Recommendations for beginner kit for Cider from Apples

Tuttlinghorn · 26-08-2025 08:18AM #1

Hi & thanks in advance for any pointers

I have a few apple trees - 3 heavy producers of some kind of hybrid cooker / eaters ( which makes lovely juice especially later in season as the ripen on the tree or ground )

Plus this year a couple of eaters that finally started producing

I have the kit to make juice ( a Vigo pulper and a Press). Rough estimate is I probably can produce about 60 litres of juice - probably more this year.

Any cider starter kits eg on geterbrewed seem to be for people using apple concentrate , home brew west is out of stock .. and I don’t know enough to navigate the various individual components that might be on geterbrewed.

Anyone know of a place I can order a kit or failing that any ‘must have’ list for making say 20-30 litres of hard cider ?

thanks !

Tuttlinghorn · 26-08-2025 10:25AM

I am not sure what I did differently but finally turned up a Kit which looks promising -

I’d appreciate any inputs on the kit eg anything that might be missing ?

List of the kit is below in case the link above doesn’t work

Thanks again

2 x 33litre fermenters

1 Airlock

1 Syphon

1 Pack of Campden Tablets

1 Pectic Enzyme

1 Cider Yeast

1 Hydrometer

1 Thermometer

1 Bottle Filling Stick

1 Bottle Capper

1 Steriliser

100 bottle caps

rje66 · 26-08-2025 11:20AM

LLooks Like everything u need is there. Most important thing is hygiene. Keep everything clean then sterilise. A good thing to always remember. Cleaning is not sterilising and sterilising is not cleaning. Take a gravity reading, it will be something like, eg 1.067 on hydrometer. Get your juice into FV add yeast. Watch out for fruit flies. Air lock on. Place in suitable location for ideal temperature. Yeast like stable temps, not up and down. Let ferment away, it may blow up through airlock if there isn't enough head space in FV. Once fermenting is over take a reading eg1.012 work out abv. Then it a waiting game 5-7months. If its too bitter you can back sweeten with apple juice.

Tuttlinghorn · 26-08-2025 02:01PM

Thanks @rje66

I found another beginners kit but this time with 1 Fermenting bucket, but with side taps instead.

any experience of using 1 bucket vs 2 and if one method is easier etc?

https://www.geterbrewed.com/brew-kit-extra/

This kit below is missing Enzyme, cider yeast, campden tablets (?) but I'm sure i can add those to the order

1 x 33 Litre graduated GEB fermenter
1 x Tap with 2 rubber seals for each side of the fermenter wall
1 x Bubbler airlock and Grommet
1 x 100g of steriliser
1 x Hydrometer
1 x Stick on thermometer stripe to monitor fermentation temperature in the fermentation bucket
1 x Bottle Filling Stick - this attaches to the tap when ready to bottle and is spring-loaded for easy bottle-filling
1 x Bottle Capper
1 x Packet of caps (100)
1 x Beer Spoon 50 for mixing
1 x Bottle Brush
1 x Sachet of Priming Sugar for priming your bottles

Optional extras

1 x Bottle Draining Tree 50

••1 x Bottle Eco Rinser

rje66 · 26-08-2025 07:03PM

Been ages since I did cider, doing all grain beer these days. If brewing in general is something you are likely to be doing, go down the keg route. Bottling very quickly gets to be a major PITA. Get 2 bucket you will use them.

rje66 · 26-08-2025 07:09PM

Nationalhomebrewclub.ie

Have a look here, there is a cider section

rje66 · 26-08-2025 07:14PM

https://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php?topic=4308.0

Tuttlinghorn · 13-09-2025 02:29PM

hi again - I’ve got my kit now ( the one with 2 buckets) and am about to start juicing apples.

Wondering ( based on @rje66 comments) if I need to sterilise these new buckets before use ?

the kit came with ‘chemclean’. Reading the packet it seems like vicious stuff , maybe more intended to get equipment clean after usage.

Any recommendations on what I can get to sterilise clean equipment (assuming I need to )?

Diluted Milton fluid ..???

BeerNut · 13-09-2025 09:15PM

Yes, you need to sanitise before use. Milton will do it if you have some. Otherwise, to 20L of water add 30ml of thin bleach and 30ml of vinegar (do not mix the bleach and vinegar neat). That will give you a no-rinse sanitiser which sanitises the inside of the bucket in five minutes, and you can put any other equipment you're using into it to be sanitised.

Tuttlinghorn · 21-09-2025 09:07PM

thanks for all the tips and help here

23 litres of juice with Camden tablets added today .. SG was 1038.

this evening I’ve read that it’s a bad idea to allow any air gap in a FV ( I now have 23 litres in a 33 litre vat).

I’ve also read that initial fermentation can be quite violent and there might be foam kicking out of the bucket.

The FV is in a shed and I’m not too worried if there’s leakage, but I’m not sure if I need to top up the fermenting vat ASAP ( ie next weekend ) and fill to the brim - or do I wait couple of days after fermentation has started and settled and then fill to the brim ..?

BeerNut · 23-09-2025 03:34PM

Don't worry about the air. Fermentation will create a lid of CO2 on top of the liquid to stave off oxidation. It'll be fine as long as you leave it alone. The only thing you need to do is cover it to stop things falling in. Cider fermentations aren't anything like as vigorous as beer, I've found.

You added campden tablets to the juice and killed off the wild yeast, so what are you using for yeast? Did you add some?

Tuttlinghorn · 25-09-2025 08:41AM

thanks @BeerNut

I juiced apples and added campden tabs on the 21st,

next evening added pectolase ( realising I could’ve added it previous day) ,

12 hours later added yeast - Mangrove Jacks cider yeast. Lid and Airlock is in place

I realised this morning I probably had too much water in airlock so I poured some out. Hopefully won’t be a problem as I had to take out the airlock plus bung briefly.

FV is in a room with temp at about 20 degrees. Yeast went in at midday Sept 23rd but no bubbles yet …

eastie17 · 25-09-2025 08:54AM

I was thinking about doing this, have 4 apple trees and a massive crop this year.

Was thinking about doing this but it sounds very complicated.

Is there a ladybird version anywhere taking you from haven’t a clue, where’s what to buy through to step by step.

Would also be interested in just doing apple juice but I presume that’s a step in it anyway.

Thanks all

BeerNut · 25-09-2025 09:21AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123848767#Comment_123848767

Sounds perfect. The airlock is not an any-way essential part of the process, so don't worry at all about how it's set up, nor the lack of bubbles through it. Give it at least a week before touching it and then take a gravity reading.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123848793#Comment_123848793

The hard work is in juicing the apples. Once you have juice, making cider is dead easy: add your juice (cloudy, if store-bought) to a sanitised food-grade vessel, add yeast (a sachet of champagne yeast is best, but any viable yeast will work) and leave it to ferment. In about 4-6 weeks, that'll be cider, albeit flat and very dry. I find it needs to be bottled for three months after that before it's drinkable, and is best after six.

magicbastarder · 25-09-2025 09:36AM

interestingly, a chap i knew who knew his homebrewing once said to me 'you need to be hygenic but don't worry about absolute sterility'; and i've often wondered at the importance, given the apples you use are hardly sterile, i've used windfall apples and bruised apples, and surely they'd be carrying contaminants in?

BeerNut · 25-09-2025 02:23PM

There are good contaminants and bad contaminants. The wild yeast on your apples is grand, but you don't want it out-competed by whatever lives in the scratches in your fermenter, biding its time.

Tuttlinghorn · 25-09-2025 07:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123848793#Comment_123848793

I’ve been pressing / juicing my apples for a few years so I already had that gear. No one in the house eats the apples but everyone liked the juice.

IMO If you think you’ll do it annually and have the cash then you can get a Vigo fruit press. Vigo also make a ‘scratter’ - which I recently discovered is the term for a yoke that minces up the apples, so you can then squeeze them.
maybe have a look for some second hand versions of the above ?

That way you can decide each year to do juice or cider or both. The build quality on the kit above seems solid and I’m expecting will last many years

(Also seems possible to DIY a juice press if you’re handy …. unlike me )

magicbastarder · 26-09-2025 08:29PM

look what youtube suggested for me this evening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uid3abl2VRE

i wonder did he sterilise the baths at 6:20 in.

Recommendations for beginner kit for Cider from Apples

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