Knowing how to use your Juiced Rite Cold Press Juice Machine is pretty important. After all, it is the way you make your living! From getting your produce together to the final juice, we’ve put together some basic steps on how to operate your cold press machine here, and thrown in some tips (because who doesn’t love tips?).

Prep produce

Every juicing process starts with produce. We recommend using the produce for your entire recipe in one press cycle for the best results (why? The Dishwasher Analogy answers that question). This will take a little trial and error to be sure you get the ratios correct, but it’s very worth it for the increase in juice production.

Weighing each ingredient as opposed to following a quantity will also increase your flavor profile accuracy. You won’t be able to recreate your recipes exactly every time, since produce is naturally variant in flavor, but weighing will help you stay closer to the goal.

When prepping your produce for juice production, it’s also best practice to only prepare what you will be immediately pressing for that batch. This reduces a lot of food risks and keeps your produce as fresh as possible right up to juicing time. As always, check with your local food and handling guidelines to adhere to food cleanliness and safety standards.

#Pro Tip: Re-hydrate your produce 8-12 hours before you intend to press. Just like crispy lettuce tastes so much better, well hydrated produce gives you the ability to capture all the enzymes and nutrients within the cells while also making better juice. Most produce tolerates being placed in tubs or sinks of cold water very well, but you can adjust your process for the produce you use.

Making Cold  Press Juice with Your Machine 

Once your produce is prepped and weighed out, you’re ready to operate your press!

NOTE: The following operating instructions apply to our M75-M400 machines, the CM25 and M25 are similar but have slightly different parts and names. The M800 has a distinctly different operation procedure (but we’ll teach you how when you buy it, promise!).

First, your clean and sanitized machine will need to be set up with the correct blade and all your accessories in place (read more about set up here). You can also use a color coordinated bag, like we mention here. Need some tips on sanitizing your machine? We’ve got you covered – learn more here.

Next, be sure your press is plugged in, the e-stops are disengaged (learn how here), and the main power on your control panel is switched “On” (see the red and yellow Main Power Switch on an M100 electrical panel in the image below).

We encourage you to personalize and tweak the following steps to suit your process and lead you to the ultimate amazing cold press juice. And, as always, take lots of notes on what works and what doesn’t!

Turn on the Shredder 

On the control panel of most Juiced Rite models, you will see a Start and Stop button above and below the word Shredder (see control panel image below). These buttons operate the Shredder motor. Simply press start to get that motor going.

You can also adjust the speed of the motor with the Speed Control dial on the control panel. We have found that starting slow with new recipes allows flexibility to discover your best practice. Speed Control is amazing (if we do say so ourselves).

Shred Your Produce 

Once your motor is up to speed after a few seconds, you can begin to add your produce to the chute. We recommend (in line with the Dishwasher Analogy) that you mix up your produce as you add it to the chute. Varied textures can often increase the quality of the shred, which increases your juice production. This is especially true when working with fibrous produce like ginger or turmeric.

With firmer items, like carrots and apples, you may want to slow the shredder down a little and follow with the produce pusher after only a few are added (this prevents apple cannons!).

Use the produce pusher regularly to guide the produce down the chute to the shredder. Allow the pusher’s weight to do the work, no need to jam it in.

Smartly Fill Your Press Bag  

Keep an eye on your press bag throughout the shredding process. Your properly weighed recipe will likely be just right for quantity (cause you’re amazing!) but we do want to prevent overfilling the bag.

Pop Quiz!

Q: What is the number one waster of produce when making cold press juice?

A: An overfilled press bag!

We recommend around 3/4 full for nearly all produce and especially for mixed recipes. You may find that your process can be more or maybe needs less, especially if you’re using speed control to finesse your production. (Take notes!)  

One thing is for sure, you’ll know your press bag is too full when the contents shoot up to the ceiling (it happens – we’ve seen it)!

#Pro Tip: Once you’ve finished shredding and turned off the shredder, you can unlatch the chute and tip it forward to give you access to the produce inside the shredder housing (see how to do this here in machine set up). We highly recommend getting everything out behind your blade and dropping this produce into your bag before you press. Every ounce counts!

Control the Rise

An important thing to consider before you start pressing is the rise of your produce in the press bag when pressing. We call this movement the Rise because the shredded produce, well, rises as the plates come together when pressing. You can control the rise with the type of blade used (read more on why here), the quantity of shredded produce in your press bag, and the speed at which you press.

Controlling the rise is an important skill in cold press juice production to increase your yield while also maximizing your press cycle times. As we’ve said before, take lots of notes when pressing each recipe to optimize your process.

Pulse Press Program

All our machines are equipped with our proprietary Pulse Press Program (say that 4 times fast) to help you get the most out of your juicing process with minimal hands on intervention. The program uses science (we love science) and helps the juice travel out of the produce and into your juice pan. Learn more about this simple yet super production increaser and time saver here.

As with the shredding, and even with a pre-set pulse press program, you can still adjust the speed of your press as well, creating an incredibly customizable experience in your juicing process (we cover details of Speed Control in the article with the Press Pulse Program here).

Press for Juice 

Once your shredded produce is filled to happy level in your press bag, you are ready to operate your press and make some juice!

On the control panel, you will see the Start and Stop buttons for the Press on the left side of the panel. Above these buttons is also a toggle switch for Open and Close (see image of the control panel above).

With your shredder motor stopped, press the Start button for the Press to activate the hydraulic motor and cylinders. When you’re ready and all safety measures have been taken, move the switch to Close to begin pressing your juice.

Then, let the Press Pulse Program do the work!

It takes approximately 2 minutes for the cycle to run through: it will close, open slightly, then close again for maximum production.

If you decide you would rather not run the full cycle, you can simply turn the switch in the upper left corner of the control panel to Open. This will cause the press cycle to end and the press to open fully.

#Pro Tip: You can adjust the speed control anytime during the press cycle if you desire, especially if you’re looking to control your rise (overfilled bags happen!).

Next Steps then Repeat

Once your juice is pressed, you can determine if your juice pan needs to be emptied or if you can dump your cake and continue with another batch. Juiced Rite machines create a fine lovely powder like cake that is easily emptied. We recommend composting if you are able!

When you’ve emptied everything, just start at the beginning again and keep making that juice! Most of our customers can run an entire press cycle, including weighing their produce, in about 8-10 minutes. We encourage everyone to time themselves, and maybe run a contest to help improve efficiency!

Questions or suggestions on how to operate your press? Reach out to us anytime: toll-free at 800.590.9670 or locally at 909.464.8253 

Happy Juicing!