How to Make Cider at Home: A Beginner’s Guide

Making cider at home can be as straightforward as fermenting a purpose-made cider kit, or as hands-on as crushing and pressing your own apples. This guide explains both routes, the equipment you need, how to confirm fermentation has finished, and how to bottle still or sparkling cider safely.

Choose Your Cider-Making Method

Which home brew cider kit should you choose?

Start with the style you enjoy drinking: apple, pear or fruit-flavoured cider. Then check the batch volume, any extra sugar needed and whether the listing is for ingredients or a set with equipment. These details affect the total cost of your first brew.

*The Mangrove Jack's ABV figures are the manufacturer's estimates using 1 kg dextrose. Strength, sweetness and final gravity depend on the kit version and how it is brewed. Follow the instructions supplied with your pack; additional fermentables are sold separately.

For more choices, compare the On The Rocks Apple, On The Rocks Pear and Festival Oaked Apple listings, or browse all cider making kits. Different ranges can require different sugar quantities and final volumes.

Ingredient kit or equipment starter set?

A cider ingredient kit provides the concentrate and the recipe components stated on its label. It does not normally provide a fermenter, hydrometer, syphon or bottles. This is the usual choice if you already have suitable brewing equipment.

If you are starting from scratch, compare our cider starter kits. The equipment-only set needs a cider ingredient kit and any required sugar added separately. It also needs bottles or a barrel for the finished batch.

Our Beginner Cider Making Starter Kit includes fermentation equipment and ingredients; bottles or a barrel are separate. Check the selected flavour and full contents before ordering.

Brewing sugar, sweetener and priming sugar

These serve different jobs. Brewing sugar added at the start supplies fermentable sugar for the recipe. An optional sweetener sachet adjusts sweetness as directed by the kit. Priming sugar is a measured bottling addition used to create carbonation.

For the current Mangrove Jack's Apple, Pear and Mixed Berry kits above, choose the specified 1 kg dextrose or 1.25 kg Cider Enhancer option. Do not apply that quantity to every other brand: for example, the current On The Rocks Pear listing specifies 1.3 kg brewing sugar. Check your own pack.

Use sweetener and flavour sachets at the stage specified by your instructions. Do not keep a cider sweet by bottling it before fermentation has finished, and do not add an unmeasured amount of sugar to sealed bottles.

Equipment You Need

• Fermenter: large enough for the intended batch with safe headspace.
• Airlock and suitable bung or lid: allows gas to escape while limiting exposure.
• Hydrometer and trial jar: confirms fermentation progress and helps calculate alcohol.
• Thermometer: helps keep fermentation within the yeast maker's stated range.
• Food-safe sanitiser: for every item that touches the juice or cider after cleaning.
• Syphon and tubing: for transferring without disturbing sediment. Never start a syphon by mouth.
• Pressure-rated bottles and closures: essential if the cider will be carbonated in the bottle.

Fresh apples also require a safe way to crush the fruit and a suitable press. A juicer can work for small quantities, although it often produces more fine pulp.

How to Make Cider from a Kit

1. Clean and sanitise. Clean visible dirt first, then sanitise the fermenter, spoon, hydrometer equipment, lid and airlock.
2. Prepare the concentrate. Add the kit contents and water exactly as directed. Different kits use different final volumes and additions.
3. Check the temperature and gravity. Make sure the liquid is within the yeast's pitching range, then record the original gravity before adding yeast.
4. Add the supplied yeast. Follow the kit directions for sprinkling or rehydrating it. Close the fermenter and fit the airlock.
5. Ferment steadily. Keep the cider within the stated temperature range. Airlock activity can vary, so do not use bubbling alone as proof that fermentation has started or finished.
6. Confirm completion. Take a hydrometer reading, then repeat it after the interval given in the kit instructions. Bottle only when the readings are stable and the expected final gravity has been reached.

Check the kit version: the refreshed Mangrove Jack's Apple, Pear and Mixed Berry kits with M08 yeast specify 17–22°C. Earlier packs and other brands can differ. Use the instructions and gravity targets supplied with your pack, rather than a single temperature or final-gravity figure for every cider.

How to Make Cider from Fresh Apples

1. Sort the fruit. Use ripe, sound apples. Bruised fruit can be trimmed and used, but discard rotten or mouldy fruit.
2. Wash, crush and press. Crushing creates a pulp that releases juice under pressure. Keep all food-contact surfaces clean.
3. Measure the juice. Record the original gravity and assess the acidity and flavour. A blend of sweet, sharp and tannic apples often gives better balance than one dessert variety alone.
4. Choose the fermentation approach. A cultured cider yeast gives more predictable results than relying on wild fermentation. Add sulphite, pectic enzyme, nutrient or other additions only according to a tested recipe or the product instructions.
5. Pitch the yeast and ferment. Use a sanitised fermenter with adequate headspace and keep it within the yeast maker's recommended temperature range.
6. Check with a hydrometer. Check that readings remain unchanged over the recommended interval and are consistent with the expected final gravity. A stalled fermentation can also give stable readings; investigate an unexpectedly high gravity before packaging. A quiet airlock is not enough evidence by itself.

Shop-bought 100% apple juice can also be fermented. Check the ingredients: ordinary ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is generally not a problem, but preservatives such as potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate can prevent or inhibit fermentation.

Racking and Clearing

Racking means transferring cider away from the sediment. It is optional for many kit batches and should not be repeated without a reason, because every transfer introduces some oxygen and contamination risk. If you rack, sanitise the receiving vessel and syphon, keep splashing to a minimum, leave the sediment behind, and minimise headspace during longer storage.

Some cider clears naturally with time. A slight haze is not automatically a fault. Our Harris Cider Brite listing explains that product, and Gervin GV13 is a dedicated yeast option for an appropriate fresh-juice recipe. If you want to use finings or pectic enzyme, follow that product's directions and make sure it suits the cause of the haze.

Bottling Still or Sparkling Cider

Still cider

Once fermentation is confirmed complete, transfer gently into sanitised bottles and close them. Still cider does not need priming sugar. If you plan to sweeten it, use a properly controlled method; simply adding fermentable sugar before bottling can restart fermentation.

Sparkling cider

Use pressure-rated beer, Champagne-style or suitable swing-top bottles. Add the precise priming amount specified by your kit or a reliable carbonation calculator, distribute it evenly, and cap immediately. Condition at the recommended temperature, then store cool.

Bottle-pressure warning: never guess the priming dose, and never add ordinary fermentable sugar to make a finished cider sweet unless the fermentation and packaging method is specifically designed to control it. Excess fermentable sugar can over-carbonate bottles and cause them to burst. A non-fermentable sweetener intended for brewing is the simpler option for bottle-conditioned sweet cider.

Our flip top bottle guide covers sizes, pressure suitability, cleaning and seal care. A 23-litre batch needs up to 46 x 500 ml bottles if all the liquid is packaged; allow for sediment and transfer losses and keep some spare bottles ready.

Common Cider-Making Problems

The airlock is not bubbling

Check the temperature and hydrometer reading. Gas may escape around a lid seal, so a still airlock does not necessarily mean the yeast is inactive.

The cider tastes very dry

Most yeast ferments the available apple sugar, so dry cider is normal. Sweetness can be adjusted safely at serving, with a suitable non-fermentable sweetener, or through a controlled stabilising and packaging method.

The cider smells sulphurous

Some sulphur aroma can occur during fermentation and may dissipate with time. Persistent or severe aromas can indicate yeast stress, unsuitable temperature or poor nutrition. Do not keep adding nutrient blindly—check the process and the ingredient instructions.

The cider is cloudy

Give it time and keep it cool after fermentation. Apple pectin can create a stable haze, particularly if the juice was heated. Pectic enzyme works best when used according to its directions; finings solve some clarity problems but not all of them.

Start Your First Batch

Choose a complete kit for the simplest route, or use fresh apples when you have the fruit and pressing equipment available. The Hop Shop stocks cider kits, yeasts, fermenters, bottling equipment and fresh-fruit processing equipment, with delivery options shown at checkout.

Shop cider-making supplies · Browse cider kits · Read the syphoning guide · Read the yeast nutrient guide · Ask The Hop Shop

Current kit specifications: Mangrove Jack's Apple, Pear and Mixed Berry. Always follow the instructions supplied with your own pack.