The Black Hand Cyder Society
Introduction
Welcome to the Denton Blackhand Cyder Society section of the Denton website. Here you can find out everything about the society from how it began, to our last year's production.
The society has gone from strength to strength. 2002 saw 195 gallons pressed, 2003 progressed to two pressing days with 420 gallons pressed and 2004 two days with 401 gallons, 100 gallons of this being from true cider apples from Somerset.
January 2003 saw the Society restage the traditional Wassail event, historically held on 15th January, where the apple trees are ‘blessed’ to ensure a good harvest using traditional song and dance around the tree. Despite a gale and rain a good time was had by all with another hog roast and party. This has now become an annual event.
At the end of 2004 the Society stands at a membership of 45 families, in good financial health and with a growing store of cyder to keep and see how it matures.
The Beginning
It all started one August night 2001 in the bar at the Village Hall, which opens every Friday night as a bar to replace the long closed pub. Adrian Hipwell was holding forth on his lament that lots of apples around the village were going to waste and he had the notion to build a cider press and make some cider with them so they would not be wasted. Being of a farming background he was sure he had some bits of hydraulics, etc. from which he could construct a press.
After a few pints a beer the idea of making cider got a general ‘that's a good idea’ response, even though no one had any idea about cider making. Adrian decided to call a meeting at his house for anyone who was interested in progressing the idea. The usual Denton jungle drums message went around. Adrian expected about half a dozen people to turn up at best. The meeting started with every chair, inch of floor space and standing room taken up by a horde of potential cider makers. By the end of the evening a village cider society was born.
In one of those strange coincidences a few weeks earlier Alan Squirrell had been talking to his future son in law, Andrew, about apple juice while drinking some fresh juice just bought from the farmers market. Andrew had talked about his great uncles who were famous locally for making cider and had used a big old apple mill and press to make the juice. He well remembered the old equipment, which was fascinating to a young boy, and was sad that the last of the great uncles had died in the spring and the house and barns were being demolished for housing development and the old equipment being scrapped as it was too big for anyone to want.
Alan had thought no more about this conversation until the cider meeting when discussions started about how to make a press. He offered to find out if the old equipment was still in existence.
A telephone call to Andrew, who phoned his dad, who phoned granddad. Yes, the equipment was still in the barn but demolition was starting the next week. Rapid arrangements were made for Alan and Adrian to go and see it in a village of Tharston, some 8 miles away. It didn't take long for a deal to be struck with Adrian and Alan as joint owners.
Two nights later and a posse of strong Denton men with landrover and trailer went to bring the prize back to Denton. It was no easy task extracting the mill and press from the barn and over rough ground to the trailer. A few hours later and the equipment was in its new home at Adrian's Barn.
The Apple Mill and Press
The exact age of the mill and press are not known. It was in the Brookes brothers' barn at Tharston for 50 years and had come from a local farm before that. From the construction it is clearly something produced by a local smith. It almost certainly dates from the 1800s.
The Brookes brothers Claude and George who owned it before us were well known characters and had TV and newspaper articles done about them. They made cider not only for themselves but also for people in the surrounding villages. They took no payment except for some apples or juice. The mill and press were last used in 1987 and the brothers kept a special barrel form this pressing to be used at their wakes. We have a sample of this which is now almost like a sherry.
When we found them in the barn at Tharston the mill and press were covered in dust and cobwebs but generally sound. However, after 14 years without working they needed a strip down and some maintenance before they could be used. Most of the wood was good but some had suffered localised rot where juice had lain. We cut out the bad portions and replaced with similar local timber. We were lucky in having a small skilled joinery firm and the Norwich cathedral carpenter in the village who could give us expert restoration assistance.
At the wedding of Alan's daughter to Andrew Brookes Alan presented him with his half share of the mill, and press to renew the family connection hopefully for another 50 years.
We are pleased that a small piece of Norfolk History has been saved and put back to working condition.
The First Pressing
Now the question was how and when do we make cider. The Internet proved to be a wonder source of information and Alan was tasked to sift the information and see what was needed.
It became clear that if we wanted to make cider in 2001 we had to act quickly as the best time was in about four weeks and the old equipment needed an overhaul since it was last used some 14 years earlier.
After the usual Denton team effort everything was ready and a village pressing day was arranged for the 13th October 2001. Straw bail bays were made in the open barn at the farm for people to take down their spare apples in the week before pressing and teams went out collecting apples from anyone who offered. Cooking apples, eaters, crab apples and some pears were kept separated in the bays. By pressing day the bays were bulging with apples of many varieties.
We were a bit nervous as expectations were high among the participants but we were not sure how the old equipment would work or whether we had the skill and ability to produce a drinkable cider.
Pressing day dawned fine and we made an early start. Before long willing volunteers, aged from 8 to 80 were loading apples into barrows, washing them, taking them to the mill, turning the huge metal handles on the mill, taking the crushed apples to the bath used as a holding container, loading the crushed apple into ‘cheeses’ in the press, pushing on the long metal bar to work the press and transferring the juice into the fermentation barrels.
Lunchtime came and a feast was set out on straw bales, everyone had contributed a plate of something and the hungry workers made short work of it. There was even some Devon farm cider to drink, which Malcolm Bardsley had thoughtfully purchased on a trip the week earlier.
By this time our confidence was rising. The old equipment worked marvellously and we could not believe the flood of juice that poured from the press.
Alan was delegated to test the juice and follow the best practice gleaned off the Internet to try and produce a clear, dry, light and easy drinking cider.
At the end of the day we were surprised to find ourselves with 147 gallons of apple juice, some in three 35 gallon barrels we had acquired and the rest in 5 gallon containers.
Some people were keen to try their own skill at making cider form the juice and so some of the 5-gallon containers were ‘adopted’ and taken away to peoples homes on the condition that the end product was brought back and a record was kept of what was done to the juice.
Naming the Society
That night there was a ruby wedding party at the Village Hall to which, in the usual village tradition, we had all been invited. After a quick wash and brush up we all arrived, some in their white summer shirts and it soon became obvious who had been at the apple pressing. The combination of the acidic apple juice and the cast iron handles on the apple mill and press has reacted and left us all with black hands which no amount of washing could clean. Against the white shirts the hands stood out like a beacon. It caused some hilarity and at some stage during the evening someone called us the black hand cyder gang. And so was born the Denton Blackhand Cyder Society.
As the day was a huge success and everyone was keen to keep the activity going a meeting was called on 28th November to formally create the Denton Blackhand Cyder Society with a constitution, committee and officers. On a freezing night 24 people gathered in the barn with the cyder barrels gently bubbling in the background.
While cider is normally spelled with an ‘i’ we decided to use the old East Anglian spelling with a ‘y’ as found on the old cyder bottles in Gressenhall Rural Life museum.
Producing the First Years Cyder
In January 2002 we tested the barrels and much to our relief all was well and it was ready for racking off the lees deposit into clean oak ex-rum barrels to hopefully allow a second slow fermentation, which would mellow and finish the cyder.
Come May was the moment of truth when we decided to bottle the cyder. With some relief the end product was very much as we had hoped, a clear, golden not too alcoholic dry cyder.
Cyder Fest 2002
To celebrate it was decided to hold a Ciderfest in August when everyone could taste our bulk cyder and those adopted and produced by people from the 5-gallon containers. What an event it turned out to be, complete with a roasted hog, on Adrian's specially built spit, cooked over a wood fire from 8.00 in the morning till 8.00 in the evening. A host of ciders were tasted from the sublime to the horrible, by the 120 or so members and guests.
It is now an important annual event in the village social calendar.
The 02-03 Season
After the success of the first year everyone was full of enthusiasm for our second year. Production increased from the first year's 147 gallons to 195 gallons.
The 03-04 Season
This year we had to introduce two pressing days as some apples were ready early in September whilst others would be ready in October. This meant that we pressed far more than previously - 420 gallons!
Day 1 - 7th September 2003
Day 2 - 18th October 2003
The 04-05 Season
Again we had 2 days pressing resulting in 401 gallons of juice. For the first time this year (thanks to Liz and Keith collecting them!) we used some cider apples for part of our production. Some pure cider apple juice and some mixed was pressed. Early indications for the cyder produced from this juice look good!
