Year-Old raw apple cider: vinegar? alcoholic?

[misstenacity]

In my fridge is a one-gallon jug of apple cider from the 2005 harvest. The cider is raw and the jug was not sterilized prior to filling, just FYI.

Never figured out what to do with it, so its been in there all this time (wow, how a year goes by! ).

I've heard stories about turning cider into hard cider by just letting it ferment and venting it now and then. So I did that for a few months, after which it stopped bubbling, so I figured I had vinegar at that point.

But I've also heard that after it has fully transformed and has become vinegar, no more gassiness will ensue. After a few months of no activity, the tan liquid started getting fizzy AGAIN!

I am still venting it every week or two, and wondering what in the heck I've got growing in my fridge..... Not even sure I should try this stuff.

Ideas? Just dive in and give it a sip?

Andrea

in Albuquerque

[jayt90]

It should be possible to discern cider or vinegar by smelling it.

The second fermentation is probably malolactic, where the yeast feed on malic acid, and the taste is more mellow as a result.

If you want to determine if there is any substantial alcohol there, you can make applejack: put the container (not glass) in the coldest part of a deep freezer, and wait a day or two. The alcohol will separate and become slushy, in the center, while apple pulp will stay frozen around the edge.