Oh dear! In my hand here is the top half of the bleed valve from the bladder of the press below. It has snapped off inside the rod that supports the bladder, so the actual air release mechanism is still trapped. Given that the broken edges of the brass have turned quite green, I’m not sure the breakage happened recently. I suspect that it cracked some time ago, allowing apple juice in and damaging the valve further.
Not sure how I’m going to remove the old valve yet. Needs some thought. Possibly I can cut off the release button and then depress it far enough to allow something to be jammed inside the valve body, allowing it to be unscrewed.
