Cider Making Equipment

Whether you are making a one-gallon batch or a 100-gallon batch, you will enjoy making cider more with the right equipment for your needs. Below I will talk about different sizes, materials, costs and of course the best ways to improvise.

The most basic pieces of equipment required for making hard cider are the fermentor, an airlock, a siphoning hose and some sort of bottling solution. Of course, if you plan to press your own apples you will need a way to extract the juice such as a cider press.

To craft more complex recipes or make calculated experiments, some extra tools will be necessary such as a hydrometer to calculate the potential alcohol or a PH testing kit to measure acidity levels.

Basic Cider Making Equipment

4.75 Gallon Fruit Wine Press - 100% Nature Apple&Grape&Berries Crusher Manual Juice Maker for Kitchen, Solid Wood Basket with 8 Blocks Heavy Duty Cider Wine Making Press
Fruit and Apple Crusher - 7L Manual Juicer Grinder,Portable Fruit Scratter Pulper for Wine and Cider Pressing(Stainless Steel,1.8 Gallon,Green)
Wood Slat Cider Press
Apple Scratter
$149.99
$129.99
4.75 Gallon Fruit Wine Press - 100% Nature Apple&Grape&Berries Crusher Manual Juice Maker for Kitchen, Solid Wood Basket with 8 Blocks Heavy Duty Cider Wine Making Press
Wood Slat Cider Press
$149.99
Fruit and Apple Crusher - 7L Manual Juicer Grinder,Portable Fruit Scratter Pulper for Wine and Cider Pressing(Stainless Steel,1.8 Gallon,Green)
Apple Scratter
$129.99

Cider Press:

Pressing cider is a lot of work and a task that few traditional vegetable juicers will survive. To produce one gallon of cider it will require about 15 pounds of apples! Do yourself a favor and either buy a press or have a local orchard press your apples for you. A home size cider press is easy to use and will provide much better results than an electric juicer.

FastRack Fermentation Bucket Home Brewing Wine Fermenter 6.5 Gallon Fermenting Bucket with Lid 100% Food Grade-BPA Free Fermenting Bucket for Your Beer, Wine, Mead
FASTFERMENT - FFT FastFerment Conical Fermenter 7.9 Gallon HomeBrew Kit BPA Free Food grade Primary Carboy Fermenter: Beer Brewing, Wine Fermentation or a Hard Cider brewing kit. Wall mount included
5 Gallon Bucket
Conical Fermenter
$20.17
$99.99
FastRack Fermentation Bucket Home Brewing Wine Fermenter 6.5 Gallon Fermenting Bucket with Lid 100% Food Grade-BPA Free Fermenting Bucket for Your Beer, Wine, Mead
5 Gallon Bucket
$20.17
FASTFERMENT - FFT FastFerment Conical Fermenter 7.9 Gallon HomeBrew Kit BPA Free Food grade Primary Carboy Fermenter: Beer Brewing, Wine Fermentation or a Hard Cider brewing kit. Wall mount included
Conical Fermenter
$99.99

Fermenting Vessel:

A fermentor is the main vessel where fermentation happens, no surprise, right? The apple juice is poured in, yeast is added and the magic happens. A glass fermentor, called a carboy, comes in many sizes with the most popular being one to six gallons of capacity.

Plastic fermenting buckets that made from food-safe plastic are also very popular. They are cheaper, easier to clean and won’t break if they are dropped. Some plastic fermenters also come with a spigot which is very convenient when bottling cider.

Fastrack 3 Piece Airlock for Fermentation Hydrolocks for Fermenting Wine and Beer with Drilled Rubber Stopper Durable Carboy Bung with transparent Airlock Set used for Fermentation Set of 3
Fastrack Airlocks for Fermenting Bubble Airlock for Wine Making and Beer Making BPA-Free S-Shaped Airlock used for Brewing Wine Beer Pickles & More Transparent Airlock Set Of 3
Home Brew Ohio - HOZQ8-872 Blow-Off Tube for 6.5 and 7.9 gal Bucket Lids, 3/8" Stainless Steel
3 Piece Airlock
S Style Airlock
Metal Blow Off Tube
$8.78
$7.75
$11.72
Fastrack 3 Piece Airlock for Fermentation Hydrolocks for Fermenting Wine and Beer with Drilled Rubber Stopper Durable Carboy Bung with transparent Airlock Set used for Fermentation Set of 3
3 Piece Airlock
$8.78
Fastrack Airlocks for Fermenting Bubble Airlock for Wine Making and Beer Making BPA-Free S-Shaped Airlock used for Brewing Wine Beer Pickles & More Transparent Airlock Set Of 3
S Style Airlock
$7.75
Home Brew Ohio - HOZQ8-872 Blow-Off Tube for 6.5 and 7.9 gal Bucket Lids, 3/8" Stainless Steel
Metal Blow Off Tube
$11.72

Airlock:

An airlock is a simple yet essential piece of equipment for fermenting hard cider or any other alcohol. The airlock is placed in the opening of the fermentor and allows for the gasses created during fermentation (CO2) to escape while keeping contamination such as mold or bugs out.

Brewer's Elite Hydrometer - for Home Brew Beer, Wine, Mead and Kombucha - Deluxe Triple Scale Set, Hardcase and Cloth - Specific Gravity ABV Tester
aichose Brix Refractometer with ATC, Dual Scale - Specific Gravity & Brix, Hydrometer in Wine Making and Beer Brewing, Homebrew Kit
Float Hydrometer
Brix Refractometer
$12.99
$18.99
Brewer's Elite Hydrometer - for Home Brew Beer, Wine, Mead and Kombucha - Deluxe Triple Scale Set, Hardcase and Cloth - Specific Gravity ABV Tester
Float Hydrometer
$12.99
aichose Brix Refractometer with ATC, Dual Scale - Specific Gravity & Brix, Hydrometer in Wine Making and Beer Brewing, Homebrew Kit
Brix Refractometer
$18.99

Hydrometer:

The hydrometer measures “specific gravity” which tells a cider maker the amount of dissolved solids in a liquid. For cider, the hydrometer allows us to measure the sugar content. With this sugar content measurement, the potential and final alcohol percentage can be determined. A hydrometer is essential when trying to reach a certain potential ABV for a recipe or measuring the completion of fermentation. The hydrometer I use measures specific gravity, Brix and has a potential alcohol scale all in one.

Fermtech Auto-Siphon Mini with 6 Feet of Tubing and Clamp, Clear
Fermtech Regular 5/16" Auto Siphon 24" Length with 8 feet of Tubing, clear, 1 piece
Mini Auto Siphon 1 Gallon
Full Auto Siphon
$17.99
$18.99
Fermtech Auto-Siphon Mini with 6 Feet of Tubing and Clamp, Clear
Mini Auto Siphon 1 Gallon
$17.99
Fermtech Regular 5/16" Auto Siphon 24" Length with 8 feet of Tubing, clear, 1 piece
Full Auto Siphon
$18.99

Auto Siphon and Hose:

A siphon is a simple yet extremely useful tool that allows us to “rack”, or transfer, the cider from one fermentor to another or to bottles. The siphon allows us to drain the cider without stirring up the sediment on the bottom of the fermentor which will help achieve a clear finished cider.

Five Star PBW - 1 lbs - Non-Caustic Alkaline Cleaner, White - pbw1
Five Star PBW Cleaner
$12.98
Five Star PBW - 1 lbs - Non-Caustic Alkaline Cleaner, White - pbw1
Five Star PBW Cleaner
$12.98

Cleaner and Sanitizer:

A good no-rinse cleaner and sanitizer will not only guarantee a clean equipment but will save lots of time. Soaps can leave residues and rinsing can potentially re-contaminate your equipment. It’s a must for a clean and safe ferment.

North Mountain Supply 12 Ounce Long-neck Amber Beer Bottles - Case of 24
Ilyapa 16 Ounce Amber Swing Top Glass Beer Bottles for Home Brewing - Carbonated Drinks, Kombucha, Kefir, Soda, Juice, Fermentation, 12 Pack Glass Bottle with Airtight Rubber Seal Flip Caps
Crown Cap 12oz Bottles
Swing Top Bottles
$44.34
$39.99
North Mountain Supply 12 Ounce Long-neck Amber Beer Bottles - Case of 24
Crown Cap 12oz Bottles
$44.34
Ilyapa 16 Ounce Amber Swing Top Glass Beer Bottles for Home Brewing - Carbonated Drinks, Kombucha, Kefir, Soda, Juice, Fermentation, 12 Pack Glass Bottle with Airtight Rubber Seal Flip Caps
Swing Top Bottles
$39.99

Bottling Solutions:

The way you chose to bottle your cider depends on personal preference. Do you like a carbonated or still cider? Small or large? I prefer to carbonate my cider and like to use 1/2 gallon screw top growlers . If I’m going to have 3 or 4 ciders, I may as well just bottle it in one big growler, right? Other solutions include reusing beer bottles (pry off style only), Grolsch style bottles or kegging. If you choose to make still cider, wine bottles work great!

Precision Cidermaking Tools & Equipment

Etekcity Food Scale, Digital Kitchen Scale, 304 Stainless Steel, Weight in Grams and Ounces for Baking, Cooking, and Meal Prep, LCD Display, Medium
MAXUS Precision Pocket Scale 200g x 0.01g, Digital Gram Scale Small Food/Jewelry Scale Ounces/Grains Scale with Backlit LCD, Great for Travel
Digital Kitchen Scale
Precision Kitchen Scale
Price not available
$8.98
Etekcity Food Scale, Digital Kitchen Scale, 304 Stainless Steel, Weight in Grams and Ounces for Baking, Cooking, and Meal Prep, LCD Display, Medium
Digital Kitchen Scale
Price not available
MAXUS Precision Pocket Scale 200g x 0.01g, Digital Gram Scale Small Food/Jewelry Scale Ounces/Grains Scale with Backlit LCD, Great for Travel
Precision Kitchen Scale
$8.98

Digital Scale:

Accurately measuring sugars, or any additive for that matter is a no brainer. One particular task that I find a scale to be very important is when measuring priming sugar. Too little and you have a flat cider, too much and your bottles explode. The small investment is worth it. Any food scale with a .1g accuracy will work, even a 1.0g accuracy will do fine in most cases. I bought my scale from Amazon for about $12 and it works great.

Acid Test Strips For Wine (2.8 to 4.4 pH), 100-Count
PmoYoKo Digital pH/TDS Meter with ATC pH Tester, 3 in 1 pH TDS Temp 0.01 Resolution High Accuracy pH Tester with LCD Backlit, TDS Meter pH Meter for Water, Wine, Pool, Hydroponics and Aquariums
Acid Testing Strips
Digital pH Meter
$10.85
$29.99
Acid Test Strips For Wine (2.8 to 4.4 pH), 100-Count
Acid Testing Strips
$10.85
PmoYoKo Digital pH/TDS Meter with ATC pH Tester, 3 in 1 pH TDS Temp 0.01 Resolution High Accuracy pH Tester with LCD Backlit, TDS Meter pH Meter for Water, Wine, Pool, Hydroponics and Aquariums
Digital pH Meter
$29.99

Acid/Ph Testing Kit:

When cider is too acidic it can taste tart while a neutral cider will taste flat and bland. Testing the cider allows us to balance the acidity and achieve controlled results. This is especially useful when using fresh pressed cider with a mix of unknown apples. This acid testing kit has clear instructions and also includes the acid blend used to make the proper adjustments to the cider.

New to Cider Making? Check out the guide !

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