How to Host a Cider Fest

This article originally appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Zymurgy Magazine

By Scott Riseley

Have you ever been to a cider fest? Quite simply, it is an event where friends gather to crush apples and make cider. These events are a blast in and of themselves, but they also grant many opportunities to an enterprising brewer. In the following article, I will outline my process for hosting a cider fest and for processing up to 55 gallons of cider, and I also hope to demystify cider brewing and show that delicious cider is relatively simple and cheap to make.

In September 2022, my wife and I held our fourth annual cider fest, wherein we crushed and juiced over 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) of apples and made 43 gallons (163 liters) of hard apple cider. This plain cider is great on its own, but is also a wonderful canvas onto which any number of additional flavors can be added, and last year we made a total of ten different cider variations.

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This article covers:

• “Clean Train Cider” Recipe
• “Rainier Cherry Cider” Recipe
• “Cyser” Recipe
• Hardware and Help
• Finding Fruit
• Pressing and Process
• Fermentation and Finishing