[TheForge] The hard cider is good... OT:

[Jerry Frost]

The millwheel method sounds efficient Bruce. Maybe we can talk Andy into 
using a monster truck? He's living in WV after all.
Jer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Freeman" <freemab222 at gmail.com>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 10:11 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] The hard cider is good... OT:


> Actually, dropping a tree on it isn't far from one very traditional
> process -- a press that was a massive thing like a log.  I think I
> have an illustration of one of these somewhere.
>
> But a vast refinement was a "mill wheel" of stone that rolled around
> in an annular trough.  I have photos of one of these in someone's yard
> in France.  Through the center of the stone was a shaft that was
> mounted on one end on a swivel.  A horse walked the shaft around the
> circle, and the stone rolled over the fruit (as likely pears as apples
> in France).  The juice tricked out into some container.  Not exactly
> aseptic, but since much of this was fermented anyway, the yeast would
> kill off the bacteria.
>