First Things First

Where are you in the stages of your business? (a) Have you just thought of this potential business plan and you're doing some research, or (b) have you made a few batches at home and you're ready to take this from hobby to business? If your answer was (a), we'd recommend you move onto step (b) to make sure that, most importantly of all, you enjoy making juice or cider. Because if things go well, you're going to be making rather a lot of the stuff from now on. 

 

Market Research

Never underestimate the importance of market research. We know it's exciting and that you just want to make your product and get it on the market, but the companies who do their homework are the ones that succeed; mainly because they know the product they are supplying matches the wants and needs of their customers perfectly. From friends and family to strangers in the street, you can soon have the opinions of around 100 people which will help improve your product before you go into mass production. It's also good if you can get some meetings together so that you have a distributor lined up to sell your product once you've started producing it en masse. 

 

Space-Time

These next two factors are of equal importance. Make sure you've got the time to nurture and evolve your juice or cider-making business. Now the US are getting creative with their ciders, there's going to be a certain level of momentum which you'll probably want to keep on top of if your product is going to make it to the top. Like to holiday in August / September / October / November / December? Sorry, harvest has to take priority.

 

Next, don't underestimate the size of the equipment you'll need. Just a Belt Press and a Washer Elevator Mill  come to a minimum total length of just over 5 metres; that sort of scale isn't going to fit in your kitchen or your garage, especially by the time you consider the rest of your equipment too. You'll need to look into renting a unit or a warehouse, unless you have some land which you can build a shelter onto, which will house your equipment. 

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Equipment

So you've got your space, you've got a spare 40 hours a week, now you need some equipment. Chronologically, your apples are delivered into the juice or cider-making area, usually straight from an orchard, so they will need to be washed. For this, you'll need the Washer Elevator Mill which rinses the worst of the mud and grit from the apples (or pears), elevates them to a mill which prepares the fruit for pressing. 

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The Washer Elevator Mill ejects the pomace into the hopper of the Belt Press, which thoroughly presses the pomace using a belt which (a) filters the juice and ensures the flesh is separated from the juice effectively, and (b) firmly and with the assistance of compressed air gains an average 75% juice yield from every apple, which is deposited into a tray which can be connected to a pump for immediate transportation elsewhere. The almost-dry pomace is ejected into a bin for disposal. 

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The juice can then be pumped to a tank or through a filter. If it's juice you're selling, you'll also want to pasteurise it pretty quickly to stop it from becoming cider. 

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With juice, you need to make sure you have a method of pasteurisation, whether this is using a flash pasteuriser prior to bottling and then hot filling, or bottling first and then pasteurising inside the bottle. 

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With cider, you will need to store your juice in tanks and allow it to ferment. You're also likely to want to carbonate it, after which you'll probably bottle it prior to pasteurising. 

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Of course, you may wish to pack your product via Bag-in-Box for ease of packaging. 

 

Lots to consider

We realise this is quite a lot of information to take in, even if it is a little vague. If you're looking to start up a juice or cider-making business, feel free to contact us for more information and we'll be happy to help by offering advice specific to your exact needs.