Homebrew Cider

Making cider at home

Cider is fermented apple juice, and that simplicity is the appeal. There is no mash and no boil. You are managing a fermentation rather than running a brew day, which makes it one of the most accessible projects in the shop and a genuinely good first ferment for anyone who has never made anything before. Start with cider basics, then follow making your own cider for the full run through.

Kits and juice

• Mangrove Jack's Craft Series. 2.4kg pouches fermenting to a full batch. Apple is the traditional starting point, then Pear, Mixed Berry, Strawberry and Pear, Raspberry and Lime, Raspberry and Mango, and Peach and Passionfruit. Hopped Apple and Rose sit outside the usual run, and the Sunset Blush is a limited edition.
• Black Rock Cider. A 1.65kg tin, and available as an Apple Cider six pack if you brew cider regularly.
• On The Rocks. Apple and Blueberry.
• Cider Enhancer. 1.2kg, for body and mouthfeel where a plain kit finishes thin.

Yeast, and why it matters here

Cider yeast choice drives more of the result than the juice does. Mangrove Jack's M02 Cider Yeast is the straightforward pick. SN9 is the wine yeast option for a drier, more vinous finish. If you ever find yourself without either, EC-1118 is the safest substitute.

Most yeasts ferment apple juice completely dry, giving a crisp, tart cider with very little residual sweetness. That surprises people expecting something closer to what they buy in a bottle.

Temperature and knowing when it is done

Cider ferments best at 15 to 20 degrees, and most cider yeasts prefer 15 to 22. A 23 litre kit wants a 25 to 30 litre fermenter so there is headspace for the krausen.

It is finished when the gravity reading is stable across two consecutive readings taken 48 hours apart. Not when the airlock stops bubbling, which tells you very little. If the hydrometer is still a mystery, how to use a hydrometer covers taking and reading it properly.

Sweet or dry, and carbonation

This is where most first ciders go wrong. If you want a sweet sparkling cider, you need a non-fermentable sweetener such as lactose or stevia, added before bottling. Standard sugar added at bottling will simply ferment out and leave you with a dry cider, because the yeast is still alive and will eat anything it can.

Starter kits

The AHB Starter Cider Making Kits bundle the fermenter, capper and everything else needed to go from juice to bottled cider. Available with a twin-lever capper or a bench capper. The bench capper is easier on the hands if you are bottling regularly.

Ships Australia-wide from our Melbourne store. We have been helping Australians ferment things since 1968, so ask if you are stuck between a dry finish and a sweet one.