Apple Juice Machines for Home

For apple juice at home you want a juicer with a chute of 3 in or more, and the specific machine we would buy is the Breville Juice Fountain Cold XL -- Breville states a 3.5 in feed chute, 1200 W multi-speed and a 70 fl oz juice capacity, which is a jug of apple juice in minutes. The two-part answer behind that: the scratter-and-press equipment people picture when they search for an apple juice machine is cider-making gear for bushels of fruit, not a kitchen appliance -- and at kitchen scale, the only spec that genuinely changes the experience is chute width, because a medium apple is about 3 in across.

Two completely different machines share the name

Cider equipment works in two stages. A scratter or mill chops the fruit into pomace, then a rack-and-cloth or basket press squeezes the pomace under high force. It is built for a crate or a bushel at a time, it is sold through orchard and homebrew suppliers, and it is the right answer if you have an apple tree and want gallons in October. It is not a countertop appliance and nothing in the juicer market replicates it.

A home apple juice machine is a normal juicer. Apples are the easiest produce in this entire category -- dense, short-fibered and full of free liquid -- so almost any mechanism handles them. That is why this page's advice is unusually simple compared with the celery and kale pages on this site. If you genuinely need volume rather than a glass, best commercial juicers is the page for that end of it.

Chute width is the whole decision

A medium apple is roughly 3 in across. Every machine with a chute at or above that figure takes it whole; everything below it means quartering each apple first, which on a jug of juice is ten minutes of knife work you will resent by the second week.

Note what that table does to the usual hierarchy on this site: the widest chutes are on centrifugal machines and one vertical auger, and every horizontal masticating juicer -- the machines this site recommends for celery -- is the worst possible choice for apples on prep time alone. Best large chute juicers ranks on this spec by itself.

Centrifugal is a legitimate choice here

Apples are the produce that makes the case for a spinning basket. The reason this site normally steers people toward augers is long-fiber produce -- celery and kale, where a blade at 12,000 RPM travels along the fiber instead of rupturing the cells. An apple has short fiber and plenty of free liquid, so that failure mode does not apply, and a centrifugal machine is faster, cheaper and wider in the chute.

The two real costs are foam and juice life. Apple juice from a high-speed machine arrives with a visible head of air, which is why Breville includes a froth separator in the JE98XL carafe, and aerated juice does not hold up as well in a jar. If the juice is drunk immediately neither matters much. Juicer foam and oxidation and how long does fresh juice last cover both.

Browning, and the one thing that actually helps

Fresh apple juice turns brown quickly. This is enzymatic browning -- the same reaction that darkens a cut apple on a plate -- and it is a color change rather than spoilage. Commercial apple juice is clear and pale because it has been filtered and treated; home-made apple juice is cloudy and goes tan, and that is the normal state of the product.

The practical fix is a squeeze of lemon into the jug, which slows the reaction, plus drinking it fresh and filling the container to the top so there is less air above the juice. Nothing about the machine changes this materially, though a lower-aeration auger juice browns a little more slowly. Juice oxidation explained is the full version.

What to look for, then three machines

Four things, in order: a chute of 3 in or more; enough capacity for the volume you want, since apple juice is drunk in quantity rather than by the shot; a froth separator or the patience to let it stand; and dishwasher-safe parts, because apple pulp dries to a varnish on a screen.

The Breville Juice Fountain Cold XL is the fast one: a stated 3.5 in chute, 1200 W multi-speed and a 70 fl oz capacity, with a 1-year limited warranty as the catch. The Kuvings REVO830 is the one to buy if apples are only part of the plan -- a stated 3.5 in chute and a 1.75 in auto-cut chute for celery, at 50 RPM and 240 W with a 15-year limited warranty from Kuvings USA. The Hamilton Beach Big Mouth is the under-$100 answer: a stated 800 W, a 3 in chute, five dishwasher-safe parts and a 3-year limited warranty that triples Breville's.

For the single-produce version of this question see best juicers for apples, and if apples are one item on a longer list, best fruit juicers covers hard fruit, soft fruit and citrus together.