Top 5 Ciders to Homebrew

Guest Written by Heidi Jones

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Cider is an alcoholic beverage that originates from fermenting apple juice or fermenting sugar or other fruits. It is a favorite choice among homebrewers, especially during the autumn and colder seasons. If you are a homebrewer, you can choose by experimenting with a variety of flavors of homebrewed ciders, whether it is a classic apple cider or a gourmet blueberry cider. In this article, you will get to know the top 5 ciders to homebrew. However, before getting into the recipes, let us see the basic methodology of home brewing a cider because the process is pretty much the same for all ciders.

Steps to homebrew a simple apple cider:

One of the best things about using home brewing machines is that it does all of the hard work for you. Anyone from a lot of homebrewing experience to none can homebrew with Alchema. 

1. The ALCHEMA will sanitise the machine for you by using a built-in UV light, so there is no need to worry!
2. You can either choose fresh fruit or juice to make simple apple cider. When you choose juice though, make sure there are no artificial preservatives present. When you use fresh fruit, make sure you add water.
3. Let ALCHEMA do the rest. The app will notify you when your batch is done.

It is that easy. ALCHEMA simplifies the whole homebrewing process. If you want to see it in action click here to watch!

So now that we have gone over how to make Simple Apple Cider, let us have a look at other top 5 exciting ciders to homebrew.

1. Malt Cider:

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One of the best things about the Alchema App is that it allows you the create your own recipe. You can let your imagination run free while you make up recipes no one has seen before. Malt Cider is a sweet drink with an alcoholic content of 6%BV. Usually, hard ciders do not have yeast nutrients, but the sugar content in the malt gives this cider excellent yeast nutrients, which enriches the flavor of the cider. To make this cider, start by boiling 3.8 L of barley wort for 15 minutes and check if gravity is 1.05. If gravity is less than 1.05, boil a higher volume until you achieve the target gravity. Let the barley wort to cool down to room temperature. An alternative to barley wort, you can also mix 625 grams of malt syrup into 3.8 L of water and boil for 15 minutes. In a separate clean and sanitized fermenter, pour 15 L of apple juice and the barley wort and mix the yeast into it. Mix it well and pour it into the ALCHEMA pitcher so that you can start with the fermentation process. Serve it chilled from a bottle.

2. Jack Daniels Whiskey Cider:

Jack Daniels Whiskey Cider is technically a cider and whiskey cocktail, which you can DIY at home. You can start by making the base, which is apple cider using the steps mentioned earlier. Store the cider in a bottle in chilled condition. Then mix Jack Daniels whiskey, Apple cider, and a pinch of cinnamon into a shaker and shake vigorously. Your Jack Daniels Whiskey Cider is ready. If you are feeling lazy, you can instead buy the Jack Tennessee cider.

3. Blueberry Cider:

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Blueberry Cider is a sweet drink with an alcoholic content of 6.5%BV. Blueberries are rich in antioxidants and also great additions to the taste of a cider. To make this cider, freeze the blueberries beforehand. This will help break down the cell wall and release more flavor into your batch during the fermentation process. Once frozen place the blueberries into the ALCHEMA pitcher, adding sugar and water. The ALCHEMA machine has a built-in weighing sale so the app will tell you how much to put in. Then add yeast. Your blueberries cider will be ready within the next week.

4. Cherry Cider: 

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Cherry Cider is a sour to sweet drink with an alcoholic content of 9.6%BV. It has a distinct tart sweetness added to the traditional apple cider. To make this cider, follow steps 1 to 8 above to create the basic apple cider using 19L of apple juice fermented with 2.5grams of yeast. Take about 2 kgs of sour cherries, some yeast, and crushed Campden tablets and mix into the apple cider. Stir it twice a day for four days and then take out the cherries from the surface. Continue the fermentation as per apple cider steps till you achieve a gravity of 0.99. To dilute the sourness, add sugar syrup into the cherry cider based on a desired level of sweetness. To make the sugar syrup, you can boil 6 cups of sugar and water. A more natural way to make this cider is to add fresh apples and cherries with yeast and sugar into the ALCHEMA brewing machine and get the cider without any hassles in 3 weeks. The ALCHEMA mobile app will guide you with the amount of sugar required to bring the desired level of sweetness and alcohol content.

5. Jalapeno Lime Cider:

The Jalapeno Lime Cider is a unique mix of sweet, spicy, and sour flavors. You can start by preparing a batch of apple cider using the same steps as before and then store it separately in a keg with toppings of jalapeno and lime wedges for 3-4 days. Keep stirring twice a day during this period. You can also add tequila to the Jalapeno cider to make a unique cocktail.

In conclusion, with ALCHEMA homebrewing doesn’t just have to be for experienced homebrewers, anyone can make a cider. If you need some inspiration for our users, join our Homebrewing Community on Facebook and take your homebrewing hobby to another level.