June 20, 2019

Over the years we have sold several screw presses for producing garlic juice. In order to get a video about the application on our YouTube channel, we bought a case of garlic and ran it in a Model CP-4 lab press. Here is the video link:

GARLIC JUICING – https://youtu.be/5IOUOhuEhdE

First we tried feeding whole garlic cloves into the press. This did not work. The cloves were chewed up in the press, but juice yield was way too low for commercial justification.

So next we shredded the remaining garlic in our little VS-8 shredder. When we ran this through the press, juice yield of 30% was achieved. The throughput capacity of the press came out at 230 pounds per hour, which is about average for a CP-4 press.

Our as-received garlic averaged 65% moisture content. After pressing, the fiber (press cake) came out at the same. In fact, some press cake readings were higher than 65% moisture.

Clearly, the moisture content of the cake coming out cannot be higher than the material being fed into the press. But, we have seen this happen multiple times when we have run trials with fresh orange peel. It is a good example that the moisture content of some organic materials does not change when they are run through a screw press. This is hard for many people to accept.

The testing showed that garlic has a great amount of dissolved solids. We got readings of about 28º Brix. If garlic waste is involved, it would likely make an excellent feedstock for a biogas digester.

The total solids in the press liquor were 26%, which tells us that there was very little insoluble fiber coming through the screen of the press.

The screen we used in the press was wedgewire with slots which are only 0.010″ wide. Usually such a narrow slot is reserved for when we are pressing alcohol or oil from some organic material. It is good to know that the fine slot will work on some water-based materials.

Any press rented or sold for garlic juice would be shipped with what we label “Vincent Food Grade”:

The liquid contact parts will be sand blasted; then pits and undercuts will be filled, and spatter will be removed. Final blasting will be done with glass bead to give a slight luster to the metal. The stainless surfaces will be passivated with acid compound. Food grade grease will be used in the factory. If specified, the gearbox will be filled with food grade oil.

Issue #314