Craft A Brew Hard Cider Kit Complete Starter Home Brewing Kit 1 Gallon Review (2026)

What comes in the box

This starter kit includes a 1 gallon glass fermentation jug along with an airlock, rubber stopper, funnel, racking cane with a filter tip, and transfer tubing with a tube clamp, covering the core equipment needed to ferment and rack a small batch of cider. On the ingredient side, the kit ships with three packets each of yeast and sanitizer, plus detailed instructions written specifically for hard cider rather than generic wine or beer instructions. According to Craft A Brew, each kit is assembled by hand in Orlando, Florida, and the equipment included is designed to be reused for future batches rather than treated as single-use.

How many batches it covers

Because the kit includes three packets of yeast and three of sanitizer, it is set up to support three separate 1 gallon batches before a brewer needs to restock consumables, even though the glass jug and other hardware are reusable indefinitely. This makes the kit a reasonable value for someone who wants to try a few different approaches, such as a dry batch, a sweeter batch, or an experiment with added spices, without buying new equipment each time. Once the yeast and sanitizer packets are used up, refill packs of ingredients are sold separately for brewers who want to keep making 1 gallon batches with the same jug and hardware.

What you still need to buy

The one item this kit does not include is apple juice itself, and Craft A Brew's own instructions specify that the juice needs to be preservative-free, since common preservatives like potassium sorbate or sodium benzoate used in shelf-stable juice will stop the yeast from fermenting properly. Finding a preservative-free juice usually means checking the label at a grocery store for a juice pasteurized without added preservatives, or buying fresh-pressed juice from a local source. This is a common requirement across home cider kits rather than something unique to this one, but it is worth confirming before starting, since using the wrong juice can mean a stalled batch.

Timeline and process

A full batch cycle with this kit runs about 20 days from starting fermentation to having cider ready to drink, which is fast compared to many all-grain beer batches that take weeks longer between brewing and bottling. The compact 1 gallon size also means a full cycle can be evaluated and, if needed, adjusted for the next attempt within about three weeks, which suits someone still learning how yeast, juice and sugar levels interact rather than committing to a large batch on a first try. The included instructions walk through each step of that roughly three week window in cider-specific terms rather than general homebrewing language.

Who should buy it

This kit fits someone who has never made cider before and wants a low-cost, low-commitment way to learn the process using equipment they will keep using for future 1 gallon batches. It is well suited to a first-time brewer who wants results in around three weeks rather than committing kitchen space to a larger batch right away. It is a poor standalone purchase for anyone who forgets that apple juice is not included, since a trip to buy preservative-free juice is a required extra step, and anyone planning to jump straight to 5 gallon batches would be better served by a larger kit from the start.

Frequently asked questions