Sunday 29th February 2004

The cider is syphoned off from its barrels into a variety of smaller bottles by a few of the HMZ team. After a quick tasting session, the bottles are shared out and taken home by the cider makers.

Spot the odd one out...(right)

Saturday 24th January 2004

A selection of the cider-team met to filter the cider off into clean barrels to mature, now that its second fermentation has ceased. The "Lee Mathews" barrel was the first to be filtered into another container, with his footballer namesake recently being loaned to Rovers, it was felt only right that he should be substituted for another barrel! "The Cock" made a welcome return and he did not upset the apple cart. We are now left with two barrels, one demijohn and a two litre glass bottle. The catch of the day had to be Gents for spotting a dead fly in the filter which came out of Mathews.

Nervous glances were then exchanged as the brave men present prepared to taste the cider for the first time. As this was our first batch of cider to be produced we expected the worst... but it was delicious! To our great surprise it was really, really good - honestly! It is quite dry, and dark in colour, and the juice looked a lot cleaner and healthier than before it was filtered off. All of our hard work was finally starting to reap rewards...

Saturday 6th December 2003

Fermentation had ceased completely, and to try and spark off a further second fermentaion the cider was successfully syphoned off into clean barrels today. A few pints of juice were inevitably lost along the way, so we now have a stock of 2 large chestnut barrels, 2 demijohns, and a 2-litre coke bottle.

The barrels substitutions in full were:
Lee Matthews on for Lee Peacock
Kevin Amankwaah on for Leroy Lita
Aaron Brown sent off

Thursday 6th November 2003

Now that fermentation has calmed down, the cotton wool is removed from the necks of the barrels and demi-johns are replaced by airlocks. Latest hydrometer readings indicate that the potential alcohol contents of our ciders are now: Lee Peacock (7%), Lee Miller (6.5%), Matt Hill (5%), Leroy Lita & Aaron Brown (both 6%). After a 30 minute sniffing session, two leading cider-chemists decide that Matt Hill is currently our nicest smelling cider.

Wednesday 29th October 2003

There are visible signs of fermentation in all the containers. The pieces of cotton wool used as bungs have risen up, and small amounts of liquid have trickled out. Hannah More Zider is officially becoming alcoholic!

Tuesday 28th October 2003

There are some signs of fermentation, particularly in the demijohns. The juice also appears to have lightened slightly.

We add sugar (dissolved in boiling water) to the barrels. We intended to add 170g per gallon, but the barrels were too full so it wasn’t possible to do this without losing a lot of cider. The effect of adding the sugar should now give a potential alcohol content of the cider of around 7%.
Ground yeast is also added to the barrels, and mixed in to the juice.

Monday 27th October 2003

Our head of dumping (a name earned mainly due to his bowel problems the day before) begins transporting the used pulp to the dump, along with the pieces of cardboard we had used to support Brian with.

1.00am – British Summer Time gives way to Daylight Saving Time, providing the Hannah More Zider team with a much needed extra hour in bed.

7.30am – Two metal display frames are discovered in the garage at the Willows farm, which can be used to support the scratter. Scratting is therefore reduced from a 3-man to a 1-man job.

9.00am – Four of the team are at work, despite being bleary-eyed and hung-over. The amount of apples in the trailer now seems manageable, but the 12 full sacks in the garden show that a hard day’s work is in store. The team divide so one person is washing apples, one is scratting, and the other two are pressing. Progress is fairly quick, yields are higher, and with less time between scratting and pressing the quality also seems to have improved, as most of the pulp is not turning brown before being pressed.

10.30am – A good morning session leaves just a few apples in the trailer, and Brian half-full. With 3 of the team having not turned up, one attached to his toilet with diahorrea, and another not due to arrive until later this could have been a tough time, but the efficiencies made with the scratter and by not chopping meant that work continued shortly.
There is some concern at the small pool of liquid next to Brian The Barrel, but little can be done to check if it has a leak, due to the size of the barrel.

The team members who have appeared for work break for a working fry-up.

11.00am – During the breakfast stop the first late-comer appeared, and was sent to purchase several pairs of rubber gloves, to deal with the freezing water which the apples are being washed in.

11.15am – A further efficiency is made with the scratting, as we discover a method of having a person washing apples at either end of the scratter, and feeding them straight into the basket, whilst a third person turns the wheel constantly. This speeds up the process, and the amount of pulp piles up faster than it can be pressed.
Adge 2 has been repaired, so we now have both presses back in action, and the yields they are producing continue to improve, as the presses are turned more tightly.

11.30am – The first moment of celebration today, as the last apples are emptied from the trailer. It’s too early to say the end is in sight, but we are clearly over half way through, and are confident that the pressing can be completed today.

12.00pm – Another worker appears, which adds to the pressing speed as one person can load the baskets while another filters the juice into Brian.
Over the next 2 hours work continues smoothly, as the number of apple bags slowly reduces, and Brian continues to fill. Jobs are regularly rotated so that everyone can vary the area of their back which aches the most, and arms are given an occasional chance to recover.

14.00pm – Another two cider-makers arrive to push the team up to full-strength, and the extra help enables pressing speed to further increase. The first real checks are carried out on the cider, with the hydrometer reading showing a potential alcohol content of 6%.
The presses are loaded to their maximum as the biggest yields of the weekend arte produced, at times up to 4 pints per pressing.

17.00pm – Production ends, and tidying up the mass of used pulp and dead apples begins. The team take a break for dinner before returning to restore the Willows Cider farm to its normal appearance.

Saturday 25th October 2003 - Pressing Day 1

6.30am – Preparation begins at the Willows Cider Farm to set up for the weekend’s action.

7.15am – The cider trailer is loaded up with equipment and towed round to the farm.

7.30am – The apple collecting team set off to Glastonbury armed with a trailer, a Freelander and 20 rubble sacks.

8.30am – In the Newton Green workshop construction begins on the “Adge 2” press. Adge 1 has already been made, and is in place at the farm.

8.45am – The apple making team enter the concrete bunker and are faced with several tonnes of apples, piled up to 3 metres high. They begin loading up the trailer and sacks, with the aid of a shovel and a couple of plastic crates.

9.30am – More cider-makers arrive at the farm, to assist in setting up. The scratter, on loan from a local landlord, also arrives.

9.45am – With the trailer and Freelander fully loaded with around half a tonne of apples the collectors begin the journey back up the M5 to Nailsea.

11.00am – The apples are safely reclaimed for Nailsea, and are delivered to the Willows farm. The sacks are unloaded, and a mass apple-chopping session begins. Any apples showing signs of mould are thrown out of the process, as are any lumps of sheep shit.

12.00pm – An experiment is carried out which quickly proves that the method of crushing the apples with a large wooden stick in a tub is ineffective, mainly due to the large quantity of apples we need to get through. Whilst the method worked well on the 4 bags of coxes in our trial run, the stick made little impression on the apples today, and it will take too much time and effort to make it succeed.

12.15pm – The scratter is brought into use, with a man holding either side on top of a tub, and a third man turning the wheel. This is hard work but is producing good pulp.

12.30pm – The first pints of Hannah More Zider are pressed through “Adge 1”, with little difficulty. The juice is poured into the large barrel “Brian”, through a filter made from old net curtains. The juice is a dark brown colour, but tastes sweet.
The cider-makers celebrate with their first pint from the supply of Thatchers. Construction of “Adge 2” is completed, and it is brought round to the farm.

13.00pm – The morning pressing session ends with around 20 pints of juice inside Brian. The workers knock back a quick Thatchers before heading off to the homes of football, Ashton Gate and the Stade de Grove.

17.30pm – Following a disappointing afternoon’s football the cider makers return to the Willows farm hoping to make significant progress through the daunting piles of apples. With light fading fast an outdoor light is rigged up, which allows the most important areas of the site to be lit.

18.00pm – The team is hit by the news that two of the workers have decided against turning up for the evening session, preferring instead to go straight to the pub with their girlfriends. After much cursing and burning of effigies work resumes.

18.15pm – It is discovered that the scratter is capable of dealing with un-chopped apples, so the chopping section of the production line is immediately abandoned. The safety adviser is also pleased by this news, as the combination of darkness, knives, and increasing amounts of Thatchers was becoming a worry. We still have a man washing the apples and filtering out the crap, before passing the apples to be pulped.

19.00pm – The team retire for fish and chips, and a strategy meeting.

19.30pm – Work resumes, with several of the cider-makers now clearly under the influence of a rival product. The “Adge 2” press is causing problems as the screws and holes are not aligning properly, so only “Adge 1” is in operation. However, the speed of work seems to have increased, with the team determined to have made progress by the end of the day. Lack of light means that the apple washing and quality control area is a concern, so the more sober members of the team are placed in charge of checking for stray sheep’s muck.

20.30pm – Scratting is halted, with attention turned to pressing the remaining pulp, to ensure none is ruined overnight.

21.00pm – End of first day’s production, difficult to gauge exactly how much cider has been produced, but Brian appears to be just under half full, so around 100 pints seems the best estimate. Yields have been lower in the last session than earlier in the day, probably as with “Adge 2” out of action care was taken not to over-load “Adge 1”. Equipment is rinsed off and Brian is bunged.

21.15pm – The team head to the pub, most by now very inebriated, and abuse the team members who had failed to show up for the evening shift.

The build-up

Over the previous 6 months work was carried out initially to determine the logistics of this project, how much cash would be needed, how many people would be involved, how many apples we should get etc. Initial plans to sell the finished product were abandoned due to the mass of regulations, and we felt we should concentrate on perfecting the cider before attempting to sell any. With this in mind we decided to press half a tonne of apples, with the expectation of producing between 400 and 500 pints of cider.

The first press, “Adge 1”, was built by one of our team, and the materials gathered to build the second on the morning of the pressing weekend. We had also bought a large oak ex-whisky barrel, reclaimed for England from its Welsh captors, and also 3 smaller brand new barrels. We also had demijohns, chopping boards, knives, a hydrometer, a table, chairs, a location and the guidance of the book “Cider-making on a small scale”.