This guide is for idiots written by an *****. It assumes you know next to nothing about homebrewing or pretty much anything else. Requirements are that you have the eqiupment & ingredients listed (some optional) and you are allowed to handle ingredients and use the hob etc.
I'm going to go through the exact proceedure I used to make my last batch of homebrew cider. It was fantastic, for a kit, and blows your socks off. Please understand this is for complete beginners, has no complexities whatsoever and if followed might just get them into the hobby as they have made something drinkable.
Equipment:
I'm listing off what I used, some of it is optional but I would recommend most of it.
2 25L+ Fermenting Vessels (FV). I use 2 buckets with lids with holes for bungs.
1 Airlock
1 Bung
1 Thermostatically controlled Immersion Heater (I need this given the climate up here, temps can be all over the place without it)
1 Spoon or paddle, for stirring.
1 Hydrometer - Up to yourself whether you want to use this or not, I wouldn't brew without one.
1 Strip Thermometer - I use these adhesive thermometers on the side of my FV, ideal for monitoring temps without disturbing anything.
1 Syphoning Kit - I recommend a bottling wand/stick as well. Get one of the kits with the rigid tubes and sediment catcher at the bottom.
40 pints worth of bottles - I use glass bottles so need a capper & caps. Plastic bottles generally come with caps. Can use a keg etc if you like.
1 Tub of Steriliser - I use VWP, I get 400g tubs as it gets used up faster than you would think.
A big pot (10L+ would be great)
Ingredients:
Magnum Apple Cider Kit
1kg Brewing Sugar
500g Cane Sugar for wort
200g cane sugar for priming
20L Bottled water (asda smart price, 17p for 2L)
1. Sterilise everything that is going to come into contact with the brew. Bucket, Lid, Immersion heater, bung, airlock bubbler, stirring spoon, hydrometer, etc. Soak the lot of it at a rate of 1tsp per gallon. I tend to put all the equipment into the bucket and just fill it up with 5 gallons. Leave for 30 mins then rinse thoroughly.
2. Bring 3L of water to the boil, empty contents of kit can into the water. Boil a little water in a kettle to rinse out the can into the pot with.
3. Bring back to a simmer then dissolve as much of the sugar as you possibly can into the wort. I think the 1kg bag just about mixed in.
4. As soon as that's done take off the heat and pour into the primary.
5. Pour in the remaining sugar if there is any, other than the priming sugar of course. 1.5kg for the wort. (I used more than the kit recommended for a bit of strength)
6. Top up with bottled water to reach 23L mark.
7. Stir like crazy with the spoon to get lots of air in the mix.
8. Allow to settle
9. Take reading with hydrometer by gently lowering it into the wort and giving it a gentle spin to dislodge any bubbles etc. Once settled write down reading.
9a. If you have a testing jar you could take a sample from the wort and check it in the jar to be accurate, I didn't bother though.
10. Check the temperature. Anywhere between 20 and 25 degrees is fine. Wait for temp to even out if it's not within.
11. Remove hydrometer and sprinkle yeast over the top of the wort. (Wort is the brew mix btw)
12. Allow the yeast to sink into the mix for 5 mins then give it one last hefty stir, again to get as much air in as possible.
13. Put lid on.
14. Lower immersion heater into the lid hole, adjust the attached bung and make sure the height has the heater around the middle of the wort.
15. Put airlock in place (keep lid on it for now)
16. Put vessel in it's final resting place, somewhere it can be easily syphoned from. This is so that it doesn't need to move again.
17. Remove airlock top and fill halfway with bottled water.
18. Clean everything used thoroughly.
Within 24 hours the airlock should be bubbling away. If not, don't panic, check the temperature is around 20 degrees and give it another 24 hours.... and then panic.
If fermentation has gone well the airlock should start slowly bubbling and picking up the pace. Mine will usually peak after 48 hours and be bubbling once every second or 2. Towards the end it should tail off as quickly as it sped up, slowing to one bubble every 1 or 2 minutes. Once it gets to this level allow it to sit for 2 days (should be 7 days total) and then it's time to rack into the secondary.
1. Sterilise everything that is going to come into contact with the brew. Bucket, spoon, bung, hydrometer, syphoning tube (force sterilised water through it), etc.
2. Take a reading with the hydrometer, if the brew is ready it should be reading approx 1.000-1.010 (check the kit, mine was 1.005).
3. Syphon from the primary into the secondary. Start with the rigid end around halfway down the wort to keep away from the sediment as much as possible. Suck the other end of the syphon to start the flow, when it gets close to the end (it'll be quick) bend the end up so that it can't escape then lower it into the secondary bucket and let go. Keep the syphon cane as still as possible in order not to disturb the sediment etc. The less sediment sucked in the better. Move the cane down as required until there is approx 1" left in the initial vessel, this will be crappy looking sediment anyway.
4. Put the secondary racking bucket in place of the primary (height for syphoning).
5. Put the lid on with the other bung and transfer the bubbler over(no need for heater).
6. Give all the equipment a good clean to remove any gunk.
I did the above as I wanted the cider to be as clean and crisp as possible. You can ignore steps 5 & 6 and just jump right into the bottling if you like but I will be doing the above from now on as it turned out great. After 24 hours do the following....
1. Sterilise everything that is going to come into contact with the brew. Bucket, spoon/paddle, syphoning kit including bottling wand, bottles, caps, etc. I kept my caps in a sterilised vitalite tub
2. Add 200g of sugar to the bottom of the racking bucket (actually your original primary bucket).
3. Syphon from the Secondary to the bottling bucket making sure the sugar mixes well.
4. Once transferred add the flavouring sachet that you got with the kit and give it all a bloody good stir again.
5. Position the bucket in an elevated position for bottling, I just use the same place for each stage.
6. Syphon from the bottling bucket into the bottles using bottle wand. (Same practice as before only this time with the wand it'll stop on its own).
7. Cap them immediately after filling, do them 1 at a time so that no bacteria can get in. (I always do this, not sure if it's important or not).
10. Store them in a place around 20 degrees for 1 week.
11. After the week move them to somewhere cooler, the cooler the better, for 3 weeks.
12. Enjoy.
After each stage immediately clean all the equipment. Sterilisation isn't important as you will be doing it before the next process anyway but it's very
important that all the gunk is removed and everything is clean as it will be a nightmare to remove at a later date. Don't use anything that can scratch the plastic as it will harbour bacteria.
Bucket no.1 is called the primary fermenting vessel (FV)
Bucket no.2 is called the secondary FV or racking bucket.
Racking is transferring to remove sediment.
If you haven't used a capper before try before getting to the bottling stage.
Have fun
I'm going to go through the exact proceedure I used to make my last batch of homebrew cider. It was fantastic, for a kit, and blows your socks off. Please understand this is for complete beginners, has no complexities whatsoever and if followed might just get them into the hobby as they have made something drinkable.
Equipment:
I'm listing off what I used, some of it is optional but I would recommend most of it.
2 25L+ Fermenting Vessels (FV). I use 2 buckets with lids with holes for bungs.
1 Airlock
1 Bung
1 Thermostatically controlled Immersion Heater (I need this given the climate up here, temps can be all over the place without it)
1 Spoon or paddle, for stirring.
1 Hydrometer - Up to yourself whether you want to use this or not, I wouldn't brew without one.
1 Strip Thermometer - I use these adhesive thermometers on the side of my FV, ideal for monitoring temps without disturbing anything.
1 Syphoning Kit - I recommend a bottling wand/stick as well. Get one of the kits with the rigid tubes and sediment catcher at the bottom.
40 pints worth of bottles - I use glass bottles so need a capper & caps. Plastic bottles generally come with caps. Can use a keg etc if you like.
1 Tub of Steriliser - I use VWP, I get 400g tubs as it gets used up faster than you would think.
A big pot (10L+ would be great)
Ingredients:
Magnum Apple Cider Kit
1kg Brewing Sugar
500g Cane Sugar for wort
200g cane sugar for priming
20L Bottled water (asda smart price, 17p for 2L)
1. Sterilise everything that is going to come into contact with the brew. Bucket, Lid, Immersion heater, bung, airlock bubbler, stirring spoon, hydrometer, etc. Soak the lot of it at a rate of 1tsp per gallon. I tend to put all the equipment into the bucket and just fill it up with 5 gallons. Leave for 30 mins then rinse thoroughly.
2. Bring 3L of water to the boil, empty contents of kit can into the water. Boil a little water in a kettle to rinse out the can into the pot with.
3. Bring back to a simmer then dissolve as much of the sugar as you possibly can into the wort. I think the 1kg bag just about mixed in.
4. As soon as that's done take off the heat and pour into the primary.
5. Pour in the remaining sugar if there is any, other than the priming sugar of course. 1.5kg for the wort. (I used more than the kit recommended for a bit of strength)
6. Top up with bottled water to reach 23L mark.
7. Stir like crazy with the spoon to get lots of air in the mix.
8. Allow to settle
9. Take reading with hydrometer by gently lowering it into the wort and giving it a gentle spin to dislodge any bubbles etc. Once settled write down reading.
9a. If you have a testing jar you could take a sample from the wort and check it in the jar to be accurate, I didn't bother though.
10. Check the temperature. Anywhere between 20 and 25 degrees is fine. Wait for temp to even out if it's not within.
11. Remove hydrometer and sprinkle yeast over the top of the wort. (Wort is the brew mix btw)
12. Allow the yeast to sink into the mix for 5 mins then give it one last hefty stir, again to get as much air in as possible.
13. Put lid on.
14. Lower immersion heater into the lid hole, adjust the attached bung and make sure the height has the heater around the middle of the wort.
15. Put airlock in place (keep lid on it for now)
16. Put vessel in it's final resting place, somewhere it can be easily syphoned from. This is so that it doesn't need to move again.
17. Remove airlock top and fill halfway with bottled water.
18. Clean everything used thoroughly.
Within 24 hours the airlock should be bubbling away. If not, don't panic, check the temperature is around 20 degrees and give it another 24 hours.... and then panic.
If fermentation has gone well the airlock should start slowly bubbling and picking up the pace. Mine will usually peak after 48 hours and be bubbling once every second or 2. Towards the end it should tail off as quickly as it sped up, slowing to one bubble every 1 or 2 minutes. Once it gets to this level allow it to sit for 2 days (should be 7 days total) and then it's time to rack into the secondary.
1. Sterilise everything that is going to come into contact with the brew. Bucket, spoon, bung, hydrometer, syphoning tube (force sterilised water through it), etc.
2. Take a reading with the hydrometer, if the brew is ready it should be reading approx 1.000-1.010 (check the kit, mine was 1.005).
3. Syphon from the primary into the secondary. Start with the rigid end around halfway down the wort to keep away from the sediment as much as possible. Suck the other end of the syphon to start the flow, when it gets close to the end (it'll be quick) bend the end up so that it can't escape then lower it into the secondary bucket and let go. Keep the syphon cane as still as possible in order not to disturb the sediment etc. The less sediment sucked in the better. Move the cane down as required until there is approx 1" left in the initial vessel, this will be crappy looking sediment anyway.
4. Put the secondary racking bucket in place of the primary (height for syphoning).
5. Put the lid on with the other bung and transfer the bubbler over(no need for heater).
6. Give all the equipment a good clean to remove any gunk.
I did the above as I wanted the cider to be as clean and crisp as possible. You can ignore steps 5 & 6 and just jump right into the bottling if you like but I will be doing the above from now on as it turned out great. After 24 hours do the following....
1. Sterilise everything that is going to come into contact with the brew. Bucket, spoon/paddle, syphoning kit including bottling wand, bottles, caps, etc. I kept my caps in a sterilised vitalite tub
2. Add 200g of sugar to the bottom of the racking bucket (actually your original primary bucket).
3. Syphon from the Secondary to the bottling bucket making sure the sugar mixes well.
4. Once transferred add the flavouring sachet that you got with the kit and give it all a bloody good stir again.
5. Position the bucket in an elevated position for bottling, I just use the same place for each stage.
6. Syphon from the bottling bucket into the bottles using bottle wand. (Same practice as before only this time with the wand it'll stop on its own).
7. Cap them immediately after filling, do them 1 at a time so that no bacteria can get in. (I always do this, not sure if it's important or not).
10. Store them in a place around 20 degrees for 1 week.
11. After the week move them to somewhere cooler, the cooler the better, for 3 weeks.
12. Enjoy.
After each stage immediately clean all the equipment. Sterilisation isn't important as you will be doing it before the next process anyway but it's very
important that all the gunk is removed and everything is clean as it will be a nightmare to remove at a later date. Don't use anything that can scratch the plastic as it will harbour bacteria.
Bucket no.1 is called the primary fermenting vessel (FV)
Bucket no.2 is called the secondary FV or racking bucket.
Racking is transferring to remove sediment.
If you haven't used a capper before try before getting to the bottling stage.
Have fun
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