Vinegar (How to make it?)

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Anyone know if there is a way to make vinegar from garden spoils?

Otherwise, how would one make vinegar?

Thanks

Rick

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), September 04, 2001

Answers

Try this old book lots of old recipes. Use at your own risk. At least is interesting reading with much food for thought. http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?type=simple&c=moa&sid=c84 61f0032d471d5&q1=mechanics&rgn=full%20text&firstpubl1=1800&firstpubl2= 1925&view=toc&cc=moa&idno=AAM7385.0001.001&start=1&size=25 Jack

-- (jsweeney@northnet.org), September 04, 2001.

Vinegar is a by-product of the brewing/fermentation process which creates acetic acid. For example, red wine vinegar. My white vinegar says it is made from grain products. Then there is apple cider vinegar. Basically I think it is a batch gone bad.

Vinegar has so many uses, entire books have been written on them.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), September 04, 2001.


I make vinegar in a 30 gal. crock from our apple cider. I just put a lot of fresh pressed cider in the crock, cover ith with cheese cloth and wait for the mother to develop(if I don't have a mother otherwise I save the mother from year to year).

In a few weeks, I have cider vinegar. I have never checked for the acetic %, I need to get a wine making thing for that, but we take honey and vinegar every day in water. I have used it in canning but not often. I also do not can the vinegar, just take the mother out, it looks like scum, put it in a jar and save it for next year.

There are books (little ones) on make vinegars. I have some that cost about $3.00.

-- Cordy (ckaylegian@aol.com), September 04, 2001.


What is 'mother'?

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), September 04, 2001.

Countryside issue july/august 1999 has a six page section on vinegar. Making, using, testing , etc. As Ken pointed out a wine batch that "goes bad" can make an excellent wine vinegar, however if I find it neccesary to make a batch of vinegar on purpose,I myself prefer making my wine vinegar by working a light wine to eight to twelve percent, then introducing bacteria to convert it to acetic acid. Ways to set the conversion are use of mother, allowing fruit gnats to contaminate it or simply adding a dose of apple cider vinegar to begin the reaction. I use a wine acid test kit to verify strength.

An amazing fact of my vinegar making is that I do it all with one hand. I make Lynn twist the other behind my back so I don't feel so responsible for "ruining perfectly good country wine". I can say I did it under duress :>)

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), September 04, 2001.



Thanks everyone for the input. So far I have found I can use apple cider, wine or molasses to start a batch. I will certainly read the CS article on the subject.

-- rick K (rick_122@hotmail.com), September 05, 2001.

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