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Hunt's Farm Cider

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About Hunt's Farm Cider

Hunt’s Farm Cider is a small family-run mixed farm in South Devon, with 18 acres of cider apple orchards. They currently produce between 5000 and 7000 gallons of cider each year, made up of predominantly Devonshire cider apple varieties.

Requirements

Richard and Annette Hunt wanted to improve the speed and efficiency of their pressing and pasteurisation processes. They were using a very traditional hydraulic press but needed to press around 7 tonnes of fruit per day. Pasteurisation was carried out using an in-bottle pasteuriser. They wanted to increase the capacity of their bag-in-box filling.

The Solution

We supplied, installed and commissioned the following:

Feedback

Richard provided the following feedback:

Why did you choose Vigo?

'We chose Vigo because we knew we’d receive a high quality service, from the moment when we enquired right through to installation and after care. The service provided by their sales team and engineers was second to none. They ensured we were buying the right equipment to meet our needs.'

How satisfied are you with the equipment received and the service Vigo supplied?

'The Voran belt press and mill has greatly improved our thoughput at harvest time, helping us to avoid back logs of apples waiting to be milled and pressed. It has freed up labour resources, allowing them to be redeployed elsewhere, improving our efficiency as a business.

Having previously used a Vigo In-bottle pasteuriser, the Vigo flash pasteuriser has been a revelation to us when bottling our still juices and ciders. The efficiencies gained have gone a long way towards paying for the upgrade. However, where the Flash Pasteuriser has comes in to its own is when used in conjunction with our Technibag bag-in-box filler. The combination of these two pieces of equipment, allowing us to hot fill bag-in-boxes, has again improved our efficency, and also improved the quality of the product we are able to supply to the consumer.'

What positive impact has the equipment had on your business in general?

'The equipment has brought our business into the 21st century. The improved production efficiency has allowed us to grow our business using our existing workforce. The ability to hot fill bag-in-boxes has improved the quality of the products we are able to supply, allowing a more consistent product throughout the year.'

More about Hunt's Farm Cider

The Hunt family has been producing cider since 1805 and were instrumental in getting Paignton Harbour built in the 1830s, which as well as being used for landing fish and coal, was also used to export cider.

Today the farm, although not given organic status, is run very much with the environment in mind – no sprays or artificial fertilisers are used in the orchards and the farm is part of the Environmental Stewardship Scheme. In order to achieve a good and clean fermentation, Hunt’s Cider is made without manufactured yeasts or extra sugar.

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