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Hard cider is a delicious alternative to beer that's brewed by a similar method. How to Make Hard Cider shows you how to ferment your own cider at home.
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Making Hard Cider Tips
- Sanitize your equipment.
- Use a Campden tablet to sanitize apple juice.
- Dissolve sugar before adding it to un–fermented apple juice.
- Use an airlock to prevent your cider from turning into vinegar.
- Siphon fermenting cider into a second container to help clarify it.
- Use some more sugar to carbonate the cider.
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Introduction
- Cider has been a popular alcoholic beverage in America since colonial times. While cider making experienced a significant decline around the time of Prohibition, it has recently undergone a resurgence in popularity thanks to increasing interest in microbreweries and home brewing. With just a few basic pieces of equipment and easily obtained supplies, plus a fair amount of patience, you can brew hard cider at home.Two Rivers Cider Company: History of Hard Cider
What You'll Need
- Before you begin brewing your cider, be sure to sanitize all of your equipment with bleach or another sanitizing solution.Mother Earth News: Make Your Own Hard Cider (October/November 2007) You can get all necessary equipment and other supplies from a local brewing supply store or online at sites such as Leeners, Williams Brewing or NorthernBrewer.com.Leeners: Official Site Williams Brewing: Official Site NorthernBrewer.com: Official Site
Equipment
- 2 one-gallon glass, plastic or wooden airtight containersCornell University: Making Hard Cider
- Whatever kind of container you use, you must get an airlock that fits properly.
- Airlock
- Fermenting cider must not come in contact with air or it will begin to turn into vinegar. An airlock keeps air out while allowing gas produced by the cider to escape.Cornell University: Making Hard Cider If you don't want to buy an airlock, one site suggests connecting the cider to a small container of water with hosing.Mother Earth News: How to Build a Cider Press (September/October 1976)
- Racking cane
- Siphon hose
- Bottles with their caps for bottling the cider (optional)Seven Bridges Cooperative: Bottling the Beer
Sulfur–Sanitized Hard Cider
- There are two basic methods for preparing cider for fermentation, as well as some debate over which is the better method.Cornell University: Making Hard Cider The first method, outlined in this section, uses sulfites to sanitize the cider before adding yeast. Proponents of sulfur-sanitized cider claim that wild yeasts and bacteria can produce unpredictable, sometimes unpleasant flavors in the finished cider, and therefore prefer to kill them off with sulfites before introducing carefully selected yeasts.Chowhound: Questions About Hard Cider
Ingredients
- 1 gallon unpasteurized, unfiltered apple juice—a mixture of several varieties of both tart and sweet apples is recommendedLeeners: Making Hard Apple Cider in Three Gallon Batches
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme—eliminates "haziness" in the cider.Leeners: Making Hard Apple Cider in Three Gallon Batches
- 1/2 teaspoon yeast energizer
- 1 Campden tablet
- 1 packet cider, brewers, champagne or wine yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon tannin (optional)
- 1 teaspoon acid blend (optional)
Procedure
- Crush the Campden tablet and stir it into the fresh apple juice in your fermenting pail.
- Stir in the pectic enzyme, yeast energizer, sugar, tannin and acid blend. Do not add the yeast yet.
- Cover the fermenting pail and let sit for one or two days.Sunny Side Orchards: Apple Recipes
- Uncover the pail and sprinkle the yeast over the juice.
- Put the lid back on the pail and attach the airlock (or rubber hosing and water assembly).
- Allow the cider to ferment. The airlock will bubble, indicating that the cider is indeed fermenting. Wait for the bubbles to subside to a rate of about one bubble per minute, then wait 7 more days before moving on to the next step.Leeners: Making Hard Apple Cider in Three Gallon Batches
- Siphon the cider into a second fermentation pail.Seven Bridges Cooperative: Siphoning the Beer Try to avoid transferring the sediment from the bottom of the first container into the second.Cornell University: Making Hard Cider Cover the container and attach the airlock.
- Allow the fermentation to finish. Leener's suggests tasting the cider after two weeks and adjusting the flavor before allowing the fermentation to continue. This will take at least a few weeks.Leeners: Making Hard Apple Cider in Three Gallon Batches When the cider becomes clear, it's ready for drinking, carbonation or bottling.Seven Bridges Cooperative: Bottling the Beer
Sulfite–Free Cider
- The second method for fermenting hard cider makes use of the original yeasts in un–preserved apple juice to ferment the cider. Brewers who use this method consider sulfur-sanitization unnecessary or even prefer the more unpredictable results obtained with wild yeasts.Chowhound: Questions About Hard Cider You might also want to stick to this method if you have a true sulfite allergy.U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Sulfites—Safe for Most, Dangerous for Some (December 1996)
Ingredients
- 1 gallon pasteurized, unfiltered, preservative-free apple juiceMother Earth News: Make Your Own Hard Cider (October/November 2007)
- 1 pound white or brown sugar or honey (optional, but the more sugar in your cider, the more alcohol)Mother Earth News: Make Your Own Hard Cider (October/November 2007)
- 1 packet cider, champagne, wine or bread yeast
Procedure
- Pour sugar or honey into a saucepan and add enough apple juice to dissolve the sugar completely over moderate heat.Cornell University: Making Hard Cider If you're concerned about wild yeasts and bacteria in your cider, heat all the apple juice on medium for 45 minutes to kill off most microorganisms, without bringing the apple juice to a boil.Mother Earth News: Make Your Own Hard Cider (October/November 2007)
- Let the solution cool until it is only lukewarm, then pour it back into your clean container with the rest of the apple juice.
- Add the yeast to the container.
- Seal the container with an airlock.
- Allow the cider to ferment for at least three weeks in a room whose temperature is around 60°F to 70°F.Mother Earth News: How to Build a Cider Press (September/October 1976)
- Siphon the cider into a second fermenter. Try to avoid transferring the sediment from the bottom of the first container into the second.Cornell University: Making Hard Cider Allow the cider to sit until it is completely clear (about a month).Mother Earth News: Make Your Own Hard Cider (October/November 2007)
- Once the cider is clear, you can drink it, bottle it or let it age for up to 6 years.Seven Bridges Cooperative: Bottling the Beer Cornell University: Making Hard Cider
Carbonate the Cider (Optional)
- There are many different styles of hard cider on the market.Sally's Place: Hard Cider Many, though not all, of those ciders are carbonated. As with beer, the most common way for homebrewers to carbonate their cider is by natural carbonation. After primary fermentation is complete, the brewer adds a small amount of sugar to the cider before sealing the cider in its final container (whether a keg, bucket or bottles). The cider goes through further fermentation, producing CO2. Since the container is sealed, the CO2 has nowhere to go, and remains suspended in the cider.About.com: Brewing Beer
- Dissolve 1/8 cup sugar in a small amount of water.Mother Earth News: Make Your Own Hard Cider (October/November 2007)
- Carefully stir the sugar solution into the clarified cider.
- Bottle the cider or seal it in its final container.Seven Bridges Cooperative: Bottling the Beer
- Let the cider stand for another two weeks.Seven Bridges Cooperative: Bottling the Beer
Conclusion
- Don't forget to share your home–crafted hard cider with friends and family. Once you've gotten a handle on the basic process of cider making, you can begin to tinker with the recipe. Consider the type of apple juice you use, the yeast, the sugar and the length of time for which you age your cider. In a taxonomy of alcohol making, hard cider making would fit in between wine making and beer brewing, so if you enjoy your experience, you might want to try your hand at those processes as well.SamCooks.com: Hard Times—Hard Cider
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