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How To Make Alcohol For 5p Per Litre (Hard Cider)

Rainford's Brew Lab

17,226 views

Brewing 1 Litre of Farm Orchard Cider for 5p! 🍎🍺 (Extreme Budget Homebrew)
Can you brew a fresh, crisp 4.5% ABV orchard cider for literally 5 pence a liter? Let’s put basic supermarket bread yeast and foraged farm apples to the ultimate budget test!

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In this episode, Pete takes 300g of foraged farm apples, 30g of sugar, and 1/4 tsp of standard store-bought bread yeast to prove that great craft cider doesn't need expensive equipment or fancy wine yeasts!

In this video, we cover:
• The 5p Per Litre Breakdown: Foraged free apples (0p) + 30g sugar (3p) + 1g bread yeast (2p).
• Pulp Blending & Aeration: Chopping and blitzing fresh apples in a 1L PET bottle.
• Gravity Arc Tracking: Moving from 1.042 OG down to a bone-dry 1.000 FG floor.
• Dilution & Volume Precision: Adjusting with 200ml water to guarantee a full 1.0L yield at 4.5% ABV.
• Cold Crash & Tasting Notes: Serving a crisp, apple-forward scrumpy cider before heading out to the golf course!

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If you love crisp, ultra-budget farm ciders, hit that LIKE button, COMMENT below your thoughts on using bread yeast, and SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss our upcoming 0p FREE brew!

#Cider #Homebrewing #BreadYeast #BudgetBrewing #ForagedFood #FarmCider #RainfordsBrewLab #DIYCider #5pCider #Scrumpy
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Equipment & Consumables I Use

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. (This means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you click the links and make a purchase.)

Cameras
Canon PowerShot V10 Vlogging Starter Kit https://amzn.to/3K3ozMB
Gopro Hero 4K https://amzn.to/4nWNLCb
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra https://amzn.to/4pkrIH0

Sanitisation
ChemSan Self Foaming No Rinse Sanitiser 1 litre https://amzn.to/48iGh86
Starsan 16 oz https://amzn.to/3JCEMs4
Milton Tablets https://amzn.to/4oKvoll

Brewing Equipment
Glass Demijohn 5L with 2 Piece Airlock and Bung https://amzn.to/3K9D9SJ
Home Brew Hydrometer with 100ml Sampling Jar https://amzn.to/4r3NxvV
Mixing Spoon https://amzn.to/3JTzqZu
Auto Siphon Racking Cane https://amzn.to/3WXdDTH
TOPINCN Homebrew CO2 Injector https://amzn.to/4a6fqgL
2 Pack Handy Airlock (Silent) with Bung https://amzn.to/49pltNi
50W Heat Mat with Thermostat https://amzn.to/4oQribm
KitchenCraft Baster https://amzn.to/3K2OKmt

Consumables
Mangrove Jacks Cider Yeast https://amzn.to/3X3cDNP
Lalvin EC-1118 10 pack https://amzn.to/49TUCcf
Youngs Dried Active Yeast 100g https://amzn.to/3X1lEXC
Young's yeast nutrient 100g https://amzn.to/3LMMvUT
Youngs Pectolase 400g https://amzn.to/49HH2sH
Wine Tannin 50g Youngs x 3 https://amzn.to/3XxkmDQ
Bentonite - 250 Gram Tub https://amzn.to/3JTBMaM

⚠️ Health, Safety & Legal Disclaimers

Health Warning:

This video is for viewers of legal drinking age only (18+ in the UK).

Drink Responsibly: Government guidelines recommend not regularly exceeding 14 units of alcohol per week. For support, visit Drinkaware.co.uk.

Pregnancy Warning: Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause lifelong harm to the baby.

Safety & Liability Disclaimer:

Sanitation: When using fresh fruit, ensure they are washed and all equipment is thoroughly sanitized to avoid wild yeast spoilage or bacteria.

Personal Responsibility: These methods represent my personal process at Rainford's Brew Lab. Follow these steps at your own risk. I am not liable for any outcomes or injuries resulting from home brewing.

20 Comments

@cenccenc946 3 days ago

I have 5 apple trees. so, 2 apples per liter = "oh sh*t, I am going to need a much bigger bottle". 🤣

@ayecarambapoker 3 days ago

Taking it down to zero?

In the next episode our hero gets himself a guest appearance on ITV's "Britain's shoplifting epidemic"
😂

@chrismiracle 3 days ago

My guess for the 0p brew: foraged nettles or elderberries or such, free sugar packets from Wetherspoons, wild yeast from the foraged fruit.

@chrismiracle 2 days ago

Lightbulb moment: the 0p brew is going to be grapes from the garden.

@JoshuaWalker-sj5ke 2 days ago

Another great one Pete ! Well done brother .

@EeepyLurker 3 days ago

I did it with Apple Juice, the crucial step is to add Yeast Nutrients and mix it with Juice and sugar (Boiling 1 tsp of Yeast with 3 cups of water, let it cool down and add it) before adding the Active Yeast. It's currently Day 5 of fermenting and it's still bubbling and clearing. Amazing, thank you for sharing how to make one from previous video Rainford!

@johanneslehmann4915 2 days ago

this is still a traditional thin in southern Hessen. you can get usually a 1€ (500ml)can of hard cider in most supermarkets there.

@cyndimanka 1 day ago

I kind of did this only I added the apples to frozen apple juice concentrate. I got a reading of 11.81%. I had one can of concentrate apple juice and added only two cans of water and then I added my one cup of fresh pulverized apples. My original reading was 1.090 and it remained to dry to 1.000 and it was 11.81%. My notes didn’t indicate I added sugar and I keep very good notes. I must’ve thought that this was enough. I made it in July. And since the Yakima Valley couple when I get home from the southwest, I’m going to make some of this. I want to do it cheap cheaper so I will try your way but probably add a little bit of sugar so I can get a higher ABV. Thanks for putting out a great video.

@CarrotTheVeggie 1 day ago

At this point, you'll have to start to factor in the cost of water as well. Can't wait for the 0 pence drink!

@jowziff 1 day ago

I'm going to try brewing in a milk carton - 2.27 litres, different plastic, so can heat it higher without deforming. More space!!

@lees8651 2 days ago (edited)

Love this video Pete. lil tip for you cause of the colder months coming in, add a cinnamon stick or more depending on your batch size to give your cider a warm kick to it. Cause cinnamon is wood it's basically oak aging/fermenting your brew

@HarshmanHills 3 days ago

Another awesome one

@mattyw2018 3 days ago

I’m guessing the free will be an old fashioned scrumpy using the natural yeast in the apples.

Love the channel. I definitely found a new hobby thanks to you. Currently enjoying a 7.8% apple and pear cider I made about 2 months ago with brown sugar instead of white. I might be imagining things as I know what went into it but there is an almost caramel flavour to it which is very pleasant

@brucemacdonald1847 2 days ago

no no no Peter it's not evil, it's wonderful mystical magic!!!!!! Good video Man Thanks

@sedition4267 3 days ago (edited)

Definitely have to try this one later.
Got to deal with this hurricane hitting tonight first. 😈😈

ps. If you try to convert this to Apple Jack, be VERY careful. That stuff will grab you by the boo-boo and you'll have one hell of a hangover.

@applegal3058 2 days ago

Howdy Pete 👋

@phillloyd4821 3 days ago

Brilliant video Pete, well done. Mad separate question, what would happen if you used sugar, yeast and water? Nothing else!

@Wilko601st 23 hours ago

if you wanted it clearer could you add pectolase at your own expense of course

@MyFriendsKitchen 2 days ago (edited)

You can freeze and defrost apple juice a few times to separate the sugars from the water. During the freezing and defrosting the sugar sinks to the bottom of the container and the water floats to the top. Pour off the water and then use the concentrated apple juice mixed with fresh pulped apples, there should be wild yeast on the unwashed apples and you'll get natural fermentation. Technically that's free alcohol if the apples are free. You can then take that cider and freeze and defrost it a few times to concentrate the alcohol in the same way you concentrated the sugar but you're also concentrating the methanol which gives you a really bad hangover

@EdmundasKirda 2 days ago

Good day. The cost of cider cannot be zero, since you are investing your own time and so on—though the raw materials themselves might be. You can produce not only cider but also very strong wine. Take apples or pears, for instance—specifically the fruit in your orchard that has been shaken down and damaged by strong winds. Often, the juice from these fruits—especially summer varieties—lacks sufficient acidity. In such cases, I use a specific technique: I concentrate the pressed juice by freezing it and removing some of the water until the desired sugar concentration is reached. Once the remaining juice warms up, it begins to ferment on its own, though I usually add a small amount of juice that is already actively fermenting, just to be safe. Good luck.