Hard Cider Instructions1 Gallon Hard Cider Kit (Still or Carbonated)

Mental PrepBrewing cider can seem overwhelming, but it isn’t. Reading through all of these instructions seems daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. Following the instructions word for word seems necessary, but it may take away from some of the fun. What is important to remember is cider has been made by unsanitary people and processes for hundreds of years. The granularity of the instructions below are to help you understand the process, avoid contamination, and produce consistent results. This is supposed to be fun. We encourage drinking while doing it.

Physical PrepYou have your equipment kit and a recipe. Now what? We highly recommend a two step cleaning and sanitizing procedure. The cleaner we provide in the One Gallon Fermenting Kit called Powdered Brewers Wash (PBW) will kill most microorganisms, but you will need to rinse the PBW with water which means you could reintroduce new microorganisms. StarSan is a no-rinse sanitizer that is included in our Wine Essentials Kits and will decrease your chance of contamination. The equipment sanitized in the first section include the bucket, lid, airlock, and a coffee mug (or somethign similar) to take a sample for your hydrometer reading.1. Dissolve two teaspoons of PBW in a gallon of warm water, clean and soak your equipment being especially mindful of all the equipment that will touch your cider. Rinse thoroughly with clean fresh water.

Making AlcoholFermenting is where the magic happens. When yeast is introduced to sugar at a certain temperature range the cells grow and multiply, creating alcohol and CO2. Yeast also contributes flavors, some are good for cider, and some are not so good. But, rest assured, many of the off flavors are from inconsistent fermentation temperatures, or not adding enough yeast to start with. We give you plenty of yeast for a good start, so it is up to you to keep your cider at a consistent temp during the fermentation process.1. Pour 1 gallon of preservative free apple juice or cider into your sanitized bucket. 3. (optional step) Add spices for spiced hard cider, or some table sugar for added alcohol.4. Let must cool to between 60-80°F and add D-47 wine yeast (included in cider kit). Just cut packet and sprinkle on top of Juice (this is called pitching).6. Take sample for Hydrometer reading*7. Stir in Yeast Booster (included in cider kit)8. Affix lid and shake bucket to add more oxygen.9. Attach your airlock filled to mark with vodka or sanitizer solution (we don’t recommend using only water in your airlock since it can possibly flow back into your cider and contaminate it.)10. Keep in cool (between 62°F -72°F) dark place for 1-2 weeks.

Secondary Fermentation is mainly for aging and clarifying rather than fermenting.1. Use your sanitized auto siphon and length of hose to move your cider from the bucket to your sanitized jug (this is called racking). Leave the yeast sediment and other particulates (called trub) at the bottom being mindful not to stir it up.2. You should fill the jug with about .75 - .9 gallons of cider due to trub loss.3. Attach sanitized rubber stopper to top of jug and move airlock from bucket lid to stopper.4. Keep in cool (between 60°F -72°F) dark place for 2-4 weeks.Stabilizing and Fining is a step to finalize the fermentation process by stopping any possible further yeast growth and keeping it from coming back. This step is not 100% necessary, but if you would like to learn more see the full instructions on line. DIY1G.com

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The Entire brewing process can be broken down into four steps:

Ferment ItPitching, Fermenting, Clearing

Bottle ItBottling

Drink It Awesoming

TIP: Keep some of the PBW solution around, you will probably use it to clean something down the road.

In a one gallon batch it takes approx. 3.2 ounces of table sugar to increase your ABV by 1%. Most apple juice will give you about 5% ABV, so if you want your cider to be at 7%, just add 6.4 ounces of sugar.

Brew another batch of cider or branch out to something new. Find what you like, 1 gallon

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*Hydrometer reading - Original Gravity

Time To BottleCarbonation (optional) happens when additional fermentable sugars are added to your cider and fermented in a sealed container. There is still some yeast hiding in your cider that you cannot see. When the new sugar is added, the fermentation process happens again, but this time you will trap the CO2 produced from the yeast and it will naturally carbonate the bottles. Add too little sugar, and your cider will not fully carbonate, too much and you could potentially over-carbonate your cider and start to pop bottles. Any sugar will do, but you don’t really want to add flavor or color at this point so we recommend one ounce of corn sugar per gallon of cider for best results. However, this does equate to roughly 2 Tablespoons (low carb), or 3 Tablespoons (high carb) of either corn sugar, table sugar, or honey. (Skip Steps 2-5 if you want “still” uncarbonated hard cider)1. Use your Powdered Brewers Wash to thoroughly clean your bottles, primary bucket, auto-siphon, tubing and bottle filler, and anything else that you might use to touch your cider. If at all possible, sanitize with a no-rinse sanitizer, the sanitize cycle on your dishwasher or even bake them in your oven @200°F for 30 Min.2. Fully dissolve your sugar in ½ cup of hot (170°F) water.3. Pour sugar water solution into primary fermenting bucket.4. Attach your tubing to the end of your auto-siphon5. Siphon your cider from your glass jug (careful not to disturb the yeast sediment at the bottom of the jug) into your bucket on top of the sugar solution (this will mix the two together).Now your cider is primed and ready for bottling6. Place your auto-siphon in your bucket of cider, and attach the bottle filler to the other end of the hose.7. Once the siphon is started and your line and filler is primed with cider you can fill your bottles easily and mess free.8. Cap your bottles and keep in cool (between 60°F -70°F) dark place for 2 weeks.

AgingDrinking cider is the delicious part of making cider. But, after you bottle your cider you must wait. Avoid the temptation to drink it for at least 1 month. Two months is better, and if you can handle it , you should try and wait a 3+ months. After you let it age, give it a try.1. Put bottles in refrigerator till chilled2. If you carbonated, there will be some sediment on the bottom of the bottle due to the carbonation process. This will not hurt you, but try and pour your cider gently as to not disturb sediment and keep your cider crystal clear.3. Bring glass to mouth... oh, wait... you know this part!

TIP: The bottle filler has a valve that opens the filler when depressed. Pushing the tip of the filler to the bottom of a bottle or glass will open this valve. You will need to do this when starting your siphon while the filler is attached.

TIP: If you are worried you will disturb the sediment and want to keep your cider nice and clear when bottling, clean and sanitize the 2 gallon bucket and siphon the cider into it, then bottle from there.

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*Hydrometer reading - Final Gravity

TIP: Enjoy!

Brew SpecsStyle: Hard CiderOriginal Gravity: 1.050-80Final Gravity: 1.010ABV: 5.5 - 9.0%Yield: 1 Gallon

0.990

1.000

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20

30

40

1.050

60

70

80

90

1.100

0.990

1.000

10

20

30

40

1.050

60

70

80

90

1.100

1.046

*Hydrometer ReadingsSpecific gravity is a measurement that shows you the density of your liquid. The illustration to the right demonstrates how to read your hydrometer that came in our DIY1G Fermentation Kit. Fill the container with the liquid you would like to measure (at room temperature). The Hydrometer will float in the liquid. Read the number at the top of the liquid. Surface tension will try and pull up on the liquid touching the glass, but make sure you read the number where the liquid would be if it were a perfectly flat surface. The diagram to the right is illustrating a Specific Gravity of 1.046, which could be the Original Gravity (density before fermentation) of a 4.6% ABV Cider. To lean more about how to read a hydrometer and calculate ABW and ABV go to DIY1G.com