Brew this month

Wine, cider, mead and kombucha

1-gallon kits, juice-to-cider, honey wine and kombucha. Most of it needs no beer gear, just a fermenter, an airlock and patience. For adults 21+.

Beginner kits & first brew 1Brewing systems & chillers 1Fermenters & temp control 18Kegging & draft 2Bottling & capping 18Hydrometers & meters 10Yeast & nutrients 11Brewing chemicals & water 27Wine, cider, mead & kombucha 109
Apple pulp in a mesh bag inside a wooden ratchet cider press
Photo: Joe Mabel (originally posted to web by Joe Mabel on Flickr ), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Where to start beyond beer

If beer brewing feels like a lot of gear, start with hard cider: preservative-free apple juice, a packet of cider or wine yeast and a 1-gallon jug with an airlock. Mead is honey, water, yeast and nutrient with a longer wait. Wine kits give you a juice base and every additive in order. Kombucha is the outlier: it ferments tea and sugar with a SCOBY and needs pH checks.

DrinkBaseTypical first batchWatch for
Hard ciderApple juice1 gal kit or juice jug~ Juice must be preservative-free
MeadHoney + water1 gal kit (add honey)~ Needs nutrient and time
WineJuice or concentrate kit1 gal or 6 gal kit~ Sulfites in most kits
KombuchaTea + sugar + SCOBY1 gal glass jar✗ No ceramic; pH 4.2 or lower
Know what’s in the glassHomebrew is often stronger than commercial beer. One US standard drink is 14 g of alcohol: 12 oz of 5% beer or 5 oz of 12% wine. Brewing and drinking are for adults 21 and over; never drink and drive.Source: NIAAA: What is a standard drink?

Beginner kits & first brew

All 1 in beginner kits & first brew

Brewing systems & chillers

All 1 in brewing systems & chillers

Fermenters & temp control

All 18 in fermenters & temp control

Kegging & draft

All 2 in kegging & draft

Bottling & capping

All 18 in bottling & capping

Hydrometers & meters

All 10 in hydrometers & meters

Yeast & nutrients

All 11 in yeast & nutrients

Brewing chemicals & water

All 27 in brewing chemicals & water

Wine, cider, mead & kombucha

All 109 in wine, cider, mead & kombucha

Yeast, nutrient and stabilizers

Champagne-type EC-1118 ferments almost anything dry; cider strains like SafCider AB-1 and Mangrove Jack's M02 keep more apple character. Honey and juice are short on nitrogen, so add nutrient per its label. To sweeten a finished cider or wine, stabilize with sulfite and sorbate first.

Sulfites and sensitive guestsCampden tablets and potassium metabisulfite add sulfites. Commercial wine at 10 ppm or more must say “Contains sulfites”; home wine is not labeled, so tell sulfite-sensitive guests (often people with asthma).Source: TTB: sulfite declaration
Kombucha safetyFerment in food-grade glass or plastic, never ceramic, glazed earthenware or lead crystal. Check with a calibrated pH meter that it reaches 4.2 or lower (and not below 2.5); discard moldy SCOBYs. Extension services advise people who are pregnant, immunocompromised or prone to acidosis not to drink it; we don’t recommend homemade kombucha for children.Source: Virginia Tech FST-297; UGA Extension C1312; CDC MMWR 1995

The law for home wine, cider and mead

Federal rules treat cider and mead as wine. The household limits and the no-sales rule are the same as for beer. Making spirits is a different matter: it is a federal crime without a permit, and we never cover it.

Federal homebrew rules at a glance

Quoted from the U.S. Code, the CFR and TTB. Not legal advice: state and local law can be stricter.

Beer for personal or family use
200 gal per calendar year with 2+ adults in the household; 100 gal with one adult 26 U.S.C. 5053(e) (Cornell LII)
Wine (incl. cider and mead)
Same 200 / 100 gal per household; may not under any circumstances be sold or offered for sale 27 CFR 24.75 (Cornell LII)
Who counts as an adult
18+ under the rule, but where local law sets a higher purchase age that age applies: in practice 21 everywhere in the US 27 CFR 25.205 (Cornell LII)
Selling homebrew
Not allowed: "Adults may not produce beer for sale or offer their beer for sale" TTB: Beer FAQs
Competitions and club events
Removal is allowed for personal or family use, including organized affairs, exhibitions or competitions (check your state) TTB: Beer FAQs
Distilling spirits at home
Illegal without a federal permit, even for personal use; unregistered stills can be seized TTB: Penalties for illegal distilling
State law
Homebrewing is legal in all 50 states (Alabama and Mississippi were last, in 2013), but limits on transport and sharing vary AHA: Homebrewing statutes by state
No home distillingFederal law prohibits making spirits at home without a permit, even for personal use; unregistered stills can be seized. We don’t cover stills, “freeze jacking” or distilling to remove alcohol.Source: TTB: penalties for illegal distilling

Mistakes to avoid

  • Buying juice with sorbate or benzoate: yeast won't start.
  • Sweetening before stabilizing: refermentation in the bottle.
  • Brewing kombucha in ceramic or lead crystal containers.
  • Skipping nutrient in mead: slow, stuck or off-smelling fermentations.

Wine, mead and cider are often stronger than beer. Check yours with the ABV calculator, which converts a pour into NIAAA standard drinks.

Related reading: best wine making kits, best hard cider kits, best mead making kits, best kombucha starter kits and best wine yeast.

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Wine, cider, mead & kombucha: questions

What is the easiest thing to ferment besides beer?
Hard cider. Preservative-free apple juice, a cider or wine yeast and a 1-gallon jug with an airlock make a first batch in a few weeks.
Can homemade wine make you blind?
No, not from fermentation alone. Methanol poisoning is linked to illicit or adulterated spirits. Added pectic enzyme can raise methanol slightly, but normal home wine and cider stay well below dangerous levels.
How long does mead take?
Longer than cider: often several weeks of fermentation and months of aging. Nutrient additions per the label help it finish cleanly.
Is homemade kombucha alcoholic?
It can be. Fermentation continues in the bottle, and Virginia Tech notes kombucha above 0.5% ABV is regulated as an alcohol beverage.
How much wine can I make at home legally?
Federal law allows 100 gal a year for a one-adult household and 200 gal for two or more adults (27 CFR 24.75), not for sale. State law may be stricter; this is not legal advice.