Cider Starting Kits

[Shotgunwilly]

Good Morning.

I been looking at Cider Starter Kits and wounding if anyone has use this kit before. I do live in Canada and there are some great kits out there but they are not Canadian and do not want to deal with international shipping and conversion rates.

I do plan on getting a second Carboy for secondary fermentation.

 

[redrocker652002]

I would think, and I am just thinking out loud here, that you could buy a gallon of apple juice in either a glass or a plastic container. The other pieces are probably easily had used for a ton less. The hydrometer is the only other piece of that kit that I can see maybe costing you a bit. The airlock, stopper and hose could be had for probably less that 20 bucks, if not less than 15. But, with that said, I know I bought a beer kit with all the stuff in it before I checked the used market. Had I checked used, I probably would have been better off.

On a side note, cider is next on my list to try. Just gotta get off my butt and get the darn juice. LOL.

 

[Rish]

^^ What @redrocker652002 said! You should be able to piece it much cheaper than $60 and you're going to need to buy the juice anyway. Good luck with your cidering! Cheap, easy way to make alcohol at home.

 

[Chalkyt]

Welcome to the fun. All of the above is good advice.

I suggest that you look at Yooper's post at the top of the forum and also think about spending $50 or so to buy Claude Jolicoeur's Book (The New Cidermaker's Handbook) it will tell you almost everything you need to know... then ask lots of questions here on HBT because there is a lot of practical knowledge rattling around on these pages.

As far as the kit is concerned, it looks pretty good to me and has all the bits that you might want to get started, even some that you might not have thought of such as the mini auto-siphon. So, for $80 or so you get a worthwhile starter kit without worrying about what you might need, and quite a good "monkey see-monkey do" recipe. It wouldn't be hard to spend over the $95 needed for free freight by adding things that you will eventually need like a gallon carboy, bottles, fermaid, PBW, refractometer, hydrometer test jar, different yeast, etc, etc... we all eventually accumulate lots of "toys".

I guess that the only comments I would make about the kit is that a proper bubbler rather than a blow-off tube is easier to manage, EC1118 can be a very robust yeast (I prefer something like S04 or AS2 for a beginner), and yes, you will need a primary fermenter or bucket. Nevertheless, it is a good start.

I have attached a Basic Cider write-up that I often give to people who want to make their first cider it covers a bit more than the information than comes with the kit (which is quite comprehensive). It will give you some insight into why to do things rather than just following a recipe.

Cheers!