Making Vinegar

[Markian]

I did try to make some white wine vinegar with my red wine mother, but no go. It made some pink and insipid brew, and I didn't pursue it further. I'm not sure if it's a diferent organism for each sort of vinegar or not, but mine wants to be red and only red.

I have an "accidental" mother in an old bottle of Tremeraire Sherry vinegar. Should I add some sherry to it, or can I feed it some red wine?

[Markian]

I did try to make some white wine vinegar with my red wine mother, but no go. It made some pink and insipid brew, and I didn't pursue it further. I'm not sure if it's a diferent organism for each sort of vinegar or not, but mine wants to be red and only red.

Could you add a little bit of port or possibly champagne to these mothers to make that type of vinegar?

Edited June 20, 2007 by Markian (log)

[viva]

Question for you fine vinegar folk from a vinegar newbie: do red and white vinegars age differently or at different paces?

I started a red and a white at approximately the same time, about a month ago.

The red is flourishing nicely - I feed her every couple of weeks. She's got a nice mat floating on top and appears to match the descriptions here.

The white is just... there. It smells good - but no mat. I feed it as well, because I don't want the mother to starve. But... is the mother dead? Is she in need of a little fortified wine - maybe some sherry? Or does she just want me to leave her the hell alone?

Edited August 11, 2007 by viva (log)

[russ parsons]

when you say "smells good" do you mean "smells like vinegar"? As I pointed out in one of the earlier posts, I've got a vinegar barrel that has been thriving for at least 5 years without a "mat" on top. There's a kind of film, but no cellulose. and the vinegar is terrific. remember, that "mat" is one place the acetobacters live, but it's not the acetobacters themselves.

[viva]

Yes - it smells like vinegar. Not very pungent vinegar, but vinegar nonetheless. It's only been a month.

Maybe I should leave her alone.

[srhcb]

A little off track, but on topic, perhaps you could use homemade vinegar to make some Vinegar Candy?

[phlawless]

I just finished off a bottle of cheap grocery store white wine vinegar and discovered a vinegar mother...is it acceptable to use this or does it destine any future offspring to carry on it's low brow pedigree?

[tino27]

I would guess the quality of the wine vinegar is directly related to the wine used to create it, not necessarily the little beasties that convert it.

[annecros]

I just finished off a bottle of cheap grocery store white wine vinegar and discovered a vinegar mother...is it acceptable to use this or does it destine any future offspring to carry on it's low brow pedigree?

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There was a time when I found Mother in my Pickle Jar - alas, unfortunately, I didn't do something right.

Mother died. In a nasty, ugly, unforgivable, unphotographable manner.

There are other's here who are very adept who will help, I am sure.

I wish I could have saved that mother. Of course, I wish more, that I could have been able to buy one of those fancy vinegar jars with the spout and just pour off vinegar as I needed...

[Doodad]

I just finished off a bottle of cheap grocery store white wine vinegar and discovered a vinegar mother...is it acceptable to use this or does it destine any future offspring to carry on it's low brow pedigree?

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Can you school a novice on this? I am very interested in how vinegar is made and remade.

[tino27]

I just finished off a bottle of cheap grocery store white wine vinegar and discovered a vinegar mother...is it acceptable to use this or does it destine any future offspring to carry on it's low brow pedigree?

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Can you school a novice on this? I am very interested in how vinegar is made and remade.

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Check out this link.

[menon1971]

I would guess that quality primarily resides with the wine, etc., that you use. I would put the mother and some cheap leftover wine in a mason jar with a loose lid and take a shot at it. If you do, please let us know how it turns out.

[BeJam]

vinegar making

I just finished off a bottle of cheap grocery store white wine vinegar and discovered a vinegar mother...is it acceptable to use this or does it destine any future offspring to carry on it's low brow pedigree?

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I suspect you don't have mother from a grocery-store brand. Those vinegar's are generally pasteurized to kill unwanted bacteria. Of course you may have purchased one specifically unpasteurized or one with mother in it. But I was making some white wine vinegar a few months ago and grew something absurd in it. It was hard and lumpy and looked like a strange fruit.

See these previous posts" vinegar making and making vinegar II

[viva]

Can't hurt to try. Gotta give it some time. Some sites on vinegar recommend just buying one of the unfiltered cider vinegars with the mother (Bragg's) to get started.

If I can get a couple of vinegar crocks going, anyone can. It's a nice way to use up bottle dregs.

[Gabriel Lewis]

Go right ahead and use it, if you scroll through the vinegar thread someone provided a link to above, you'll find the details on how to set it up. The quality of your vinegar isn't that dependent on the quality of your wine or your source; it is a complex interaction of the population of microbes in your mother, environmental conditions, whatever was in the wine in the first place, and time. Many people have been fairly indiscriminate about what wine they use for their mother, and still produce outstanding vinegars. Whatever's in there now will be the biggest determinant of flavor for the vinegar of course, but it is an ongoing competition between different species of microbes, and if you keep it alive it will adapt to your environmental conditions over time.

[inespm]

Use it, I found one about a year ago in a cheap vinegar and right now I had made vinegar from tomato, cider, wine, rum (cooking it to down the alcohol), champagne, etc.

The mother will grow the size of the jar you put on, always use some of the mother last vinegar before ading new alcohol. Another trick is to put som wood in the liquid, mother love wood, it will grow faster.

Sorry my english

[phlawless]

thanks to all for the tips, i'm looking for a crock to get started!

[russ parsons]

try an iced tea jug.

[viva]

Use it, I found one about a year ago in a cheap vinegar and right now I had made vinegar from tomato, cider, wine, rum (cooking it to down the alcohol), champagne, etc.

The mother will grow the size of the jar you put on, always use some of the mother last vinegar before ading new alcohol. Another trick is to put som wood in the liquid, mother love wood, it will grow faster.

Sorry my english

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Tomato vinegar? I'm intrigued. How does that work?

[Gabriel Lewis]

You can make vinegar from anything sweet essentially, but because the bacteria involved convert ethanol to acetic acid, if there isn't a source of alcohol already present you have to do a primary fermentation with yeast first. This is how pineapple vinegar in mexico, and coconut vinegar in southeast asia are made, often with a sort of symbiosis between the yeast and acetobacteria in the vinegar crock.

[Abra]

When you get a crock for your vinegar, be sure to get one with a spigot at the bottom so you can remove the vinegar without disturbing the mother.

For the past 8 years I've had a mother that someone brought to the US from France about 40 years ago. Recently I moved to France and brought some of it with me, repatriating it, as it were. I'm curious to see if it will like French wine better than the international mix I've been feeding it all these years.

[viva]

So, I was reminded by another topic that I have vinegar-in-process that's been sitting around in my cabinet for 6-7 months, getting fed some bottle dregs occasionally and otherwise untouched. I had to check this thread because I forgot when I started 'em.

I think it's probably time to decant it. Questions arise:

I gather that I probably will need to dilute it a bit down for taste, but I'm wondering if I should bottle without diluting (I think of water as the enemy that harboreth all bacteria).

Also, I'll obviously want to keep the mother going in a new batch. My vinegar is in pottery crocks, so I can't really see what's going on in there, but there's a fairly sturdy mat floating on top. Is that the mother, or is that a by product of the mother, and she's still lurking around underneath the mat, looking like the Bragg's Cider mother she started out as?

Edited January 15, 2008 by viva (log)

[Peter]

This is great stuff, I am also interested in making non-wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar, actually. I own and orchard & cider mill, so this seems to be the next logical step! I know large scale production will be different, but want to experiment to get the flavors. So, any advice on apple cider vinegar??

[qrn]

This is great stuff, I am also interested in making non-wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar, actually.  I own and orchard & cider mill, so this seems to be the next logical step!  I know large scale production will be different, but want to experiment to get the flavors.  So, any advice on apple cider vinegar??

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try this and then google, lots of stuff out there

[viva]

So, I finally decanted my vinegar crocks for the first time, unravelling the mystery of what lies beneath the floating mats. Answer: more mats. Layers and layers of mats, corresponding in thickness (I presume) to the frequency with which I added a more wine on top. And, at the bottom, the original mother, still rocking and rolling.

I strained the vinegar through paper towels into sterilized wine bottles, and bottled it without diluting with water. I figure it's easy enough to dilute later.

My yield was 1.5L of white vinegar and 750mL of red. What can I say, I drink more white than red. More dregs for the vinegar crock.

I naturally tasted each of them and loved the flavor. Both were very sharp (which I would expect because I did not dilute and I'm guessing my acidity is way high relative to store-bought vinegar), and had very full flavors when compared to store-bought red and white vinegars. I'm very pleased with the results.

Since this is probably more vinegar than I can possibly need in the next 5 years, I think I'd like to try some pineapple vinegar next. Pineapples have been on sale at Earth Fare!