Hard Cider: DIY in Five Easy Steps

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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Amélie Rousseau, GoLocalPDX Contributor

I am bored of beer. There, I said it. With the leaves exploding in orange and red against this stormy sky, all you want is pint of the sweet and crisp brew. Gluten free and sour-sweet, everyone likes hard cider. Maybe you too have lost a few too many Benjamins at NE’s Outcider Cidery or Bushwacker’s cider pub in Brooklyn. When the wallet feels light, it’s time to start brewing your own. If you are new to homebrewing, cider is a great place to start, being far easier to make than beer or wine. Cider brewing is like tie-dye: it might not be exactly what you imagined, but it will always look cool. Homemade ciders also make original and very welcomed hostess and Christmas gifts. If you brew right now, it will be ready just in time for the holidays. 

If you’re one of those Type-As, stop by Sauvie Island Farms (Mon-Sat, 503-621-3988) and fill the Prius up with sweet smelling boxes of Empires and Gravensteins. Rent an apple press from a brew store, sort and wash the fruit, then press the most delicious juice you and your 50 closest friends/slave labor will ever taste. But then there’s the storing, pasteurizing, and where in the world are you going to find that many glass bottles for your finished product? For the rest of us, store bought cider will do. Of course, the best quality fresh cider will make the richest-tasting hard cider, so try your neighborhood farmer’s market and pick up a couple gallons. If you want to experiment with different flavors, just mix one part apple cider with one part cherry, pear, apricot, or pomegranate juice. 

To start brewing all you need is 5 things: an airtight glass or plastic fermenter with an airlock, pasteurized juice, some sugar, and a packet of brewing yeast: 

1. You must sanitize every tool and surface that your liquid will ever touch. Everything. Get a package of no-rinse Star-San sanitizer to scrub utensils. If the wrong bacteria infect your cider, it will taste disgusting. Sanitation is key to a successful end product. 

2. Pour your juice in a sanitized fermenting container, such as a plastic brewing bucket with a lid or a glass carboy. (My favorite are the one gallon juice jugs, a great ‘tester’ size to experiment with new flavors.)

3. Add sugar if desired. Use a hydrometer to measure the sugar content. The hydrometer measures the sugar content, and thus the potential alcohol content. If you want boozier cider, simply add a simple syrup made with white sugar or honey to raise the gravity to the level you want. 

4. ‘Pitch’ the yeast into the cider. Do not stir it. For a strong, dry cider use champagne or sparkling white wine yeast. For a sweeter finish, many homebrewers favor beer yeasts such as ‘Nottingham’ or Wyeast’s ‘Cider’ yeast. Place the sanitized, half-filled airlock on  You’ll hear the carbon dioxide’s cheerful blub-blub-blub escaping through the airlock: this is good. 

5. After 3-4 weeks when the cider has stopped bubbling CO2, take a final gravity reading with the hydrometer. This will give you the correct alcohol content (ABV). Add a bit more simple syrup right before bottling to carbonate your cider. I recommend 2 oz. liquified cane sugar per gallon of cider. Disperse sugar evenly throughout liquid. Bottle cider in sanitized glass bottles (those hipster bottles with the ceramic pop-tops work great, or spring for a bottle capper tool). Don’t forget to label and date each bottle. The hardest part of making cider is letting it age. Hide them from yourself  in a cool, dark place for two months to a year. Cheers. 

An urban farmer and master gardener, Amélie Rousseau writes for fellow explorers and eaters of the plant kingdom. It's a jungle out there.

Banner Photo Credit: iStock 

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