At the beginning of the year Con
asked if anyone knew of a power washer, with a lance, the jet of which could be
rotated through 180 degrees. Such a device would facilitate the cleaning of IBC
tanks. This struck a chord with some more of us in the group who had also
wished that there was an efficient tool for the awkward job of cleaning the
underside of the top of these tanks. It was a problem that had caused me to
make modifications to my own pressure washer, none of which had proved
satisfactory.
Barry and I discussed this by phone
after the series of Workshop posts. He had known various gadgets for tank and
barrel cleaning including a neat little stainless 'spray ball' that would spray
jets in all directions, once placed inside a tank. On my part I have found that
an ordinary pressure washer works well for IBCs. I particularly like the fact
that the full pressure can be selectively brought to bear, on any places where
a stubborn build up of yeast has accumulated. If only it were possible to bend
the lance so that the powerful jet of water could get up into the lumpy areas
under the top of the tank. These areas usually harbour a lot of dross
thrown up from the foam of the fermentation and can become difficult to keep
clean.
Not long after this I received an
email from Barry saying that he had found the ideal thing. He had located a
supplier of specialist attachments for pressure washers called Clean Break Ltd.
They sell an adjustable swivel attachment, designed to fit on the end of the
lance. It is made of stainless steel and is adjustable over an arc of 240
degrees. Once the angle has been set, it is locked by the water pressure when
the washer is in use. Clever! (stops it inadvertently squirting you in the
eye). The device costs £25.50 including VAT.
I have just bought one of these and
have found it to be just what I wanted. However I also had to buy a lance and a
nozzle to go with it, as my existing lance is incompatible. All in all it cost
£61 including VAT & postage. Nevertheless all is in stainless and well made
in Germany. I consider it money well spent as I am so pleased to have solved
the IBC cleaning problem at last. Hygiene in cidermaking always repays every
pound spent!
Clean Break recommend the swivel as
being ideal for cleaning out gutters, whilst standing on the ground below. One
holds the lance vertically with the nozzle pointing downwards at 45 degrees
into the guttering. Unlike the well contained cleaning of the IBCs, I imagine
this could be a messy experience! Clean Break Ltd. may be emailed on clean
or ring 01677 424967 and ask for Jason French.
Thank you Barry, for this very
useful lead.
Rose
This may be of interest to those of us who are producing
commercially.
Today I inadvertently discovered
something that answers questions that I have never dared to ask!!! Is a
small scale commercial cidermaking subject to business rates? Do I need to
apply for change of use for the barn I use for cidermaking?
The key to these
questions is whether cidermaking is an agricultural activity. Agriculture is
exempt from business rates. I have never applied for change of use for the
barn. It used to house livestock, so is still nominally 'agricultural'. If
cidermaking is agricultural, then I should be in the clear.
This morning I was in Dorchester to
speak in support of a local cidermaking family at their planning appeal. The
need arose during the course of the meeting to define the commercial status of
cidermaking. It transpired that the subject had become a 'cause celebre' in
1999 in what was known as the Millington Case, where a High Court judgement
against a farmer in favour of Shrewsbury Council was overturned by the Court of
Appeal.
The Millington Case concerned a
farmer who had planted vines on one third of his farm. Wine was produced and
sold from the farm. The case had enforced a change of use, on the grounds that
the sale of wine and light refreshments by fee paying members of the public was
material. However, The Court of Appeal stated that the correct approach was to
consider the activities of the appellant and whether they were incidental to
the growing of grapes, ancillary to normal farming activities and reasonably
necessary to make the product marketable. It was held that the production of
wine or cider on the scale of the appellant's business was found to be
perfectly normal.
The appeal decision has shown that
where farm processing is not on a large scale it could be considered ancillary
to agriculture.
Further to this, it would also
appear that if you have a farm shop selling only the cider made on your farm,
it too would qualify as 'ancillary to agriculture'.
Interesting, isn't it?
I'm breathing a little easier
today!
Rose
Very interesting Rose. I wonder if this
could also be seen in the context of the 70 hL HMRC exemption too. For
those under that limit the business is clearly ancillary since it was
always intended that such a level of activity could not form the basis of
a viable living on its own. But once over the limit, other considerations
might come into play if the business made enough money to pay a genuine
living wage to someone?
Andrew
Guys,
After seeing Rose's comments I would
definitely have a go at your council regarding the rates,we are under a yet
more beaurocratic regime down here in the New Forest namely a national
park authority, I'm keeping my head down although having been established
22 years, I've recently seen a fellow winemaker nearby nearly stopped
in his tracks with his farm shop stocking all locally
produced products, this seems completely irrational to me within the ethos
of shopping local ,cutting food miles and local terroir etc,
beaurocracy has gone mad, as he said in his appeal the vineyard shop was
not viable solely on tourist wine tastings just in the summer
season.
Barry Topp
Barry,
I think you have just illustrated
the main thrust of the Millington argument. Your local winemaker was in
fact running a farm shop selling a variety of bought in products. Farm
shops are liable to business rates ( one near here that sells my cider
told me how crippling the payments are!). The important thing highlighted
by the Millington appeal was that selling wine or cider, made from your
own grapes or apples, from your own premises, was deemed to be 'ancillary
to agriculture'. The Shrewsbury Council had thought otherwise and won
the support of the High Court, but the judgment was overruled by the
Court of Appeal.
If Guy is only selling his own cider
made from the apples grown on his farm, then that same ruling must apply.
The Millington Appeal has established a precedent that unless repealed,
has become the Law of the Land. All county councils in England must
therefore comply. Of course, I'm no expert but I do think it would be
worthwhile for Guy to talk to a solicitor about it. It may be that he is
in a strong position to take that unpleasant and threatening council to
task, with very little risk of losing the argument.
Rose
We intended to hold our wassail on the second Saturday in
January but decided it would be wise to cancel it. We were then experiencing an
unusually cold spell. Although the snow fall in Dorset was light compared with
the rest of the country, our roads here were treacherous. The local authority
has never considered the little single track road to our village worthy of some
salt and grit; in spite of its course being mostly just a few feet from the
edge of a stream. I had visions of unfortunate happenings to our wassailers,
many of whom come from as far afield as Bournemouth.
That seemed to be it, for this year.
The following two Saturdays were taken up by kind invitations from our
friend's, firstly to a wassail and then to a Burns Night supper. Nevertheless
it seemed sad not to have had our wassail and several people said how much they
had missed it. I realised that there was still one Saturday left in January,
the weather had now become more reasonable, so we decided to give it a go. Too
bad, that by then it would be 25 th night and far removed from 'Old 12th', but
who cares, we are not superstitious!
It proved to be a good decision.
Saturday 30th was perfect, the very best weather conditions of any wassail held
here to date. The orchard was white with frost and well illuminated by a full
moon. Best of all, there was hardly a breath of wind. It has never been so easy
to light the candle lanterns. These are the sort that contain the 'nightlight'
refills and we position them at intervals to mark the way from the village
road. Usually we also hang the little lanterns from as many of the orchard
trees as possible to create a festive effect. However, this year I wanted to
try a special orchard illumination idea, as used in the Three Counties; the
spectacular flaming logs.
I
had seen some remarkable pictures of the flaming log flares on the internet.
I'd also learnt that they were made by using a chainsaw to make deep cuts
longitudinally at the business end of each log. The cuts were in the form of
two crosses making a Union Jack pattern and to a depth of about 18 inches.
Barry kindly agreed to get me some 4 ft silver birch logs from the New Forest,
these being readily available from the forester's weeding out operations.
Apparently the birches prolifically set seed from the wooded to the marshland
areas. Every so often these seedling trees have to be felled to maintain the
status quo. Barry had to wait for the ground to be deeply frozen before he could
take his tractor out on to the marsh to collect the logs. He selected some that
were just the right size, being about 6 inches diameter. Once back in the yard
at New Forest Cider, he thoughtfully did the special chainsaw surgery as well.
All I had to do was to go over and collect the logs in the Landrover. Many
thanks, Barry!
A few days before the event, I
experimented with two of Barry's logs in our garden. I wanted to find the best
manner of lighting and how long it took the flare to reach its peak performance.
Contrary to expectations I found that household fire lighter blocks did not
work very well. It was difficult to work them down far enough into the chainsaw
grooves. Even having done so, they then did not burn very well and the log
never really got going. The best lighter eventually proved to be the time
honoured paraffin rag. I found a refinement of the technique was to use some of
those highly absorbent microfibre kitchen cloths. These were doubled and
squeezed well down into the grooves; following which the logs were liberally
dowsed with paraffin. This method worked a treat. I timed the burn and found
that the flare peaked at around about one hour after lighting and then burnt
well for a further half an hour. Light up time would therefore need to be 6 pm
for the 7 pm wassail.
Eight of the logs were positioned to
encircle the wassail tree. They were set at about a 30 yd radius so that there
was ample room for the spectators to gather around the tree. Our King tree was
picked out by generator powered halogen floodlights; its branches decorated
with strings of white LEDs. By 7 pm the log flares were all crackling and
blazing really well. The overall effect was certainly pleasing and worth all
the effort involved.
The full moon dominated the clear starry
sky so I could see the people coming across the adjoining field. Soon I could
hear the excited sound of their chatter as they caught sight of the fiery scene
that lay ahead. As they entered the orchard there came the crunchiness sound of
many feet on the frozen grass. There was a sense of excitement as I handed out
the song sheets and also an unusual air of mystery. Everyone had their hats on,
each so firmly pulled down as protection from the cold that I found it
difficult to recognise even dear friends that I know well. This was a trifle
embarrassing but it was good to see that all had come well wrapped up. In fact
the 
cold
night air did not seem to matter at all. The fiddlers struck up merrily and the
Houghton Wassail was sung louder and better than ever before.
Our little ceremony proceeded in the
traditional manner and concluded with some further fiddle assisted singing to
the tune of the Gloucester Wassail. It was especially nice this year to welcome
a new family to the village and I was delighted that their children had agreed
to do the gifts. Megan climbed on a little stool and sweetly placed the toast
in the tree, then Henry her little brother enjoyed splashing the cider all
around it from a half gallon jar. Someone told me later that the family, who
had moved here from Essex, had been amazed to find these weird goings on in
their new village!
Afterwards, back at the cottage, the
mulled cider was a popular warmer- upper. Whether it was due to the cold
night or my new recipe, I'm not sure, but it did seem to be extra yummy this
year. For those who may be interested, this year's version was made of 4
gallons of new cider, to which was added a bottle of orange squash, a bottle of
lemonade, two bottles of cheap brandy, half a bottle of Bacardi, 2 lbs of
demerara sugar with mixed spice and ginger added to taste during the brewing.
It was surprising how quickly a Burco full of this hot product could be emptied
by our cheery band of wassailers! This welcoming drink was of course just a
starter, soon followed by a good variety of food, much of which had been kindly
donated by our guests. I had put a couple of B-in-Bs of the new Cider by Rosie
on the kitchen table in order to keep the party going and to lubricate our
later 'sing along' by the fireside. The cider had worried me because it was
still so young, so it was a relief to find folk were enjoying it and even
passing favourable comments. Further satisfaction came when I found there was
only a litre or two left, the following morning!
It was such a happy evening and
Frances and I were both pleased that we had gone ahead and put it on, despite
the earlier cancellation.
Rose
Like many pubs these days, the management of our Local has
changed hands every few years. The two landlords, previous to our present one,
both tried to persuade Ringwood Brewery to let them sell my draught cider. They
asked for a special exemption from the tie, due to my cider's local provenance
and the fact that the customers wanted to drink it. At one point a number of
the regular customers also made representations to the brewery for this favour
to be granted. None of these approaches met with success.
We now have a new landlord and
landlady who have already improved things all round. Not only is the pub better
managed, it is neater, cleaner and produces excellent meals. Instead of a
couple of draught ales,( if you were lucky), there are now four or five with a
variety of guest beers. One thing however remains doggedly the same, as it has
for many years; the only draught cider available is Thatchers.
In the meantime the pub's ownership
has also changed, since the Ringwood brewery was bought up by mighty Marston's
PLC. Down at the less exalted level of our pub bar, some thought that the much
larger concern could possibly afford to be magnanimous. After all, what
difference could such a small concession, in just one of their 500+ pubs, make
to the business as a whole? Our keen new landlord was fired up to make another
approach to the new Goliath!
When I saw him last week he was sad
and apologetic. He assured me that he had tried really hard to get Marstons to
relax their position on the cider tie. He had even persisted, more so I think
than his predecessors, insisting that his request reached their top management.
In spite of all, the reply had come back that nothing could be done, since it
was a 'contractural matter'. I asked how it was that our pub could have so many
different guest beers. Apparently in every case, the breweries that make them
are also owned by Marstons!
I had hoped that Marstons could have
lent over just a little, to encourage a small local business. My hopes had been
based on an example I came across in Much Marcle. There the tied pub in the
middle of the village has a special exemption to sell Westons because their
cider is made only half a mile up the road. Then of course, Westons is not a
small local business!
There is something clearly wrong
with these monopolistic big business outfits that control so many of our pubs.
They are incapable of seeing things at ground level. Such blatant anti
competitiveness is surely neither good for the pubs, nor even ultimately to the
corporate good of their owners.
Last year I entered into an email
discussion with the landlord of a free house that I hoped to supply. Initially
he took the attitude of, why should he buy my cider when the Stowford Press on
his bar came in considerably cheaper. My reply was that success it is not just
about the perceived profit from one cider versus another, rather it is more to
do with the number of customers attracted to the pub. I suggested that if he
were to put on a craft cider, 'word would get round' and the level of business
would increase. After a few days he decided to buy a box and give it a try. I'm
glad to say that my words came true. The pub did really well with its craft
cider all through the summer and now regularly has a selection of five or more
West Country craft ciders available.
Rose