Making Wine Vinegar
The following is some usefull information about making
vinegar that I found on the Web.
Making vinegar is so easy it can be done by accident. We could
even say that most of it is made without our cooperation or awareness.
Making good vinegar, consistantly, is another story. That requires
a little effort. But the effort pays well.
Vinegar can be made from almost anything which contains sugar
or starch. It is made from many different things; fruits, grains,
roots even wood.
It can be made directly from sugar but is best made by first converting
the sugar into alcohol and then turning the alcohol into vinegar.
The conversion from starch is a little trickier, but the process
shares a lot of similarities.
There are many ways to make vinegar and many of them are covered
in our fun easy to read reference book on the subject. But for
now let's stick to the very simplest way possible.
To make vinegar the simplest way you need to find yourself;
A container with a spout .(e.g. a sun tea jar) The spout is not
mandatory but it sure makes things easier. The container should
also have a wide mouth to let in air as well as a way to keep out
flies. (Air is very important!) You will be visited by vinegar
flies! They are my assistants. The container should be glass or
stainless steel for best results. Aluminum and iron is definately
out. Some plastics can work, some are dangerous because they react
with vinegar. So, for now, I would skip plastics.
Some fresh fruit juice. (Even the frozen variey will do. But I
would stay away from the bottled ones because they add chemicals
to keep the juice from turning to vinegar. (See how easy it is
to make vinegar.)
A starter culture. Notice I said "starter culture".
Don't make a big deal about getting a "mother", it will
probably ruin otherwise good vinegar. What you need are the bacteria
which make vinegar. Check the home brew stores or pick up a bottle
of unpasturized, unfiltered vinegar. I have had great success with
Braggs Apple cider vinegar. The vinegar in the culture keeps out
the other molds and bacteria until the vinegar bacteria have had
a chance to take firm control of the juice.
A dark place. You could also paint your jar or cover it . The
object is to keep out the light. Light will slow the vinegar production
or even kill your culture.
A warm place. The precise temperature is not so critical but it
does make a difference on how fast your vinegar is made. If you
feel comfortable at that temperature, most likely the vinegar bacteria
will be happy also.
OK, we have a vinegar culture, a container to put it in, some
food for it and lot's of warm air available to it.
Pour about one quart of the starter into the container.
Pour about the same amount of juice into the container.
Put the mix into a warm dark place.
Keep checking it until it is as strong as you like it or it seems
to be losing strength.
Bottle it in small bottles.
Leave it for at least six months before using. (You could use
it right away but, this will make it smoother)
Once you have got the hang of it, you might want to try making
some real special vinegar.
And Remember the Vinegar
Man loves you.
Vinegar Making - C.D. Pritchard - Revised 7/28/96
Making vinegar from wines is much easier than making beer or wine
and the resulting vinegars have a certian crispness that's lacking
in ordinary commercial vinegars. It's also a good use for wines
and beers that don't turn out quite right.
I embarked on vinegar
making after I made 5 gallons of cherry tomato wine (for 5 gallons:
about 20# crushed cherry tomatoes and 9# sugar). The wine tasted
OK but the smell of the stuff was was not appealing- one just doesn't
expect a tomato like aroma in a wine.
I decided to try turning
some of it to vinegar. Not having a culture of the bacteria needed,
I tried leaving a open sample of the wine outdoors with the hope
that some acetobacter bacteria would find a home. Nothing but molds
grew. Another sample was tried, this time with some garden dirt
added. More stuff vile looking and smelling grew in it but still
no vinegar could be detected.
Browsing the Alternative Beverage
(1-800-BREW) catalog one day, I saw a listing for vinegar cultures
and ordered one. So far, I've made around 2 gallons of vinegar.
My future plans include a heated chamber or a heat pad for the
vinegar making container and experimenting with mechanical, automatic
aeration of the vinegar.
HINTS
I always pasturize vinegar after racking it from the vinegar making
jug. This kills the acetobacter which will eventual turn the acetic
acid to CO2 and water if the vinegar is exposed to oxygen (e.g.
as the vinegar is used.) Continued action of the acetobacter will
also form vinegar "eels" which are small trub particles
which have the appearance of tiny eels when the vinegar is disturbed.
I soak the bottles of vinegar for 30 minutes soak in the 155 degF
water bath.
Do not store vinegar in plastic bottles. All the usual plastics
used for bottles are not good oxygen barriers.
I use a 1 gallon glass jug for a vinegar making container. To increase
the surface area, its tilted at an angle of just over 45 degrees.
I started with a piece of cloth over the mouth of the jug but have
progressed to a silicone foam plug that Williams Brewing sells.
The jugs stays in a spare bathroom which I also use for cleaning
and stroring brewing stuff and for the occassional ale ferment.
So far, there has been no evidence of cross-infections.
I calculate the alcohol content of the wine using the difference
in orginal and final specific gravities (i.e. before and after
fermentation). This is not entirely accurate, but I think it's
close enough for vinegar making. I dilute the wine to 6% alcohol
with boiled and cooled water and shake the solution to aerate it.
Aeration is necessary for acetobacter to turn alcohol to acetic
acid. I use an old an old aquarium air pump, 1/8" OD, an in-line
needle valve, vinyl tubing and a plastic air stone for aeration
in the vinegar making container. I plug the air pump in when the
mood and leave it on for a minute or so. One day, I'll make a timer
to automate the aeration. I also want to make a heating jacket
for the vinegar making jug and an automatic controller to give
the acetobacter bacteria a more ideal enviroment.
My vinegars have not formed the thick gelatinous mother-of-vinegar
indicated in the following text- only a light coating at the surface.
It doesn't seem to be a problem tho'. I suspect the use of forced
aeration may be responsibe for the lack of a mother-of-vinegar.
The following text notes that sulfites added to some commercial
wines will inhibit the work of the acetobacter. I've read that
heavy aeration of the wine will reduce the amount of sulfite.
I've never bothered to test the acidity of completed vinegar. I've
read that the typical titration type acid test kit used for winemaking
can be used. The problem is that alot of the 0.1 normal NaOH solution
will be needed. A work-around is a 0.5 normal solution that's said
to be available via better wine making suppliers. pH papers are
said to be useless for determining percent acidity.
I use a taste test to determine when to rack off the completed
vinegar. I know this is a seat-of-the-pants approach, but it seems
to have worked so far. At around 70-75 degF, the process seems
to take 2-3 months- a bit longer than what's stated in the text
below.
Since I've not measured the acidity of the completed vinegar, I
don't use it for canning or other food preservation. Such use are
ussally based on vinegar with 5% acidity. Since I don't know exactly
what my vinegar is, I'd rather not risk using it for making pickles
and such. For the same reason, I shy away from making the herbed
vinegars that are popular of late.
The following is a pretty good vinegar making primer I found on
the net.
Making Vinegar - Elaine C. White
In the late 1800s chemists learned to make acetic acid. Manufacturers
added water to reduce its strength to 5%, colored it and sold it
as vinegar. mitation vinegar is still manufactured and by law the
label must state that it is diluted acetic acid.
Diluted acetic
acid is inexpensive and lacks the vitamins, minerals and esters
found in fermented vinegar; its flavor and aroma are also inferior.
It takes good alcohol (wine or beer) to make fermented vinegar.
The Hit-or-miss method of making vinegar by allowing sugar and
water to ferment is not wise. The fermentation of sugar to alcohol
by wild yeast is followed by a conversion of the alcohol to acetic
acid by wild bacteria. Chances of failure or undesirable tastes
and aromas are high. Control the process by using great care in
cleanliness and introducing chosen yeast and bacteria to obtain
quality vinegar every time.
-------------------------------------------------------------
General Directions
Winemaking suppliers list acetobacter as "mother" or
vinegar culture. These cultures convert alcohol to acetic acid
(vinegar). Most suppliers sell red and white wine vinegar cultures.
Some sell cider, malt and mead cultures as well. Any culture may
be combined with any type alcohol to produce vinegar.
Vinegar should contain at least 5% acid as required for preserving
or pickling. Specialty vinegar contains acid as high as 7%. Beer
containing 5.5% alcohol will yield about 5% acid. Wine containing
11 to 12% alcohol must be diluted to 5.5 to 7% alcohol before using
it to make vinegar.
Acid test kits, sold by winemaking suppliers, are used to determine
the acidity of vinegar. Acid tests are easy to perform and instructions
come with the kit.
Sanitize
Sanitize utensils and containers that will touch the vinegar by
soaking them for 20 minutes in a solution of 2 tablespoons chlorine
laundry bleach to 1 gallon water. Rinse everything well with
hop tap water. Hot tap water is relatively sterile after being
held at high temperatures for several hours in the hot water
heating tank.
Vinegar Method I
3 measures beer, ale or vinegar stock (5.5 to 7% alcohol) 1 measure
vinegar culture with active bacteria
Directions
Vinegar leaches molecules from iron and aluminum. Use sanitized
glass, enamel, stainless steel or stoneware containers less than
two-thirds full. Cover the container with a cloth or stopper it
with cotton to keep insects out, while allowing air to freely reach
the stock. Store the mixture in a dark place.
Temperatures:
Temperatures between 80 and 85 degrees are ideal. Low or fluctuating
temperatures slow the process. At 75 to 85 degrees F, it will
take 6 to 8 weeks for conversion. At 85 to 90 degrees F, it can
take 4 to 6 weeks for conversion. Temperatures over 95 degrees
F slow conversion; above 140 degrees F, the bacteria die.
An acetic film called "mother" will form. This smooth,
leathery, grayish film becomes quite thick and heavy. It should
not be disturbed. It often becomes heavy enough to fall and is
succeeded by another formation. If the mother falls, remove and
discard it. An acid test will indicate when all of the alcohol
is converted to vinegar. Part of the vinegar may be withdrawn and
pasteurized. The remaining unpasteurized vinegar may be used as
a culture to start another batch. Living bacteria are in the liquid.
A piece of the mother is not necessary to start a new batch.
Add beer or diluted wine to the culture every 4 to 8 weeks, depending
on the temperature maintained and when most of the alcohol is converted
to vinegar (as determined by an acid test). Adding more alcohol
to the culture keeps it alive, prevents spoilage and increases
the quality of vinegar. If unpasteurized vinegar is exposed to
oxygen without alcohol present, bacteria can convert the vinegar
to carbon dioxide and water.
Vinegar Method II
2 measures dry wine (11 to 12% alcohol) 1 measure water (boiled
15 minutes and allowed to cool) 1 measure vinegar culture with
active bacteria Follow the directions in Method I. Purchased wine
can be used, but some commercial wines contain sulfites or preservatives
that could kill the vinegar bacteria.
Vinegar Method III (For winemakers only)
Wine containing less than 10% alcohol is subject to spoilage.
This formula to make 7% alcohol is an ideal vinegar stock. Follow
good winemaking procedures. When the fermentation is complete (specific
gravity 1.000 or below) this low-alcohol wine can be converted
to vinegar as directed in Method I.
1 1/2 pounds weight honey (specific gravity 1.050)
yeast nutrient or energizer (as package directs)
4 teaspoons acid blend (or 7.5 ppt tartaric acid with an acid test
kit)
1/4 teaspoon tannin
wine yeast
add water to equal 1 gallon
Homemade wine
Dry wine containing 11 to 12% alcohol can be diluted after fermentation
(specific gravity 1.000 or below). It's important that the wine
contain no excess sugar. Excess sugar increases the chance of
spoilage and the formation of a slime-like substance in the vinegar.
The wine does not have to be clear before it is combined with
the vinegar culture. Vinegar clears as it ages. At the last racking,
do not add campden tablets or potassium sorbate. Dilute the mead
as directed in Method II and follow the directions in Method
I.
Preserving vinegar
To preserve vinegar, add 3 campden tablets per gallon of vinegar
or Heat the vinegar to 155 degrees F and hold the temperature for
30 minutes. After pasteurizing vinegar add one tablespoon 80-proof
vodka to each gallon and age it. If desired to enhance the bouquet,
up to one cup oak or beech chips may also be added. Pasteurized
or sulphited vinegar can no longer produce more vinegar. Pasteurizing
kills vinegar baceria and prevents the formation of "mother" which
could lead to spoilage. Pasteurized vinegar keeps indefinitely
when tightly capped and stored in a dark place at room temperature.
Temperatures above 160 degrees F cause a loss of acidity, flavor
and aroma.
Aging vinegar
Vinegar has a strong, sharp bite when first made. It becomes mellow
when aged. The esters formed during aging, like those in wine,
develop after a period of six months or more when stored at a cool,
steady temperature (50 to 60 degrees F is ideal). This undisturbed
rest also allows suspended solids to fall, making the vinegar clear
and bright. Siphon the clear, aged vinegar off the deposit of solids
into sanitized bottles. Introduce as little oxygen as possible.
Winemaking suppliers sell attractive vinegar bottles. Use corks
or plastic caps to avoid vinegar contact with metal. If corks are
used, the necks of the vinegar bottles should be dipped several
times into melted wax to form an air-tight seal. The quality of
vinegar improves for up to two years and then gradually declines.
Fermented vinegar can be sold without the special permits or licenses
required for alcoholic beverages. It costs the same as a good bottle
of wine.
------------------------------------------------------------
Winemaking suppliers (United States)
The following companies carry a complete line of winemaking supplies,
including vinegar cultures.
Beer & Winemaking Supplies, Inc.
154 King Street
Northampton MA 01060
Telephone: 413-586-0150
(The only source I've seen for mead vinegar cultures)
Alternative Beverage
114-O Freeland Lane
Charlotte NC 28217
Telephone 704-527-9643
The Cellar
P O Bx 33525
Seattle WA 98133
Telephone: 206-365-7660
Great Fermentations
87 Larkspur St
San Rafael CA 94901
Telephone: 415-459-2520
The Vinegar Man - Great source for vinegar info ...
