Best Cider Making Kits for Hard Cider at Home

Craft A Brew Hard Cider Kit (Editor's Choice)

Craft A Brew's hard cider kit is the one we would hand to a first-time cider maker. The listing says the kit comes with everything you need to make a dry sparkling cider, except the juice, plus the company's Guide to Making Your Own Hard Cider with recipe variations. Craft A Brew says its kits are assembled by hand in Orlando, Florida. It is also the most widely bought cider kit on Amazon by a wide margin.

A 1-gallon batch is the right size to learn on: you need two half-gallon jugs of juice from the store, it fits on a kitchen counter, and a mistake costs little. Once you have the method, the same equipment makes apple, pear or blended ciders from any preservative-free juice.

Best for: beginners who want one box with clear instructions. Missing: juice and bottles; carbonating needs pressure-rated bottles.

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Brewsy Starter Kit for Cider Making (Fastest to Drink)

Brewsy takes a different approach: a starter kit built around the juice you choose rather than a set of glassware. The maker's pitch is about four bottles of cider in 9 days, with control over how sweet the result is, and step-by-step instructions that end with chilling the batch. That speed comes from drinking it young; there is no aging stage.

It suits someone who wants to try home cider without buying a fermenter, or who wants a quick batch alongside a slower one. If you plan to make cider regularly, a kit with a reusable glass fermenter is better value over time.

Best for: a fast, low-commitment first try. Missing: juice; no fermenter is listed.

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BrewDemon Conical Fermenting System (Best for 2-Gallon Batches)

The BrewDemon conical is a fermenter for 2 or 2.5 gallon batches of beer, hard cider, mead or kombucha. BrewDemon says it is made of heat-tolerant, phthalate-free and BPA-free food-grade plastic, and that its venting system lets carbon dioxide out while keeping contaminants away, so no airlock is required; an airlock upgrade with gasket and stopper is offered if you want one. The conical shape gathers sediment at the bottom and a spigot lets you draw off clear cider without a siphon.

On its own it is only the fermenter. Pair it with the BrewDemon Forbidden Fruit recipe below, or with 2 gallons of store juice and a packet of cider or wine yeast.

Best for: 2-gallon batches without siphoning. Missing: juice or a recipe kit, and yeast.

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BrewDemon Forbidden Fruit Hard Cider Recipe Kit (2 Gallons)

A 2 gallon hard cider recipe from BrewDemon, made with New Zealand apples according to the listing and aimed at about 4.5% ABV. BrewDemon says the recipe works best in its own 2 gallon conical but can be brewed in any 2 gallon system, and that preparation takes minutes. At 4.5% this is a session-strength cider, closer to a commercial draft cider than to a strong farmhouse one.

Best for: BrewDemon conical owners. Missing: the fermenter.

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Brewer's Best Cider House Select Spiced Apple Cider Kit (6 Gallons)

A 6 gallon ingredient kit from Brewer's Best's Cider House Select line. The listing gives a golden color, about 4.7% ABV, and notes that you need 2 pounds of dextrose on top of the kit. Six gallons is the batch size of a standard wine kit, so this is the natural cider kit for anyone who already owns a 6.5 gallon bucket and a 6 gallon carboy.

Best for: wine kit makers with the equipment already in place. Missing: dextrose and fermenters.

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Mangrove Jack's Hard Pear Cider Recipe Kit (6 Gallons)

A pear cider kit for 6 gallons (23 liters). Mangrove Jack's says it can be finished sweet, semi-sweet or dry, at about 4.7% ABV, and that it needs 1 kg of corn sugar or table sugar. Pear cider, often sold as perry, is lighter and more floral than apple, and a kit is the easiest way to make it, because good perry pears are hard to find.

Best for: a change from apple, in a full-size batch. Missing: sugar and fermenters.

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