What is Vinegar? 5-Step Guide

What is Vinegar?

Before we start with the vinegar production, we would like to clarify the question “What is vinegar? Vinegar is a liquid consisting of water and acetic acid. Depending on the type of vinegar, it also contains other ingredients such as aromas. Vinegar contains between 5 and 15% acetic acid.

Make Vinegar Yourself in 5 Steps

Making vinegar yourself is a great hobby. But if you would like to make good quality vinegar yourself, then it is not enough to simply put the fruit, apple juice, must or wine in a barrel and let it sit. Mashing the fruit (= crushing and fermenting the fruit) for making fruit wine and the subsequent fermentation of the alcoholic liquid (fruit wine, must, wine etc.) into vinegar calls for a certain amount of basic knowledge (see vinegar production books and vinegar making course). Only then will making vinegar really be fun.

Why Make Vinegar Yourself?

There are innumerable vinegars available to buy in all supermarkets. You can buy almost any fruit, herb, spice etc. as vinegar from special providers. So why should you put in the effort and make vinegar yourself (see vinegar making guide)?

• Making vinegar is a sensible way of using up your own fruit, herbs and spices.
• On a small scale, you can make numerous types of vinegar that are hardly available commercially.
• If you ferment the vinegar fermentation and alcohol yourself, you can create top quality as a hobby.
• Making vinegar yourself is a hobby that leads to many experiments and is therefore simply a lot of fun.

A Short Guide to Making Vinegar

So how does making vinegar work? Can anyone ferment vinegar themselves? What exactly do you have to do to make vinegar?

1. Initial Material

   You can either take an alcoholic liquid (must, wine, schnapps) for the vinegar fermentation, or make the alcohol yourself using and mashing fruit from the garden (see Learn making vinegar). If you use alcoholic liquids, then you must pay attention to good quality; under no circumstances should “waste material” and the like be used. If you ferment fruit from the garden, then follow the guidelines for optimal alcoholic fermentation precisely and the vinegar making recipes.

2. Acidification

   The alcohol that is used must be acidified, even for simple fermentation. In this way yeast film and other faulty fermentation can be avoided to a great extent. For acidification, you can use either a good (!) vinegar or acetic acid from the drugstore. It will be pure and clean, and therefore cannot introduce any foreign substances into the fermentation. You can calculate the required amounts of acid and alcohol.

3. Adding the Mother of Vinegar or Active Vinegar

   The acidified alcohol should now be inoculated with a mother of vinegar. Inoculation of the alcoholic liquid is essential! Either add an active vinegar to it, which means vinegar that is still at least slightly fermenting, or buy a mother of vinegar for yourself to start off. You can then easily continue to cultivate them.

4. Vinegar Fermentation

   After the alcoholic liquid has been acidified, and the mother of vinegar or fermentation starter (= active vinegar) has been added, stir the mixture well and cover it with a sheet of kitchen roll secured for example with a rubber band. The fermentation container should have the biggest surface area possible (i.e. should not be tall and thin), because the vinegar bacteria need air. Put the pot in a warm location, around 25 °C. After a few days, the fermentation will start. You will be able to tell this by the smell of glue (acetate odor). After 3 to 6 weeks, the fermentation will be finished. Now for example you can remove half the liquid and use this finished vinegar. Add new alcohol to the other part to continue to ferment new vinegar or make a mother of vinegar. If you want to contruct your own generator or want to buy vinegar making equipment please note our step-by-step guide for a vinegar generator. We also offer a separate eBook for the vinegar production steps with a generator.

5. Making Apple Vinegar Yourself – Recipe for 1 Liter

   Take 2/3 of a liter of apple wine and acidify it with 1/3 of a liter of clean vinegar. Stir it well, and then add 100 ml of mother of vinegar or starter liquid to it. Stir it again and then seal the container with a cloth. After around 3 to 4 weeks, depending on the temperature and cross-sectional area of the container, the vinegar will be fully fermented.

Much Success!

Malle-Schmickl
Provider of vinegar making equipment and vinegar classes – How to make vinegar

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