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Almost half of all the apples grown
in the UK...

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..go in to making cider.

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We drink around 1.3 billion
pints of cider every year.

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That's nearly four million a day!

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In fact, we drink more cider
than any other country in the world.

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Whether you like classic apple, pear
or mixed berry...

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..it's all made here!

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At the largest cider factory in the
world!

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HE LAUGHS

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I'm Gregg Wallace.

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And I'll be following the fruit...

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This is a constant avalanche of
apples!

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..on an incredible journey...

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We pick from about 600 orchards
in total.

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..from farm to factory.

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700 million pints?

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Correct.

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And finally - to fizz.

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Oh, I love this stuff!

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Whoa!

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I'm Cherry Healey.

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And I'll be finding out
how the gas in cider...

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Oh, that is so satisfying.

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..could also save your life.

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And historian Ruth Goodman reveals
why it was British cider makers

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and scientists...

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It's as if NASA had a
home-brew division.

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Who put the...

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CORK POPPING

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..in champagne.

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So, the whole history of fizz in
champagne is actually

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about fizzy cider?

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Over the next 24 hours, nearly a
million bottles of cider

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will come off this production line.

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And we're going to reveal just how
they do it.

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Welcome to Inside The Factory.

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This is the Bulmers cider factory
in Herefordshire.

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They've been making cider here since
1887 and they manufacture

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seven of the UK's leading brands.

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Tonight, I'm following the
production of one of their

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bestsellers -
Bulmers Original Cider.

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Every year, this massive factory
produces

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more than 350 million litres
of cider.

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I'm going to be making 250,000
half-litre bottles.

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So, it looks like I'm going
to need a lot...

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..of apples.

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I've come to the heart of cider
country to an orchard

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at Birchley Farm in Herefordshire,
and for a former fruit and veg man,

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this is a little slice of heaven.

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It's just one of the local farms
that supplies the factory

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with 100,000 tonnes of apples
each year.

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Gilly Turner is the supply manager.

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Gilly. Hello.

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What a lovely day!

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It's a glorious day.

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Don't you have a beautiful
environment to work in? I do.

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I'm very lucky.

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I'm very jealous.

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Tell me, how many different orchards
are you picking from?

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So, we pick from about 600 orchards
in total.

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I know! 600.

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An apple is an autumnal fruit and
it's only got a short season.

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What's your harvesting season?
So, we have a 12-week period.

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A whole year's cider production

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relies on 12 weeks of apple
harvesting?

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Absolutely does.

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Gilly sources a mix of 20 varieties
for the factory.

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They're mainly cider apples,
which are smaller and drier

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than the eating and cooking apples
we buy in the shops.

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What apples are we looking at here?
Because they're obviously...

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These ones, either side of me, are
different.

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Over there, we have Fiona. And on
these trees here, we have Gilly.

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Gilly? Is that a coincidence?
Not at all.

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They were named after people within
the cider industry, mainly ladies.

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So what characteristic is a Gilly?

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Unfortunately for me, it's slightly
acidic and a little bit bitter.

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And I'd just like to say, it's
nothing like its namesake.

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How do you know when the apples
are ready for harvest?

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So, one of the tests is to check
the pips within the apple.

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When it's not quite ready, the pips
will be white

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and when it's ready to harvest, the
pips will be brown.

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So, they're ready for harvest?

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They're ready for harvest.
To pick this lot in 12 weeks,

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we're going to need a long ladder
and a very big bucket, won't we?

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HE LAUGHS

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That's ridiculous.

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That can't be the way you harvest
apples!

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But as bonkers as it looks,
for the last 30 years,

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this is the way cider apples
have been picked.

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The tree shaker clamps the trunk
with its hydraulic arm, shakes

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energetically for a few seconds
and 60 kilos of apples tumble

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to the ground.

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I tell you what!

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If I hadn't see it with me own eyes,
I wouldn't have believed it.

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Most eating apples are still
harvested by hand,

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but this machine can shake down

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100 tonnes of cider apples in a
single day,

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without harming the trees.

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Will they let me have a go
at that? I think they will.

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Will they? They will.

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Can I have a go?

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Yeah. Can I shake the tree?

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Yeah, you can have a go.

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Yeah, no problem at all.

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Tom and his family have been
growing apples here for

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four generations, so I'd better not
make a mess of this.

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Uh! Press the shake button.

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Ah ha-ha, ha-ha!

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That's the job. That's the one!

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And you get to do this for a living,
do you?

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Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Brilliant.

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Listen, I'll turn it off before
I cause any damage.

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That's all right.

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My friend, thank you very much.

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That has made me ridiculously happy.

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You've got loads to do, right?
You've only got 12 weeks.

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Thank you. No problem at all.

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Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

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As soon as the apples hit the deck,
my cider production begins.

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And young Tom needs to crack on
because right behind him

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is a tractor pulling the harvesting
machine.

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It's the start of a bumpy ride for
the apples.

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But since they're going to a juicer,
not a grocer,

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a bit of bruising won't hurt.

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The harvester scoops up 12 tonnes
of apples per acre.

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Tom's dad, James, oversees every
load.

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How long would it take
to fill up

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a four-and-a-half tonne
trailer of apples?

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About...

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..ten minutes. No way!

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No way! Yeah.

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So, how long would it take them to
strip the whole orchard of apples?

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Probably...three days.

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Wow!

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That's nearly 300 tonnes of apples
from this orchard alone.

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Enough to fill 60 of these
trailers.

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And the family have a total
of 14 orchards to harvest.

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Is that it? Are we full up?

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Yeah, we're all ready to go.

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My apples can go and make cider.

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Cider's only got one main
ingredient - apples.

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But that doesn't mean it's going
to be a quick process.

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It'll take more than three weeks
to turn my apples into cider.

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As a greengrocer, I've sold
lots of apples in my time.

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But nowadays there are hardly
any native British varieties

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in our shops.

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But there was a time when we
couldn't get enough of them.

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Ruth's been getting to the CORE
of the issue.

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Today, over 60% of our apples
are imported from abroad.

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But in Victorian Britain,
there were over 2,000

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home-grown varieties available.

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This was thanks to an apple-breeding
boom that took off

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at great country estates around
the UK.

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And we know that this obsession went
right to the top.

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Victoria herself, the Queen,
regularly toured gardens

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like this one here at Burghley.

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But what drove the Victorians'
insatiable appetite for apples?

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I'm meeting food historian,
Dr Annie Gray to find out, starting

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with how they managed to create so
many varieties in the first place.

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Oh, ho! You can really get an idea
here of the sheer size, shape and

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colour variety of Victorian apples.

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This is enormous!

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You know, I mean, goodness me! Look
at the size of that!

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Is that barely an apple?

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Look at it. It's more like the size
of a melon!

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Queen Victoria was known for eating
monster apples. Was she?

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But she was the Queen, so she could,
sort of, set fashion.

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Whereas I think, if you were a
lady...

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..perhaps you wouldn't sit down to
that.

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You'd rather have something small
and delicate...

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A little Golden Pippin here.
I'm very fond of Golden Pippins.

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Of course, country house gardeners
had an advantage.

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There were lots of apple trees in
places like this -

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all cross-pollinating.

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So, a lot of varieties were
discovered in the grounds.

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Cross-pollination is when one
variety of apple tree fertilises

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a different one.

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The resulting "offspring" inherits
characteristics from both parents,

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producing a new variety of apple.

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Bees do this job in nature by
transferring pollen between trees

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as they buzz from blossom to
blossom.

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But the results are unpredictable.

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So, the Victorians, who wanted
to breed unique varieties of eating

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and cooking apples, took nature
into their own hands and found

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a reliable scientific solution.

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There was a real sort
of competitive streak

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to try and commercialise them.

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There's a man called Thomas Laxton,
for example, who is very, very

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interested in plant breeding,
corresponded with Darwin.

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Of course, this is the
great age of the discovery

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of evolution and scientific
progress is being made,

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and he was a real commercialiser
of apples like this.

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Laxton selected the very best
trees to cross-pollinate by hand,

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looking for flavour,
colour and size.

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From the 1880s,
large commercial orchards

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were mass-producing
apples for the first time.

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So, what variety are these, then?

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Well, this is an apple tree
called the Lord Burghley,

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which is also why it's
called the Burghley apple.

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It's a really nice
kind of all-round apple.

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And what better to serve
when the Queen comes

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than an apple named
after your own family?

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Well, I mean, you know,
in terms of rubbing it in...!

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00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:05,080
When Victoria visited
Burghley House in 1844,

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00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,120
a grand banquet was
served in her honour.

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00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,880
The Queen was particularly
partial to baked apples,

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00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:17,280
so I'm going to help Annie create
a dish worthy of a royal feast.

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00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,120
Hello!
What have you been up to?

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00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,720
I've started the
preparation for a dish

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00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:25,840
called apples and rice ornamented.

211
00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,240
This is a dish that
comes from a recipe book

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00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,920
called The Modern Cook,
by Charles Elme Francatelli,

213
00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,920
who was BRIEFLY cook
to Queen Victoria before

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00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,160
there was a...fracas in the kitchen.

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00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,640
Francatelli was known
for his fiery temper,

216
00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,280
and after just a year
in the Queen's kitchen,

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00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:47,000
he was fired for falling
out with her staff.

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00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,360
Despite, or because of,
this notoriety,

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00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:54,240
he became one of the
first celebrity chefs.

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00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:59,720
His dish combined sweetened cooked
rice with poached whole apples.

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00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:01,760
Well, the recipe
specifies the variety,

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00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:03,400
and it calls for Golden Pippins.

223
00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,000
Golden Pippins!
Lovely, my favourite.

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00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,280
The Golden Pippin was grown
commercially from the 1830s.

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00:12:10,280 --> 00:12:12,960
It's particularly good
for complex puddings,

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00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:17,240
as it keeps its shape when cooked,
and has a sharp, lemony flavour.

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00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:22,880
So you've got apples, pastry,
rice, but it's for a queen, so...

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00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,920
..it needs to look stunning.

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00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:26,320
So...

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00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,360
Brilliant, that looks fantastic.

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00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:31,400
Now all we have to do is to make
them... Stand in a pile. Yeah.

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00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:34,760
Let's go for three layers.

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00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,280
If I do the final apple,
it'll all collapse in one.

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00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:39,120
Don't let it collapse. It will.

235
00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,440
Don't let it collapse.

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00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,400
To make it fit for a queen,
the assembled dish would have been

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00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,040
highly decorated
with colourful fruits,

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00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,200
like candied angelica
and cherries.

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00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,720
Right, so, let's brush
these apples with apricot jam

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00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:54,960
to make them glisten.

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00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:01,240
OK, you're Victoria. OK.

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00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:04,320
Have a spoon.

243
00:13:05,560 --> 00:13:07,200
Mm. It does work.

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00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,400
The acidity of the apple
and the sweetness of the rice

245
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,240
are really nice. The right
apple for the right recipe.

246
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,480
Three cheers for the Pippin.

247
00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,720
It's a real shame that so
many of these varieties

248
00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,000
have disappeared from
our grocers' shelves.

249
00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:27,480
But, nonetheless, with the
rise of farmers' markets,

250
00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,040
of many enthusiasts and
specialist heritage orchards,

251
00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,960
there is hope yet for a renaissance

252
00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,880
in this delicious and
versatile little fruit.

253
00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,480
I think Queen Victoria
would have approved.

254
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:51,240
Back in Herefordshire, my apples
have been shaken and scooped up,

255
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:56,160
and a whopping 29 tonnes are
on their way to the apple mill

256
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,400
in Ledbury, just five miles
from the orchard.

257
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:06,680
During harvest time, four of these
giant trucks pull up every hour.

258
00:14:12,760 --> 00:14:16,960
That is a serious amount of apples.
Look at that!

259
00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:19,360
Seeing them in an
orchard is one thing,

260
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,920
but seeing see them all
here together is huge.

261
00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,360
And there's mine,
just about to be unloaded.

262
00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,880
There's 100 tonnes of
apples in this one silo,

263
00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:39,880
which is what I need to make my
batch of 250,000 bottles of cider.

264
00:14:42,920 --> 00:14:48,320
A torrent of 90 tonnes of
recycled water sends my apples

265
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,520
thundering down four channels
to check in at apple reception.

266
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,840
Where I'm meeting shift
manager Simon Stone.

267
00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:02,000
Simon.
All right, Gregg?

268
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,520
Mate, I have never, ever been
in an environment like this.

269
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,400
The noise is unbelievable.

270
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:10,480
The rumble of the apples, it's like
when the Tube train comes along.

271
00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,880
It's actually vibrating
through my feet.

272
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:14,560
What are you doing?

273
00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:19,200
We're sorting out any unwanted
debris - leaves, grass, anything

274
00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:21,440
like that - that we don't
want to get into our mill.

275
00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,680
There won't be anything wrong with
these, mate - these are my apples.

276
00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:28,360
It might be one of the best
batches you've had in years.

277
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:32,000
As well as twigs and leaves,
what else do you normally find?

278
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,560
One of our growers is
situated next to a golf club,

279
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,080
so you get golf balls coming down.

280
00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,760
They don't get thrown away, though,
cos we've got some keen golfers

281
00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,800
in here, so they get
dished out amongst the lads.

282
00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,200
How fast are they
coming through here?

283
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:52,320
So, each table will be
processing 25 tonnes an hour.

284
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:54,720
Each one of these is a table?
Yeah.

285
00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,600
So, the aim is to get 100 tonnes
an hour through the mill.

286
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,600
100 tonnes an hour?!

287
00:16:00,600 --> 00:16:02,880
Yep. That is incredible numbers.

288
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:07,760
This is a constant avalanche,
wet avalanche, of apples.

289
00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:10,840
Unbelievable, my friend.
Unbelievable.

290
00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:15,040
But my apples aren't pressed whole.

291
00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:19,000
After sorting, they're fed
in to the milling machine.

292
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:22,760
Inside this beast of a
blender is a milling plate,

293
00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:28,680
armed with 28 serrated blades
which turn at 1,500rpm,

294
00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:31,800
chopping the fruit
into bite-size pieces.

295
00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,600
These apple chunks then
pass through 120 metres of pipe

296
00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,640
into six 50-tonne tanks.

297
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,880
So this is where all the mash
gets pumped in to the mash tanks.

298
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:48,680
Mash? What mash?

299
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,000
There hasn't been a single
potato in the whole factory.

300
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:52,800
What are you talking about?

301
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,440
That's what milled apples is
known as. It's known as "mash."

302
00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:57,120
Right.

303
00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,560
To soften the mash,
ready for juicing,

304
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,800
the mill adds a natural
enzyme called pectinase,

305
00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:06,080
which creates a chemical reaction.

306
00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,480
What the enzymes do is they break
down the cell structure of the apple

307
00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,120
so that when we press it,
it releases more juice

308
00:17:12,120 --> 00:17:13,960
And then what happens to it?

309
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:15,920
Then we load it into the press.

310
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,160
Is that the press?
That is the press.

311
00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:21,480
It's looking more and more like
an Underground station every time.

312
00:17:24,120 --> 00:17:26,960
They may look like a
row of train carriages,

313
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,000
but these are the apple presses.

314
00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,080
Mind the gap!

315
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,080
And the INSIDE isn't what
I was expecting either.

316
00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,160
A bowl of spaghetti?

317
00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,880
It's the filter socks
for the presses, Gregg.

318
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,440
So, tell me how this
process works, please.

319
00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,280
Nine tonnes of mash
will be pumped in,

320
00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:49,120
all of the mash will stay
on the outside of the sock,

321
00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:51,360
all of the juice will
filter through the sock.

322
00:17:51,360 --> 00:17:54,360
I've got one, if you want have
a look at it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

323
00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:57,240
So, that is a filter sock.

324
00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:03,680
So...you have ten grooves there.

325
00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:07,000
The sock here,
the juice goes through,

326
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,680
the sock runs out of the grooves
and into the juice bin underneath.

327
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,960
The press fills up with
nine tonnes of mash,

328
00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:24,440
and a piston forces the juice
out through the 288 filter socks.

329
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,720
It's channelled away through
a pipe into storage tanks,

330
00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:33,320
leaving behind the
unwanted bits of apple.

331
00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:36,520
And I want to have a
look at the leftovers.

332
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:38,600
OK, Gregg, let's open it up.

333
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,880
Can I do it? Yeah.
Let me do it, let me do it.

334
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:42,560
Carry on.

335
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,960
There, look, I'm an expert now.

336
00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:47,400
Oh, that is not what I expected.

337
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,560
I expected little bits
of white apple.

338
00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,280
That's apple pomace, Gregg.

339
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:52,760
Pomace?
Pomace.

340
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,720
Am I allowed to touch it?
Yeah, carry on.

341
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,400
It's a little bit
like modelling clay.

342
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,720
You could make a ball
out of it, look. Yeah.

343
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,280
So what is it? Is that
partly cooked or...?

344
00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,160
No, that's all the leftover mash

345
00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:12,200
that's had 85-90% of the
juice extracted from it.

346
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,800
Look at that, I've made
an enormous rissole.

347
00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:16,640
What do you reckon?

348
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:18,680
I reckon something like
that would get you through

349
00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:21,120
the first round of Celebrity
MasterChef. Get the pan on.

350
00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:23,120
You must be producing
tonnes of it?

351
00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:24,560
Thousands of tonnes of it.

352
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,600
So what, do you have to dump it?

353
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,000
We make electricity with it.

354
00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,680
No way. Yeah.

355
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,320
We send it away to a bio digester
and it's turned into electricity.

356
00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:39,000
The pomace - bits of leftover
skin and seeds - is heated

357
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:43,240
to produce methane, which is
turned into cleaner green energy.

358
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,760
Amazingly, the pomace
from the mill can power

359
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:51,560
a thousand homes every year.

360
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:54,080
You must have to scrub those socks?

361
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,400
We do have to clean
them twice a week.

362
00:19:56,400 --> 00:19:59,120
Cos they look worse
than my rugby socks, they do.

363
00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:02,840
Luckily for Simon,
they don't smell as bad as mine.

364
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:10,400
From the apple presses, my juice
is piped to the evaporation hall.

365
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:14,120
Where I'm greeted by something...

366
00:20:14,120 --> 00:20:15,960
..quite incredible.

367
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:19,200
MUSIC: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
by JS Bach

368
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,600
No way!

369
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:35,040
What on Earth is that?
Mate, you're just showing off.

370
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,080
Gregg, that's a
falling film evaporator.

371
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,080
What?
A falling film evaporator.

372
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,360
No, seriously, what does it do?

373
00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,760
Your raw juice that came
out of the presses? Yeah.

374
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:54,200
What we're going to do is take it
from 10-12% sugar up to 70% sugar.

375
00:20:55,560 --> 00:21:00,480
Pipes inside the 19-metre-tall
evaporator are heated by steam

376
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:05,600
to 80 degrees Celsius to concentrate
the sugar in the juice.

377
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:10,400
And just like making gravy,
the heat causes water to evaporate,

378
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:15,880
thickening the juice and turning
it into a sticky, sweet syrup.

379
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:18,120
That's incredible!

380
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:23,400
Because it's a syrup, it'll make
it really, really good for storage.

381
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,640
That smells like maple syrup.

382
00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:29,680
Mm.

383
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:31,640
What's incredible is,

384
00:21:31,640 --> 00:21:35,200
before the sweetness is a little
bit of sharpness, like a lemon.

385
00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,640
That's because we're
using cider apples.

386
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:42,120
So, all of this - all of
this pipe after pipe

387
00:21:42,120 --> 00:21:47,120
of incredible machinery - is just
to turn apple juice into a syrup?

388
00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:49,280
Correct.
Now what?

389
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,880
Just when you think this place
can't get any more epic,

390
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,840
the scale of it blows
your mind all over again.

391
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:09,960
They can't all be
full of this syrup.

392
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,160
They certainly are.
They can't be.

393
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:15,800
How many of them?
There's 140 tanks, Gregg, in total.

394
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:17,800
They're all full of that syrup?

395
00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,280
And combined, they hold 15,000
tonnes.

396
00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:23,720
15,000 tonnes of that
stuff I just tasted?

397
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,600
Yep. Why so much?

398
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,360
So that we can make
cider all year round.

399
00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:30,880
Oh, of course.

400
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,000
Of course, you don't have
the apples all year round.

401
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:34,520
Absolutely.

402
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,120
How many pints of cider will
this syrup eventually make?

403
00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:40,040
About 700 million.

404
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,400
700 million pints?

405
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:44,040
Correct.

406
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,240
That's just astounding.

407
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,360
That's just... There's only
60 million people in the UK.

408
00:22:55,400 --> 00:23:00,680
These mega silos store syrup
made from 100,000 tonnes

409
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:04,560
of traditional cider apples,
but the factory's also begun

410
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:08,440
to use more sweet eating
apples in its blends,

411
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,920
although growing enough of them
isn't as easy as you might think,

412
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,320
as Cherry has been finding out.

413
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:19,400
I've come to Herefordshire to
find out how the cider factory

414
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:24,080
is growing a very specific
crop on a super scale.

415
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,480
I'm meeting orchard
technical manager Ben Moss.

416
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,000
Hi, Ben. Lovely to meet you.
It's very nice to meet you.

417
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,040
What a stunning orchard.
Yeah.

418
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,680
Ben is six years into a
huge project to establish

419
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:41,120
a new orchard of sweet apples
called Scrumptious.

420
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:43,960
In the future, it'll be used
to replace some of the sugar

421
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,440
in the factory's cider.

422
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,960
But how do you breed
a brand-new apple?

423
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,840
If I want to grow a beautiful
apple, just like this,

424
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,600
do I just take the pips and put them
in the soil and watch them grow,

425
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,080
and Bob's your uncle - I get
another apple just like this?

426
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,480
Unfortunately not.
Think of it like children -

427
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,080
not all children are the same
as their parents. Thank goodness.

428
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,360
There's very slight variations...

429
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:10,760
You'll get some that are
very similar, but you won't get

430
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:14,000
consistency or uniformity
within those trees.

431
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:15,960
So, the trees will
vary ever so slightly,

432
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,720
and the apples will
vary ever so slightly.

433
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,920
That must be quite tricky
for you if you're trying

434
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:21,520
to create a consistent product?

435
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:25,360
Yeah, it's a troublesome thing
that we've got to overcome.

436
00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:28,360
Ben's already started
to grow Scrumptious trees,

437
00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:32,240
but to keep the factory supplied,
he'll need thousands more,

438
00:24:32,240 --> 00:24:35,240
and they've all got to be identical.

439
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,880
So, to help achieve
this consistency,

440
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,600
he's using a technique
called chip budding.

441
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:43,680
Oh.

442
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,960
Why are you slicing huge
bits of the tree off?

443
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:50,600
So, under every one of
these leaves is a growth bud.

444
00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,480
What we do is, we transfer that
bud onto a small apple tree.

445
00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:57,920
If I want to guarantee the
kind of apple that I grow,

446
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:02,280
I have to almost skin graft
that bud onto another tree?

447
00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:04,160
That's correct.

448
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,640
An apple seed WOULD
grow into a tree,

449
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,200
but it would be different
from its parents.

450
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,680
So, to grow identical trees,

451
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,520
Ben's cloning them using an
ancient method called grafting,

452
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,440
which joins two plants together.

453
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,320
We've come to the new orchard
to see how it's done.

454
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:23,640
What an extraordinary place.

455
00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,560
I mean, there's tiny trees
as far as the eye can see.

456
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:29,400
We're growing, in total,
100,000 new trees.

457
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:32,520
Ben is grafting two
apple varieties together.

458
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,480
He's chosen a tree with very strong
roots to form the bottom part -

459
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,240
this is called the rootstock.

460
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,920
Why is it so important to you
to have the base of the tree

461
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:43,480
with such strong roots?

462
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:45,880
We're mechanically harvesting,
so we need a really good,

463
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:47,640
strong root system and anchor.

464
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:49,920
So you know that every
single tree in this orchard

465
00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:52,320
has a strong base,
so that when you shake the tree,

466
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,160
they're not going to fall over?

467
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:55,600
That's it, yeah.

468
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,840
The top half, where the
apples grow, will sprout from

469
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,080
a bud on the cutting we took from
the Scrumptious tree earlier.

470
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,120
That's like a perfect marriage.

471
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:07,440
You've got the really strong
foundation of this particular

472
00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,840
variety of tree, and then
you're going to graft on,

473
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:14,360
like a sci-fi movie, another
variety of apple.

474
00:26:14,360 --> 00:26:17,520
That's it. So, you've got a
strong base and a beautiful apple.

475
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,720
Yeah, that's it. So, we're
pairing the two apple trees

476
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:21,600
together to make one perfect tree.

477
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,040
I kind of have to see it to
believe it. Can I have a go?

478
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,440
Sure, yeah.
Let's go and see the chaps.

479
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,040
To find out how science
fiction becomes reality,

480
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,600
I'm meeting my new grafting
buddy, Peter Bukowski.

481
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,920
Hi, my name's Cherry.
Nice to meet you.

482
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,840
Nice to meet you, too.

483
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:43,240
First, Peter removes a bud
from our Scrumptious cutting,

484
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:47,840
and then creates an opening,
or slot, in the rootstock.

485
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,040
You have to make sure
there's a tiny pocket

486
00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:52,200
which will cover the tiny bud.

487
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:53,880
Almost so that it holds in place?

488
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:55,360
Yes. Right.

489
00:26:55,360 --> 00:26:56,960
Am I allowed to have a go?

490
00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,760
What I will do,
I will cut you a few buds.

491
00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:01,400
Safety first.

492
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:03,240
I'll just place it in. Yes.

493
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,160
You can do all the cutting,
I'll do the placing.

494
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:06,680
Yes. Perfect.

495
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:11,600
OK. So, what, I grab the
tree between my legs...?

496
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:15,800
Just under the tree bark is a
pale layer called the cambium,

497
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,080
which is responsible for growth.

498
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,920
..and then just slot it
in there carefully.

499
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,240
When the cambium of the
bud and the root tree

500
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:24,760
are carefully matched up...

501
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:26,400
Like a glove!

502
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,040
..new cells will grow from
both sides to heal the join.

503
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,360
Perfect.
Is that good? Yes.

504
00:27:32,360 --> 00:27:36,680
A covering of tape protects
the bud while the graft heals.

505
00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:38,360
Slowly... It's really fiddly.

506
00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:41,000
One more time,
and try one tiny knot.

507
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,560
The grafted bud
will produce a shoot,

508
00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,520
which will produce more
buds and more shoots,

509
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,040
and these will eventually
become the branches

510
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,400
of the adult Scrumptious tree.

511
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:55,560
Did I do it?
That's really good, that is.

512
00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:57,680
I think that's not
going anywhere. No.

513
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,080
There you go, skin-grafting apples.
Brilliant.

514
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:01,680
Hooray!

515
00:28:01,680 --> 00:28:03,160
That's a good day's work.

516
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:04,720
We have about 6,000 still to do.

517
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,480
OK, you haven't almost finished.

518
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:10,000
How many trees does your
team get through in a day?

519
00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,720
So, one budder and one tyer,
they'll do around 700-750 a day.

520
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:15,120
700 trees? Yeah.

521
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:19,000
So, a really good day, you know,
they'll do upwards of 800 trees.

522
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,400
My grafted tree will
take three weeks to heal,

523
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,760
but here's one Peter
prepared earlier.

524
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,320
There's a perfect example.
Have a look.

525
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,160
That is amazing.

526
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:32,600
They're completely fused together.

527
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,480
That's so amazing. I'll never look
at an orchard in the same way.

528
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,560
This tree will produce its first
apples in five years' time,

529
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:45,240
just one of 100,000 identical
trees in this new orchard.

530
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:48,880
And with a successful harvest,

531
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,080
it will help sweeten
the cider of tomorrow.

532
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,520
It's got the best name
for an apple - Scrumptious.

533
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,240
I don't think that you can
get more flattering than that.

534
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:15,960
Back at the mill,
my apples have been pressed,

535
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:21,600
and the juice has been turned
into 19,500 litres of sweet syrup.

536
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:26,040
From the mega silos, it's
pumped in to a 29-tonne tanker,

537
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,680
which travels 16 miles to
the cider factory in Hereford.

538
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:34,760
And what a factory!

539
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,240
This is the biggest
cider plant in the world -

540
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:44,320
producing 350 million
litres of cider a year,

541
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,560
enough to fill 140
Olympic-sized swimming pools.

542
00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:01,080
My apple syrup is unloaded,
and technical brewer Dave Dobell

543
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,800
is going to guide me
through its transformation.

544
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,640
Dave? Hi, Gregg.

545
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,480
You're my man, right? You're going
to teach me about cider-making?

546
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:09,920
I am. Follow me.

547
00:30:11,920 --> 00:30:15,600
Dave begins with an essential
ingredient so precious

548
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:19,040
it's kept under lock and key
in the factory's laboratory.

549
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,720
This is our special strain of yeast.

550
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,600
We've been using this
yeast since 1905.

551
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,000
So, is that a relative
of the original one

552
00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:32,320
from all those years ago?
Absolutely.

553
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,320
Hang on, explain the part of
yeast for me in cider-making.

554
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,920
I just realised I know
nothing at all, Dave.

555
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,800
Well, we add the yeast because
that's where the magic starts.

556
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,280
The yeast consumes the sugar,
and it converts it into alcohol.

557
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,720
So, without that little thing
there, there is no cider?

558
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:50,920
Correct.

559
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,320
This magical process
is called fermentation.

560
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:59,120
For each batch of cider, the lab
mixes Dave's tiny 1g pot of yeast

561
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,320
with 20ml of apple syrup.

562
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,200
Then it grows and
grows and grows...

563
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:09,640
..until it fills a
16-litre container.

564
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,720
How much cider will that amount
of yeast eventually make?

565
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:18,960
This volume of yeast will eventually
make 7,000 hectolitres of cider,

566
00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,440
which is 3.5 million pints.

567
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:24,160
What?! What?

568
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:25,840
Yep. It's amazing.

569
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:32,000
The 16 litres of yeast mix are
added to a holding tank containing

570
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:36,440
my apple syrup, before it's piped
to the fermentation cellar.

571
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:40,600
Which is where we're heading, to
see where the yeast gets to work.

572
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,560
What happens in here?

573
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:48,080
At the moment, we're underneath
our massive fermentation vessels.

574
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:49,920
How many of them?

575
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,920
We've got 17 in total.

576
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,560
So, how much liquid in
one fermentation vessel?

577
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,200
Each of these tanks holds
up to 3.5 million pints.

578
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,280
That's just ludicrous amounts.

579
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:07,240
Inside the vessels are a blend
of apple syrup, sugar, water,

580
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,440
and the all-important yeast mix.

581
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,600
How many of those yeast cells
are there now in there?

582
00:32:14,600 --> 00:32:17,480
At the peak cell count,
in each vessel,

583
00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,920
we have around
60 quadrillion yeast cells.

584
00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:25,400
Don't know what that means.
I have no idea what that means.

585
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:26,840
Me neither, Gregg.

586
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,440
But that's the number?

587
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,880
It's a vast amount of yeast cells.
Absolutely vast.

588
00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:33,520
They don't actually
look that big, Dave.

589
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,160
What we can see here, Gregg,
is only the bottom of the vessels.

590
00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:41,480
If you go outside, you can get a
real feel for how massive they are.

591
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:44,680
Is there any chance at all
I can taste a little bit

592
00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,520
during its process?
There is, Gregg. Follow me.

593
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:50,920
No way. I honestly thought you
were going to say, "Not a chance."

594
00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:52,440
You're welcome to.

595
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,680
Now, when Dave says
come for a taste test,

596
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:58,720
what he really means...

597
00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,560
..is a climb up five storeys

598
00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:07,640
to the top of these enormous
fermentation vessels.

599
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:10,640
Wow!

600
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:17,360
Mate, you suddenly get a proper
idea about how big these things are!

601
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,840
Yes, you get a much
better perspective.

602
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,920
Good job I've got
a head for heights.

603
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,360
What, you've literally
got a tap here, have you?

604
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,840
Absolutely.

605
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,960
After ten days' fermentation,
the sugars turn to alcohol -

606
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,680
but will it taste like cider yet?

607
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,760
It's strong like a
strong pint of bitter,

608
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,840
and then it's acidic like a vinegar.

609
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:49,880
Like a fruit vinegar on your tongue.

610
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:51,400
Ah!

611
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,320
So, at the moment,
that's 13% alcohol,

612
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,720
and it's still what
we class green cider.

613
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:00,400
So, this tank will have
another two weeks to stand,

614
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,080
just so that it develops
its, sort of, complex group

615
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,120
of flavours and characteristics.

616
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,040
It's got to kind of smooth out,
it's got to calm down a little bit.

617
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,800
Yes. The purpose of this stand
is just to allow the bitterness,

618
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,200
the astringency, the tannins,
to smooth out,

619
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:16,320
and just give a fully developed,
nice, rounded flavour.

620
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:20,200
13% alcohol. So, what's
your bottle of cider, then?

621
00:34:20,200 --> 00:34:23,480
Our bottle of cider
would typically be 4.5%

622
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,520
Right. Almost two thirds
weaker than that. Yeah.

623
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,200
I think I'd rather
look at the tank. OK.

624
00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:31,360
In fact, any more of that...

625
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:33,560
..I'll be laying down
over at the tank.

626
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:42,880
These massive vessels are turning
sugar into alcohol for my cider.

627
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:46,160
But this clever chemical
reaction is also producing

628
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:49,400
the gas that will give it its fizz.

629
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:54,320
So I'm heading to the CO2 recovery
plant to meet engineer Tom Hall.

630
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:59,160
Tom? Yes.
Lovely to meet you.

631
00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:00,760
Good to meet you, my friend.

632
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,840
This is where the CO2,
during fermentation,

633
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:05,800
this is where it comes, right?
That's right.

634
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,600
The pressure in the vessel builds
up, and that drives the gas over

635
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:10,720
to this room through
this big pipe here,

636
00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:13,360
to be reused, to carbonate
the product, to make it fizzy.

637
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,720
But when it arrives here, the CO2
still smells of fermenting cider,

638
00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:21,680
so Tom needs to strip out
those unwelcome whiffs.

639
00:35:21,680 --> 00:35:24,600
We use this thing here
to clean up the CO2.

640
00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:26,560
So, we pass the gas in at the
bottom,

641
00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,960
and what we do is,
we spray water in from above,

642
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:31,960
and the water drops down and
absorbs the soluble-impure alcohols

643
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,680
and the sugars that come across
with the fermentation gas.

644
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:37,040
You take the smell out of gas?
Exactly.

645
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:39,120
Can I have one for my bathroom?

646
00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:41,760
Wouldn't that be nice?

647
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,880
All right. Well, that's
very, very impressive.

648
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:45,840
Yeah. Well, I can
actually show you, Gregg.

649
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:47,400
Can you? Yeah.

650
00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,440
So, if we take a sample of
the water coming out of here...

651
00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:56,040
..you should be able to smell,
that actually smells quite appley.

652
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,640
A bit appley? That's VERY appley.

653
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,200
Yeah. I mean, that is like
a carton of apple juice.

654
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,200
Exactly. Well, that actually
gives us quite a good indication

655
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,680
that this piece of kit is
doing what we think it's doing

656
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:13,080
and taking out those odours, ready
for it to go back into our product.

657
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:16,360
Until my cider is ready,

658
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,000
the odourless gas needs
to be safely stored.

659
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:23,680
So it's chilled to -24 degrees,

660
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:28,320
which turns it into a liquid in
a process called condensation.

661
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:33,480
A bit like when your breath turns
to water droplets on a cold window.

662
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:35,680
Why bother turning it into a liquid?

663
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,640
The reason we store it as a liquid
is cos it takes up far less space.

664
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,960
So, we've got some
60-tonne CO2 tanks outside,

665
00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,600
which actually would have
to be 500 times bigger

666
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:47,040
if we were to store
the gas as a gas.

667
00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:49,360
That's just why we have
to store it as a liquid.

668
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:51,720
You're turning the gas into
a liquid? That's right.

669
00:36:51,720 --> 00:36:53,920
But you're going to put it
back in the bottle as a gas?

670
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:55,520
That's right.

671
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,920
What an absolutely ingenious,

672
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,640
very clever,
and slightly mad process.

673
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,480
Absolutely.

674
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:09,520
It takes an unbelievable
500 metres of pipes

675
00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:11,680
to clean and store this gas,

676
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:14,840
before it'll be needed to
put the bubbles in my batch.

677
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,520
CO2 may put the fizz in my cider,

678
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,560
but this versatile gas
can also save lives -

679
00:37:22,560 --> 00:37:24,840
as Cherry's been finding out.

680
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:34,120
Every year, there are 29,000
domestic fires in the UK.

681
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:39,000
Amazingly, a by-product
of the brewing industry

682
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:44,080
powers one of the essential
tools to fight these flames.

683
00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:47,200
It's just extraordinary that
he put that huge fire out

684
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,360
with just one extinguisher.

685
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,480
Foam extinguishers are
used to tackle fires

686
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:57,520
in materials like wood and paper,
or liquids like petrol.

687
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,760
To see how carbon dioxide
plays its part,

688
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,400
I've come to Norfolk
to meet Andy Spence,

689
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:08,120
whose company has been making
extinguishers since the 1970s.

690
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,920
Hi, Andy. Lovely to meet you.
And you. How are you?

691
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,560
I love this workshop.
It looks so handmade.

692
00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:15,400
Yeah, absolutely.

693
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,280
Each extinguisher is filled
with six litres of liquid,

694
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:23,000
a mix of foam concentrate,
and water.

695
00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,160
At the neck of the extinguisher
is the all-important

696
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,000
canister of carbon dioxide.

697
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,400
It's only 55g, but it's
going to give it a powerful punch

698
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,880
to expel the six litres
of foam that's in there.

699
00:38:34,880 --> 00:38:37,520
Without this, it's just foamy water?

700
00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:39,560
Yeah, just some foamy water.

701
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:44,920
So how does such a small canister
of CO2 force all of this liquid

702
00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:47,800
and foam out so quickly
with so much power?

703
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:52,040
Once it's activated, it pushes
itself out at high velocity,

704
00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:55,400
purely because it's gone from a
liquid state into its gaseous state

705
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,080
and it wants to escape.

706
00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,280
When the handle is squeezed,
the canister is punctured,

707
00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:05,120
releasing highly compressed carbon
dioxide liquid into the cylinder.

708
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,320
The liquid CO2 instantly
turns back into a gas,

709
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,960
expanding hundreds of times and
forcing foam out of the nozzle.

710
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:16,720
So, the CO2 is like the powerhouse
behind the extinguisher?

711
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:18,320
Yeah, absolutely.

712
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,880
Where does the life of a
fire extinguisher begin?

713
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,800
It starts here, where we take
it out of the washing machine

714
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:28,920
as a sheet of steel,
and then we roll it.

715
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:30,560
There we go.

716
00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:35,200
The edges are welded together
at 5,500 degrees Celsius.

717
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,880
Oh, there it goes.

718
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:40,920
Now we have a welded cylinder.

719
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:44,760
Next, our extinguisher
needs a wall bracket.

720
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:45,960
Ah!

721
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:50,520
I knew it was coming,
and still it's scary.

722
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,680
The top and bottom are added.

723
00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:57,960
These are made of preformed steel,
and are firmly welded on.

724
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:04,680
Once the CO2 gas cartridge expels,
if this wasn't welded on,

725
00:40:04,680 --> 00:40:07,800
this would go that way,
and this one would go that way.

726
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:09,720
Ooh, what's this contraption called?

727
00:40:09,720 --> 00:40:11,560
This is called the nodding donkey.

728
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:14,440
Nodding donkey? This sounds fun.

729
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:16,560
This is a really,
really important job.

730
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:19,360
We've got to try and stop corrosion
inside the fire extinguisher,

731
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:21,800
so we put these crystals inside it.

732
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:26,000
When heated to 300 degrees Celsius,
the crystals melt,

733
00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:30,480
forming a plastic layer inside the
extinguisher to stop it rusting.

734
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:33,080
What a clever donkey!

735
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,440
The inside is now sealed,

736
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:39,040
but the outside needs a
visit to the powder room.

737
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,000
Is there a knack to it?

738
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,080
The lads that paint them think
there is, but there isn't really.

739
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,680
Oh, that is so satisfying.

740
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:52,760
That's a really good job.

741
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:55,160
Is that all right? Yeah, I think
you could get a job here.

742
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:56,560
Yeah!

743
00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:58,640
Job done. OK.

744
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:03,240
The polyester powder paint is
baked to an enamel-like finish,

745
00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:06,200
before the instructions are added.

746
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:09,440
Just like that? Yes.
Yep, go for it.

747
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:10,880
Hey, hey.

748
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,320
I'm sorry,
but that is just perfect.

749
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,280
Cylinder complete.

750
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:20,760
It's filled with 150ml of foam
concentrate and six litres of water.

751
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:27,120
And finally, it's fitted with the
essential carbon dioxide canister.

752
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,160
I want to see how effective
my fire extinguisher is,

753
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,680
so I've come to the factory's
specialist testing facility.

754
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:37,320
Whoa!

755
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:39,600
So, now you can see the
flame is taking hold. Whoa.

756
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,960
There we go. The minute it hit
the tablecloth, it just went whoosh.

757
00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:49,880
Pull? Aim it at the base
of fire, and off you go.

758
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,520
Can you get quite close?
Yeah.

759
00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:54,040
Ah!

760
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,000
And it's out.

761
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:58,240
That was so fast!

762
00:41:58,240 --> 00:42:03,360
It's amazing that CO2,
a by-product of alcohol production,

763
00:42:03,360 --> 00:42:07,280
is such a key weapon in
the fight against fire.

764
00:42:07,280 --> 00:42:12,160
I cannot believe how
quickly the fire spread.

765
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:15,680
I have to admit, I've never
even really considered having

766
00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:19,360
a fire extinguisher at home, and
I think that might need to change.

767
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:36,560
Back at the factory in Hereford,
my cider has been busy fermenting...

768
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,400
..and its CO2 is safely stored.

769
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,960
So I'm heading to the
filtration area to see

770
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:50,000
what cider wizard Dave is doing
with my batch of flat cider.

771
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:53,000
That can't have anything
to do with cider-making.

772
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,040
That looks like an enormous piano.

773
00:42:55,040 --> 00:42:57,720
This is our chill haze filter.

774
00:42:57,720 --> 00:42:59,560
It's freezing. It is.

775
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,400
That's exactly the point.

776
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,600
We put this cider
through this filter

777
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,760
to remove any haze, or particles.

778
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:08,720
"Chill haze filter."

779
00:43:08,720 --> 00:43:11,560
Yes. So, what will the
particles, or the haze, be?

780
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:14,000
In cider, because it's
derived from apples,

781
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:17,480
we get naturally occurring
tannins and polyphenols.

782
00:43:17,480 --> 00:43:20,880
If we were to continue
to package our cider

783
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:23,520
without carrying out this step,

784
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:27,160
when the cider is warm,
it would look perfectly clear.

785
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,680
But the moment you start to chill
that cider in a refrigerator,

786
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:32,880
it will slowly become cloudy.

787
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,280
So, to prevent that from
happening when you're drinking

788
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:37,560
your pint in your local pub,

789
00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:40,920
we perform this important
additional filtration step.

790
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,920
So, we freeze the cider then
at zero degrees Celsius.

791
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:48,960
That brings out these hazy, cloudy
compounds, and then this filter

792
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:51,960
filters them out
and removes them from the cider.

793
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:54,840
MUSIC: Cold As Ice
by Foreigner

794
00:43:59,920 --> 00:44:04,280
Every hour, 35,000 litres
of super-chilled cider

795
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:08,200
pass through these 105
cellulose filter boards.

796
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:14,960
It's not easy, cider, is it?

797
00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:17,560
Best things in life
are worth waiting for.

798
00:44:17,560 --> 00:44:20,640
You might be right -
I was married four times.

799
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,040
I'm not bitter, but is my cider?

800
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:27,840
Can I taste it?
Can I sample it at this stage?

801
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,560
Yes, you can, Gregg.

802
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:36,360
That's smelling more like cider.

803
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:39,280
It's not quite as sharp,
and the colour's a lot better.

804
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:45,880
The bitterness is going from it.

805
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:49,040
It's most certainly
beginning to get fruity.

806
00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:51,480
It's most certainly acidic.

807
00:44:51,480 --> 00:44:54,920
However, it's missing its sweet,
and it's missing its fizz.

808
00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:57,360
It is, Gregg.
So what do we do next?

809
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,800
Next stage, we'll add the sweet
apple to get that perfect blend

810
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,240
of bitterness and sweetness,
and then we'll add the fizz.

811
00:45:04,240 --> 00:45:07,200
The fizz is what I want to see.
Come on, take me, Dave. Let's go.

812
00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:13,040
So, we're leaving filtration
and heading to the bottling hall.

813
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:20,120
And, at last, I'm just moments
from meeting my fizzy cider.

814
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:23,760
Fizz?

815
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:25,200
Fizz.

816
00:45:25,200 --> 00:45:27,440
Is that it?
Yep, that's it.

817
00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:29,080
And what exactly is the fizz?

818
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,320
The fizz is carbon dioxide.

819
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:33,360
That you took off before?
Yes.

820
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:35,640
That you're putting back in again?
That's it.

821
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:37,200
Right. Am I doing it?

822
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:38,480
Yes.

823
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:41,640
FANFARE

824
00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:48,200
Nothing's happening.

825
00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:50,360
Just wait a couple
of seconds, Gregg.

826
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:53,640
It's a bit underwhelming, mate.

827
00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:56,880
I was expecting maybe a couple
of bubbles, a few flashing lights.

828
00:45:58,840 --> 00:46:01,280
Wahey!

829
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:06,080
Did I just set that off?
You did.

830
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:11,800
50,000 bottles are racing
every hour to meet my cider,

831
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:15,760
which is flooding towards them
through a network of pipes.

832
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:20,440
Inside, the liquid is mixed
with a sweeter apple juice,

833
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:24,240
and my recaptured CO2
to fill it with fizz.

834
00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:28,800
But who first came up
with the sparkling idea

835
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:30,960
of putting bubbles in a bottle?

836
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:33,800
Ruth has been in
search of the answer.

837
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:41,560
You may be forgiven for thinking
that fizz is a French invention.

838
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:50,760
But, in fact, the history of bubbly
starts much closer to home...

839
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:55,800
..due to a crisis caused
by Oliver Cromwell.

840
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:59,920
In the 1640s, parliamentarian
and soldier Oliver Cromwell

841
00:46:59,920 --> 00:47:03,320
led an army against King Charles I,

842
00:47:03,320 --> 00:47:07,760
deposing him and establishing
a British republic.

843
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,240
The ruling classes were in turmoil.

844
00:47:11,240 --> 00:47:14,480
After years of bitter civil war,

845
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:17,080
Charles I had had
his head cut off,

846
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:22,400
his son and heir, Charles II, was
away in exile in France, but now...

847
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:26,920
..the aristocracy and gentry
faced a whole new challenge.

848
00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,880
They were in danger
of running out of wine.

849
00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:34,200
It was the Dutch who controlled
the lucrative trade

850
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:36,080
in wine at this time.

851
00:47:37,440 --> 00:47:41,720
In 1651, Cromwell passed a
law called The Navigation Act,

852
00:47:41,720 --> 00:47:45,720
effectively blocking
the Dutch trading ships,

853
00:47:45,720 --> 00:47:49,840
and causing a severe
shortage of Sauvignon.

854
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,360
I've come to Chastleton House,
in the Cotswolds,

855
00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:59,600
to meet wine writer
Henry Jeffreys to find out

856
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:03,400
how the biggest brains in
Britain overcame the crisis...

857
00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:06,520
..by giving a much more
modest drink a makeover.

858
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:09,920
So, this was the sort of Bible
of English cider-making,

859
00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:11,800
by a chap called John Evelyn.

860
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:14,880
He's quite a famous name. I mean,
we're talking right at the top

861
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:16,880
there of the sort
of scientific elite.

862
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:19,280
He was. And his thing
that he said was,

863
00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:23,760
he would "relieve the want of
wine by a succedaneum of cider."

864
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:25,760
What a phrase!

865
00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:27,400
Which means a substitute.

866
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,240
It's a medical term for
a substitute of cider.

867
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:32,600
But cider had an image problem.

868
00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:35,360
It was considered
a working-class drink.

869
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:38,520
It was stored in wooden casks,
and the natural bubbles produced

870
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:43,560
during fermentation leaked out
of the barrels and evaporated away.

871
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,320
How to refine the cider and
keep hold of those bubbles

872
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:52,400
became a pressing question
for Evelyn, and other great men

873
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:57,040
of the time who wanted to elevate
cider beyond its humble roots.

874
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:00,800
These people are like Newton,

875
00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:04,280
and they were delivering
papers on making cider.

876
00:49:04,280 --> 00:49:06,920
It's as if, like, NASA
had a home-brew division.

877
00:49:06,920 --> 00:49:09,280
That's how clever these people were.

878
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:10,880
And they want to make
a sparkling cider.

879
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:12,720
It sounds quite straightforward,

880
00:49:12,720 --> 00:49:15,920
but, actually, it required high
technology in the 17th century.

881
00:49:17,160 --> 00:49:19,800
The biggest problem was the
fragile bottles of the time.

882
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:22,560
To retain the fizz,
cider-makers needed glass

883
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:25,880
that could withstand the
pressure of the bubbles.

884
00:49:27,720 --> 00:49:31,800
As luck would have it, scientist
Sir Kenelm Digby was already working

885
00:49:31,800 --> 00:49:34,600
on a new method of glass-production.

886
00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:39,200
Henry and I have come
to a glassworks, in Bath,

887
00:49:39,200 --> 00:49:41,640
to see this ground-breaking
method in action.

888
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:46,640
Well, this is a bit different,
isn't it? Look at that.

889
00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:48,280
Oh, it's hot in here, isn't it?

890
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:52,320
Digby built on existing technology -

891
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:55,160
using a hotter furnace
to make stronger glass,

892
00:49:55,160 --> 00:49:59,000
improving air flow,
and burning coal instead of wood.

893
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:05,160
So, you ended up with a bottle
which was much, much stronger.

894
00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:07,520
So stronger is resisting pressure?

895
00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:10,560
Yes, it was much less brittle,
much thicker.

896
00:50:10,560 --> 00:50:14,680
So, it could take the
pressure of fermentation.

897
00:50:14,680 --> 00:50:20,480
Digby used this stronger glass to
create a more robust bottle design.

898
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:22,760
Oh... Move back, move back!

899
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:24,280
Am I in your way?

900
00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:28,600
And this is the shape of bottle
that he was coming up with?

901
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:30,720
Exactly. It was known as
a shaft and globe bottle.

902
00:50:30,720 --> 00:50:33,080
So, it had a globe and a shaft,

903
00:50:33,080 --> 00:50:34,960
and they were very, very strong.

904
00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:38,240
The globe, especially, was
very, very thick glass. Right.

905
00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:40,680
So, it's all sorts
of things happening.

906
00:50:40,680 --> 00:50:43,720
He's inventing
new sorts of furnaces,

907
00:50:43,720 --> 00:50:45,920
new sorts of glass,

908
00:50:45,920 --> 00:50:48,080
a new shape to make it into.

909
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:51,000
Exactly. Yeah, he's doing
all this, and the result is

910
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:53,440
something like a modern wine bottle.

911
00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:55,120
And here's the finished bottle.

912
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:56,960
Oh, right.
Isn't it beautiful?

913
00:50:56,960 --> 00:50:59,960
And this is the technology
that allowed us to have

914
00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:02,080
fizzy alcoholic drink.
Exactly, yeah.

915
00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:05,840
And then the bottle moves
over to France, where they...

916
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:07,280
..put fizzy wine in it!

917
00:51:07,280 --> 00:51:09,520
This type of thick glass, in France,

918
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:12,400
they still call it verre Anglais.
The English glass. Yeah.

919
00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:14,560
So, the whole history
of fizz and champagne

920
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:16,320
is actually about fizzy cider?

921
00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:18,640
It began with cider, yeah.

922
00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:21,840
Basically, cider in Britain.
Yeah. Strange but true.

923
00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:26,360
So what better excuse for a toast?

924
00:51:26,360 --> 00:51:30,240
Here's to the British for being
the first to put fizz in a bottle.

925
00:51:30,240 --> 00:51:31,760
Cheers.

926
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:46,280
At the factory, after 29 days
and six and a half hours,

927
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:49,560
the sparkle has finally
been put into my cider,

928
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:53,160
and thousands of bottles
are on their way to be filled.

929
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:58,600
Getting these fragile
towers of glass safely onto

930
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:02,600
the production line is
technical operator Sophie Morgan.

931
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:05,640
Sophie? I don't want to
break your concentration.

932
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:07,480
I mean, that is a serious stack.

933
00:52:07,480 --> 00:52:09,400
How many bottles are on there?

934
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:11,240
There's 2,376 bottles on a pallet.

935
00:52:11,240 --> 00:52:14,080
But you're going to cut
the strings that are holding

936
00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:16,160
them together, right?
Yes, but they're still safe.

937
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:18,040
They're stacked nine-high,

938
00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:20,200
and they've got the
layer pads in between.

939
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:22,280
How long have you worked here?
Ten years.

940
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:24,000
Has one ever collapsed?
Never.

941
00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:25,280
Never? Never.

942
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:27,680
Because, I mean, that's some serious
trouble if that tumbles over.

943
00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:29,120
It would make one hell of a mess.

944
00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:31,760
I do have a serious
question for you. OK.

945
00:52:31,760 --> 00:52:33,880
Is any of that glass recyclable?

946
00:52:33,880 --> 00:52:36,360
All of it's recyclable.
Is it? Yes.

947
00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:39,520
Oh, right, OK. Well, look,
full green marks to you, OK?

948
00:52:39,520 --> 00:52:42,160
Do you have time to show
me more of the process?

949
00:52:42,160 --> 00:52:43,880
Yes, of course I do.

950
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:49,600
First, the debander
removes the plastic strips.

951
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:54,720
Then the depalletizer
unloads 20 pallets every hour,

952
00:52:54,720 --> 00:52:57,520
sending the empty bottles
to the rinsing table,

953
00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:00,280
a supersized bottle washer.

954
00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:06,720
Oh, wow.

955
00:53:06,720 --> 00:53:08,040
Oh, get in.

956
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:12,200
Oh, I love this stuff!

957
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:14,640
Yeah. Absolutely love this stuff.

958
00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:17,200
Right, how many bottles
are in there?

959
00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:20,120
It's 154 bottles a second.

960
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:21,960
No way, it can't be!

961
00:53:21,960 --> 00:53:25,800
This is why the bottles behind that
are turning are just a blur, right?

962
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:27,840
How fast are they going?

963
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:29,200
50,000 an hour.

964
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:30,880
No!

965
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:37,400
Why are they spinning upside down?

966
00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:40,640
So, they're being spun upside down,
and they'll get jetted with water,

967
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:43,360
which will rinse out the bottle,
and then it'll just make sure

968
00:53:43,360 --> 00:53:46,520
there's no contaminant stuff
or anything in the bottle.

969
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:51,560
And where does the cider go in?

970
00:53:51,560 --> 00:53:54,240
So, the cider comes in
in this big machine here.

971
00:53:56,040 --> 00:53:57,560
This is it.

972
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,920
These beautiful carousel
machines are filling

973
00:54:00,920 --> 00:54:05,240
833 bottles every minute
with my fizzy cider.

974
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:09,880
A bit noisy, loads of energy -
a bit like me.

975
00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:13,920
Then a tiny jet of hot,
highly pressured water

976
00:54:13,920 --> 00:54:16,600
is sprayed into the
top of each bottle,

977
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:20,480
producing a small head
of bubbles called the fob.

978
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:23,920
This pushes oxygen out
of the neck of the bottle,

979
00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:27,760
which if left in, could
cause the cider to spoil.

980
00:54:27,760 --> 00:54:30,400
There's a very small dome of
froth on top of the bottle,

981
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:32,320
and the crown gets clamped shut,

982
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:34,480
sealing the precious
cider in the bottle.

983
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:36,880
The crown is the lid.
Yes.

984
00:54:43,440 --> 00:54:46,240
Then the bottles form
an orderly queue into

985
00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:52,160
a 22-metre-long pasteurizer,
where they're given a hot shower,

986
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:56,480
warming the cider to 63 degrees
Celsius, to kill off any bacteria.

987
00:54:56,480 --> 00:55:02,000
Then a cold shower takes the
cider back down to 28 degrees.

988
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:04,160
Why'd you cool them down?

989
00:55:04,160 --> 00:55:07,800
To make sure the bottles
don't burst, for safety reasons.

990
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:10,840
Seriously, you cool them down
to make sure they don't break?

991
00:55:10,840 --> 00:55:12,400
Yeah.

992
00:55:14,080 --> 00:55:17,960
Squeaky-clean and bug-free,
the bottles get their labels -

993
00:55:17,960 --> 00:55:21,040
at a rate of 25,000 an hour.

994
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:28,920
And then they're on to boxing-up.

995
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:31,360
Robot arms group the
bottles into eights,

996
00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:34,360
and the box is folded
and glued around them.

997
00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:39,440
Finally, they're ready
to be palleted,

998
00:55:39,440 --> 00:55:44,040
and I'm going to meet the ingenious
robot in charge of the job.

999
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:45,960
What is that machine doing?

1000
00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:48,400
So, this is the robo box.

1001
00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:51,120
This is building the
layers for the pallets.

1002
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:55,120
So, the two robotic arms are
forming the pallet of packs

1003
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:59,920
into specific patterns so they
form a safe, sturdy palette.

1004
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:02,000
But they're not, are they?
There's no pattern at all.

1005
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:04,080
They're out of control,
just doing what they want.

1006
00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:07,160
I'm watching these,
there is no discernible pattern.

1007
00:56:07,160 --> 00:56:10,360
They're doing it for a
reason, Gregg, Oh, I see!

1008
00:56:10,360 --> 00:56:13,200
Oh, I see. They're spacing
them out so that when they get

1009
00:56:13,200 --> 00:56:15,240
to the end, they form a square.
Yes.

1010
00:56:15,240 --> 00:56:17,240
So, they're putting them
in a specific pattern

1011
00:56:17,240 --> 00:56:20,360
so they all fit in together nicely.
That's crazy!

1012
00:56:20,360 --> 00:56:22,120
That's brilliant.

1013
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,160
Do you remember Tetris? Yes.

1014
00:56:26,160 --> 00:56:28,600
When the shapes come down and
you had to build a block...

1015
00:56:28,600 --> 00:56:30,640
That's what they're doing.

1016
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:32,680
It's a never-ending game of Tetris.

1017
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:41,400
More than 50,000 bottles of
cider are packed every hour

1018
00:56:41,400 --> 00:56:43,760
by these robotic arms.

1019
00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:48,120
Hope you like cider, Gregg.

1020
00:56:48,120 --> 00:56:49,520
Uh-oh.

1021
00:56:49,520 --> 00:56:51,960
I drink beer, I'm sorry to say.

1022
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:53,440
Are you a cider drinker?

1023
00:56:53,440 --> 00:56:55,440
I do you drink cider.
Are you disappointed in me?

1024
00:56:55,440 --> 00:56:57,880
I am disappointed, Gregg.

1025
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:02,360
It's been a long journey,
but my batch of 250,000 half-litre

1026
00:57:02,360 --> 00:57:06,600
bottles of cider is ready
to leave the factory.

1027
00:57:10,080 --> 00:57:11,880
There we go. That's my cider, right?

1028
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:14,600
That is your cider,
definitely, Gregg.

1029
00:57:14,600 --> 00:57:17,960
This lorry will hold
up to 24,000 bottles.

1030
00:57:17,960 --> 00:57:19,840
That's a huge amount.

1031
00:57:19,840 --> 00:57:22,640
That's about a million
bottles every day, going out.

1032
00:57:22,640 --> 00:57:24,680
That is just astounding, isn't it?

1033
00:57:25,920 --> 00:57:29,160
The factory sells the most
cider in central England,

1034
00:57:29,160 --> 00:57:32,440
followed by the south-west,

1035
00:57:32,440 --> 00:57:35,400
Wales, and Lancashire.

1036
00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:37,200
I think that's my
last pallet, right?

1037
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:38,240
It is, it looks full.

1038
00:57:38,240 --> 00:57:40,720
Should we do the old-fashioned
bang on the truck? Go for it.

1039
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:42,480
Thank you, driver.

1040
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:44,480
TRUCK HORN HONKS
There he goes.

1041
00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:46,240
I haven't scratched it, I promise.

1042
00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,640
I may not be a cider drinker myself,

1043
00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:55,760
but I am seriously impressed
with the scale of production here.

1044
00:57:55,760 --> 00:57:58,200
I was blown away by the apple mill,

1045
00:57:58,200 --> 00:58:01,160
with its monster tanks storing

1046
00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:04,680
enough syrup to make 700 million
pints.

1047
00:58:04,680 --> 00:58:08,600
And here at the factory,
the enormous fermentation vessels,

1048
00:58:08,600 --> 00:58:13,800
where quadrillions of
yeast cells do their work.

1049
00:58:13,800 --> 00:58:17,400
But do you know what I find
even more impressive than that,

1050
00:58:17,400 --> 00:58:21,680
is that it starts with a tiny
12-week window of opportunity

1051
00:58:21,680 --> 00:58:27,280
to harvest 135,000 tonnes of apples
for a year's worth of cider.

1052
00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:32,840
Now, that is a lot of apples.

1053
00:58:32,840 --> 00:58:35,120
Ha-ha-ha!