How to Bottle Hard Cider (or Mead)
Once you've brewed and fermented a one gallon batch of hard cider, mead, or other homebrew, it's time to bottle it! This is my simple method for how to bottle hard cider or mead.
Servings 8 bottles
Cost $40
Ingredients
- 1 gallon hard cider or other homebrew
Instructions
- Sanitize all of the bottling equipment and the bottles.
- Once everything is sanitized and dry, attach one end of the tubing to the auto siphon and the other end to the bottling wand.
- Put the jug of cider or mead onto a counter or table and one person will put the auto siphon into the jug without touching the sediment on the bottom.
- Put all of the bottles on a towel on the floor below the gallon jug. Gravity is your friend while bottling.
- A second person will do the bottling. Put the bottling wand into one of the bottles, all the way to the bottom, pushing down to create flow.
- The first person pumps the auto siphon a few times, and the cider should start moving through the tube and into the bottle.
- When the cider gets almost to the top of the bottle, an inch or so from the top, pull the bottling wand up and the flow will immediately stop. There should be an inch or so of head space at the top of the bottle.
- Move on to the next bottle and once again push the bottling wand into the bottom of the bottle until it’s full.
- Keep filling each bottle until you’ve gone through all of the hard cider in the jug, stopping when all that’s left is sediment. Then cap the bottles with the flip top lids.
- Age the cider for a few days to a month before drinking.
Notes
- Bottling hard cider is a two person job, so grab a friend!
- The sediment won’t hurt you, and is actually full of B vitamins. So don’t worry if a little bit gets into your bottles. It also makes wonderful compost.
- Hard cider doesn’t need to be aged for very long, but a few days to a month really improves the flavor and takes away much of the harshness.
- Mead is better after several months of aging.
- Hard apple cider is tasty (and festive) when you make it into mulled hard cider! It’s a great way to warm up on a chilly day.