Making my own cider is something I have done before, however I had to borrow all the equipment. Now that I have my own trees that are producing, I decided I needed to build my own grinder and press. The first year I tried made my own, I borrowed the equipment from a friend that make a lot of cider each year. He has two garbage disposal units and it was so slick. I have used the traditional grinders as well, but this is so much easier to pack up and maintain I think.
I also feel like I get way more cider with the garbage disposal grinder. I hardly need to any pressure for the juice to start running out.
All told I think I got about a gallon and a half. For only about a 5 gallon bucket of apples, I think we did pretty well. I tossed a little yeast in the half gallon I set aside for hard cider. Drinking the rest warmed up with a splash of spiced rum is making it really feel like fall.