What Is The Difference between Beer And Cider Production Equipment?

As craft beer culture develops around the world, beer and cider, as two fermented alcoholic beverages with unique flavors and wide popularity, have occupied an important position in the global beverage market. When planning production lines, many start-up breweries, craft beer enthusiasts, and beverage brand owners often ask a key question: What are the differences between beer and cider production equipment? Can they share the same system?

Differences in core processes determine the direction of equipment configuration

1. Core process of beer brewing

The main raw materials of beer include barley malt, hops, water and yeast, which are grain fermented alcoholic beverages. The main process flows are as follows:

Milling

Mashing

Lautering

Boiling & Hopping

Wort Cooling

Fermentation

Maturation

Clarification by filtration/centrifugation

Packaging

2. Core process of cider brewing

Cider is mainly made of apple juice, without saccharification process, and the fermentation process is relatively simple. The basic process is as follows:

Cleaning & Crushing

Juicing

Pasteurization

Fermentation

Racking / Filtering

Blending & Stabilization

Packaging

Comparison of core equipment modules

Raw material processing system

Beer equipment:

Malt crusher: crush the malt evenly to facilitate the action of saccharifying enzyme.

Saccharification pot + filter tank: complete starch conversion and separation.

Boiling pot (with steam jacket): boil wort and add hops.

Cider equipment:

Fruit and vegetable washing equipment: used to remove peel and sand.

Crushing juicer: complete crushing and pressing at one time.

Pasteurizer: kills miscellaneous bacteria and natural yeast.

Although beer and cider are both fermented beverages, they differ significantly in terms of process complexity, raw material processing methods, fermentation cycles, and taste pursuit, which affects their equipment selection and system design. For new breweries or craft brands, understanding the differences in process paths and equipment composition between the two is the key to scientifically planning production lines, effectively controlling investment, and ensuring product quality.

As a professional beer equipment manufacturer, we not only provide full-process solutions for beer systems, but also provide matching fruit wine (cider) equipment, three-in-one brewery solutions, equipment sharing module design, customized fermentation tanks, etc. according to customer needs, helping you create a diversified product line with one system.