Making Apple Cider Vinegar

[Weedygarden]

Who here has made apple cider vinegar?

This video came through my YouTube play list this morning. I have never made ACV, but I have wanted to. This video shows how this woman started it. I hope she shows us the finished product in another video. I always thought you needed the mother of a previous batch of vinegar to start a new batch.

What struck me about this is how similar making ACV is to making kombucha, which I have made before. When making kombucha, you need a mother, called a scoby. Everything needs to be well cleaned, with vinegar. You have to be very careful not to let it get contaminated. It can grow mold if you are not careful, and when it does, the whole business needs to get thrown out, including the scoby. The jar she used is the same kind of jar that is frequently used by kombucha brewers.

I wonder if I put some tap water through my Berkey, if that is considered filtered water? I do know that letting water set for around 24 hours can allow the chlorine to be released.

 

[snappy1]

I made some pineapple vinegar a couple of years ago and not even sure where it is now. Will have to look for it!

 

[Caribou]

A friend of mine has an apple orchard and a press. On the harvest day we rinse the apples with a garden hose and remove most of the leaves. The apples go through a grinder and are then run through a press. I take home the apple pulp, last year I took 10 gallons but I have taken more and I've taken less. I add equal parts of water and apple pulp. I put in one cup of sugar per gallon of water and stir a bit and cover it with a cheesecloth.

I captured wild yeast to start the fermentation the first year. A simple home made yeast trap works well so don't spend a lot with the commercial models. After the first year I used last years vinegar w/mother as a starter. The pulp floats to the surface so everyday I go in and push the surface layer down and let other pulp replace it. This prevents mould from growing. Sometimes I forget and miss a day and I just push the pulp down the next day.

I'm just messing with you about the yeast trap. Yeast is naturally present in the air. The cheesecloth allows free flow of the air and prevents the fruit flies from getting to your batch. The yeast will fall through the cheesecloth and settle into your batch where it will convert the sugar that you added plus that from the apples into alcohol and then into vinegar.

I start tasting after a month and when it gets to the right taste I drain the vinegar out, squeeze the pulp and throw the pulp away. I like using the mother as it speeds the process but the results are the same. I don't feel comfortable with blocking all the air off as she did, that is the process that I use for kraut, but if it works for her ... I use tap water but it comes from my own well and has no chlorine.

 

[VThillman]

Mother of vinegar is a bacterium, probably a family of them. I'm pretty sure making vinegar ain't as fussy as is making good sourdough. Seems like mar was pretty careful with her 'starter', when she had some that made tasty bread.