Here is an in-depth look at the Velojuicer, our pedal-powered apple juicer. A lightweight, mobile, all-in-one machine that scrats, presses, and juices apples using only human power and a bit of good humour.
In a year when we can’t celebrate Apple Day as usual, here’s a wee taste of how we hope it can be in the future once we can all get together again.
We first launched the Velojuicer last year at Apple Day in Glasgow – you can read about the development of the machine and the thinking behind it in this blog. We finally found time to edit a more in-depth showcase of the machine from footage of our first test.
The Velojuicer was created by The Orchard Project’s own Fergus Walker and designer and engineer Uula Jero. It was built as a prototype to test the idea that you can process a mature orchard’s apple glut solely by human power – making it possible for community orchard groups to produce enough fruit juice for all of their orchard carers and volunteers, even to the level of storing juice over the winter, or making cider. Most hand-operated apple presses are suitable for demonstrating the principle of pressing, and are great fun to use, but quickly become tiring when trying to process large amounts – and most large scale scratters and presses are not suitable for carting out into the middle of an orchard for apple day.
This machine was partly made possible by the generous donation of a scratter from Vigo Presses. The press is a 20 litre Speidel Hydropress. We hope to be able to develop this machine further so that it is available for use by community groups. If you are interested to find out more about the machine, get in touch with Fergus fergus@theorchardproject.org.uk (our Glasgow project manager).