Spirits (whiskey), 2. Rum and 3. Cider twice! Perhaps more credit should be given to fellow Ironmaster and Revolutionary War hero Daniel Udree for banning spirits from workers on his forge in lieu of a better work efficient environment. There are still early ledgers (very early 1800s) in private hands I have had the privilege of knowing that recorded the day-to-day work life at the furnace, which may have been compromised with this beverage treat.
Regardless, a preliminary step in making all cider is that of crushing the apples before they are placed in the press. Such an apparatus is referred to as a pomace mill. This type of mill consists of two large wooden gears erected vertically in a barnyard where they were operated by horse power. A large curved boom, which is balanced on the shaft of the “drive” gear, is turned by a horse and a sit turning its counter gear. Thereby, the apples are feed between the two sets of teeth, and after a good amount to pomace is made, it is shoveled up and packed between rye straw mats under the cider press lever. On the colonial farm of John Hoch in the Oley Valley, a screw to such a lever type cider press remained, though the press was burned for firewood.