Procure Ingredients

Introduction

In order to brew cider using my standard recipe (or really any recipe) you need two key ingredients:

  1. Apple Juice
  2. Yeast

Apple Juice

For the Apple Juice, any juice that is free of preservatives will do when getting started. I often used Motts apple and similar juices that were pasteurized and had ascorbic acid. When I can, try to get sweet cider from a local orchard.

It’s also possible to get the juice yourself from apples. This is probably the best way to get a balanced juice, but I haven’t had the time or orchard to try this yet.

Yeast

For the yeast, there are a number of options that work. The most common are

  1. Champagne yeast for dry ciders
  2. Cider yeast for semi-sweet ciders
  3. Ale yeast for semi-sweet ciders

Two good resources for yeast options:

Next Steps

Once you have the ingredients and equipment you’re ready to start fermenting.