Vinegar season

[blissful]

I was reminded today while we made the grocery list...checking prices in the online databases for our groceries..that Apple Cider Vinegar (AC Vinegar) is now at a ridiculous price. $4.29/gallon! It's vinegar!



You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar, but, you can get a lot of fruit flies with vinegar, lol.


So I am making fresh AC vinegar. I'll do a batch now, then another in the fall. I use it all the time, every day. I could use about 12 gallons a year, but I'm going to start with 4 gallons.


Clean food safe 5 gallon bucket. Apples off the tree, wash chop and throw them in the bucket. A cup or so of sugar to increase the fermentation, fill with clean water to the 4 gallon mark.

That'll sit around getting stirred daily for 2 weeks or until the foaming subsides, then strain it. Then let it sit a month or so more. All the time covered in a towel to keep off the dust and avoid a fruit fly convention.


I'll start another batch in a month. I have 1/2 gallon canning jars I can keep the vinegar in once it is done.

 

[taxlady]

I think it was you who shared the link to a recipe for apple scrap vinegar. Have you ever added any raw apple vinegar or mother to the bucket to speed up the process? I am planning to make some soon and was hoping for more details about adding a bit of mother, which formed in a bottle of ACV.

 

[blissful]

Yes, it does two things. It adds the right kind of bacteria to get started. It acidifies the solution which helps avoid mold and yeast.

 

[taxlady]

Yes, it does two things. It adds the right kind of bacteria to get started. It acidifies the solution which helps avoid mold and yeast.

How much does one add?

 

[blissful]

Not a lot, between 1/4th and 1/2 cup per gallon.

 

[taxlady]

Thank you and noted.

 

[larry_stewart]

My vinegar season starts in mid to late September, when I use the scraps from making apple cider, to make vinegar. For so many years I was feeding the scraps to the chicken, not realizing how simple it was to make vinegar. Now that the chicken is gone ( Raccoons), looks like Ill be making a lot of vinegar

 

[blissful]

I strained out the solids from the vinegar a little over 2 weeks from the start. I have 9 gallons of vinegar. I tasted it, it's sour. I tested it against white bought vinegar with PH strips, and they are almost identical 2-3-4 ph (in the orange range). I have to bottle it and label it next.

 

[larry_stewart]

Nice! I got about 4 gallons of apple cider vinegar going. Next week I'll check it and see where I stand. Im hoping it goes as good as last year went.

 

[GotGarlic]

I think I'd like to try making vinegar. I have a bottle of commercial white wine vinegar that developed a mother. How would I use that to make more? TIA.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Be careful using homemade vinegar for canning and preserving, it may not have the standard 5% acidity of commercial vinegar.

Try making your own red wine vinegar, for salad dressings.

Add one part of live vinegar to three parts of red wine and let sit in a cool dark place for a month.

You can keep feeding the bottle with odds and ends of leftover wine to keep the supply going.

 

[msmofet]

Be careful using homemade vinegar for canning and preserving, it may not have the standard 5% acidity of commercial vinegar.

Try making your own red wine vinegar, for salad dressings.

Add one part of live vinegar to three parts of red wine and let sit in a cool dark place for a month.

You can keep feeding the bottle with odds and ends of leftover wine to keep the supply going.

Can I add fresh apple cider to LIVE apple cider Vinegar and get new acv?

 

[blissful]

I think I'd like to try making vinegar. I have a bottle of commercial white wine vinegar that developed a mother. How would I use that to make more? TIA.

Use fruit scraps, 1/4th to 1/2 of your container that you are using for making the vinegar (something food grade). Add water to fill it. Add 1/4th cup sugar/quart. A tablespoon of active vinegar/qt, to slightly acidify it, and to introduce active cultures. Stir every day for 2 weeks, keep covered. Strain, cover, stir every few days until sour. Depending on the room temperature, it can take 4-6 weeks. Bottle.

 

[larry_stewart]

Use fruit scraps, 1/4th to 1/2 of your container that you are using for making the vinegar (something food grade). Add water to fill it. Add 1/4th cup sugar/quart. A tablespoon of active vinegar/qt, to slightly acidify it, and to introduce active cultures. Stir every day for 2 weeks, keep covered. Strain, cover, stir every few days until sour. Depending on the room temperature, it can take 4-6 weeks. Bottle.

It really is as easy as that. I've done it for a few years, already, and I kick myself for all the years I ditched the apple scraps after making home made cider.

 

[blissful]

@Larry, I like having the variety of vinegars, like nectarine vinegar, peach vinegar, apple vinegar, but I also like fairly fresh, made that year. What really bothered me about vinegar was that a gallon used to cost $2 and now it's almost $5 for AC vinegar. That's highway robbery.

 

[GotGarlic]

Use fruit scraps, 1/4th to 1/2 of your container that you are using for making the vinegar (something food grade). Add water to fill it. Add 1/4th cup sugar/quart. A tablespoon of active vinegar/qt, to slightly acidify it, and to introduce active cultures. Stir every day for 2 weeks, keep covered. Strain, cover, stir every few days until sour. Depending on the room temperature, it can take 4-6 weeks. Bottle.

Thanks.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Can I add fresh apple cider to LIVE apple cider Vinegar and get new acv?

I'm not sure.

The fresh apple cider available in this area is treated with sodium benzoate and/or potassium sorbate preservatives that inhibit fermentation.

 

[blissful]

I made a 3 gallon batch of AC vinegar this spring, it's just about ready to put in bottles. We had excess apples from 'reduced produce', which we dehydrated, and we used the cores and peels. I let mine stay active. I strain it, that's all. Usually a mother forms in the jugs.

 

[larry_stewart]

I made a 3 gallon batch of AC vinegar this spring, it's just about ready to put in bottles. We had excess apples from 'reduced produce', which we dehydrated, and we used the cores and peels. I let mine stay active. I strain it, that's all. Usually a mother forms in the jugs.

Thats what we do when we make apple cider. I used to give the scraps to the chickens. But now, with no more chickens, excess apple scraps and how considering how easy it is to make the vinegar, it's a win - win. I can't believe it took me so long to make it. And it really is better than store bought ( at least in my opinion).

 

[blissful]

@larry_stewart it's better than the more bland toned down AC I've bought. I once bought some bragg's vinegar, in case I needed a starter mother or bacteria, but then I never opened it, so I've never tasted it.