r/vinegar Feb 25 '24

Assortment of Newbie Questions

7 Upvotes

Hello, all! My apologies up front for the wall of text.

I'm new to homemade vinegar and was hoping to reach out to y'all for some guidance. From what I have gathered, this is a 2 step process. First the anarobic alcoholic fermentation of the fruit and then then the aerobic acedic vinegar creation. The current recipe I'm working on has this as a two-step process, although I've seen a number of recipes where both the alcohol and vinegar creation are done in a single step where the fruit is added to water (and perhaps sugar) in an aerobic environment and stirred for a number of weeks/months depending on taste.

Here are the questions that I have if anyone may have any guidance/insight

  1. Many recipes seem to call for added sugar at the start of the initial anaerobic ferment. However, I'm curious if adding the sugar during aerobic portion would be better? I have been struggling to find some solid sources on the science behind this.

  2. Can I use pure cane sugar? Many recipes call for sugar in the raw or something similar. I don't see why I couldn't just use pure cane sugar.

  3. How much sugar should I use?

  4. I saw a post on a youtube thread that had the following comment:

The "vinegar" isn't stable until all of the oxygen is removed. If you want to store or age vinegar, reduce the head in the container so the surface of the liquid doesn't come in contact with air. A narrow-necked bottle works better for this than wide mouth jars. If you don't do this, when the alcohol is all consumed, the acetobacters will begin to consume the acetic acid and you will end up back at plain water.

4 Question: So should I pasteurize the vinegar after it's at a taste that I enjoy?

  1. I recall seeing a blog post by a food scientist a while back that had some interesting recipes. I can't seem to find the post again. But, essentially, they made a comment that for a "stronger" vinegar to add some alcohol in the form of certain wines or spirits like vodka or tequila. I've also read, however; that the higher alcohol content in some of these can inhibit the beneficial microbes at work. But, I also like a strong vinegar and was hoping someone may have some insight or guidance on this.

I know this is a long post, but I also figured this community would have some folks who might know. No worries if not. I hope y'all are having a lovely weekend!


r/vinegar 5h ago

Turning a Tom Yum Tomato Gose Beer 4.6% ABV into Vinegar

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5 Upvotes

Back at it again with the beers from tap!! I still have no results in the Cherry Wild Ale Vinegar but had one more jar laying around and decided to go for a second one which also seemed delicious for a vinegar.

This is a Gose/Sour style of beer, made with Tomato and som Tom Yum ingredients such as lemon grass and other herbs. Also had a little spice to it, as well as some salt, being a Gose.

This ABV is a bit lower, so I added a cap of B.A. Gin and the ratio of beer to Apple Cider Vinegar is two thirds beer one third acv. Didn’t want to go for more just to test limits, even though some of you suggested to start with a 1:1 ratio. Also followed the cap advice for more abv, but went for gin instead of vodka as I only had that in the bar.

Will update it when I have any news!


r/vinegar 18h ago

Violette de Bordeaux fig wine/vinegar

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3 Upvotes

Fermenting home grown Violette de Bordeaux figs into wine and then into vinegar. Hopefully I get the right ABV.


r/vinegar 2d ago

strawberry banana vinegar

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3 Upvotes

this is my first time making vinegar it’s strawberry banana :) i really hope it works out. i hope to make lots of different vinegar and give it to people for christmas time


r/vinegar 2d ago

Looking for Michigan apple cider vinegar

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1 Upvotes

r/vinegar 4d ago

Is this normal? It is a layer sitting on top, it looks brainy, should I discard it?

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2 Upvotes

r/vinegar 6d ago

Cherry Wild Ale 5,5ABV + ACV Vinegar - The start

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12 Upvotes

Hello guys! I’m new to this world. Currently I work in a Craft Beer Bar and I had this curiosity of turning some of our tap beers into vinegar to enhance our menu options.

Just started this little project here for a Wild Ale with Cherry Juice (from actual Cherries). The beer base has also been barrel aged for 2 years, before adding the cherry. It’s a 5,5% ABV beer, don’t know if it might be a little weak for this. Added unpasteurised Apple Cider Vinegar with mother. Ratio is about 1 to 8 (13% ACV to 87% Beer).

It’s a sour beer, tastes of fresh cherry, a bit of vanilla and oaky flavours to it. Thought it was a good profile for a Vinegar.

Right now we are having temperatures of 20°-35°, inside we have A/C going (avg temperature on the bar should be around 22°)

Has anyone tried anything similar? Will be updating the post when a mother appears (let’s hope it does)


r/vinegar 6d ago

I've made beer+pear cider vinegar

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11 Upvotes

Used Schneider Aventinus Eisbock + hard pear cider and some apple cider vinegar starter.

Let it sit in a Jar covered by cheesecloth for 4 weeks in a warm room.

Strained it today and now its in this smaller Jar.

Ive tasted it and it has an acetic acid "bite", and some not very prominent more complex tastes. Its a little like apple cider vinegar but less sour and apple-like. Also a little hint of dirty socks smell that chatGPT claims comes from beer compound

Is it likely to mellow out over time?

Should I put a piece of wood in the Jar?

What could it be used for?


r/vinegar 16d ago

Pineapple and watermelon vinegar

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15 Upvotes

First time making vinegar. Just experimenting right now. Thinking of doing pickled onions with the watermelon one and not sure of the pineapple one yet.


r/vinegar 16d ago

Wine barrel spigot

1 Upvotes

I have a medium sized vinegar barrel I inherited from my dad. It is at least 75 years old. The spigot has stopped working. The spigot will not move either right or left. I have tried WD40 and the bolt unlock stuff with no luck.

Please help if you have any suggestions. Thanks


r/vinegar 17d ago

What is this mass?

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4 Upvotes

I’ve been adding leftover red wine over red wine to this jar, when I started I also added some ACV to start the process. I’m wondering what this blob is- a mother? Mold? I’ve had it covered with a coffee filter and rubber band


r/vinegar 17d ago

Red wine vinegar question

2 Upvotes

Is it possible to make red wine vinegar without mother? The wine I have is 12.5% alcohol


r/vinegar 17d ago

Is this still vinegar?

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5 Upvotes

Edit: forgot to add that it’s bubbling!

Ginger vinegar I’ve had going for a while, had crazy strong mother (kinda can see it in the middle of the jar) but I added new ginger, sugar, vodka and water like I did when I first made it. This time it seems to have become more alcoholic? From what I can tell it’s all yeast on the top with no hints of mold


r/vinegar 19d ago

Acid League Meyer Lemon out of stock - HELP!

1 Upvotes

My favorite vinegar is out of stock everywhere. I have looked online and in stores. I even wrote to the company and messaged them on Instagram, but got no reply. Any idea what's up or a similar vinegar? I have tried a few, and nothing compares.

www.acidleague.com/products/p/meyer-lemon-honey-livin


r/vinegar 20d ago

store bought acv suddenly smelling sweet

2 Upvotes

i’ve been staying in an off grid camper, so temps fluctuate a lot, and i noticed when i was gonna clean with my acv today, it smelled really sweet. like, actually smelled good. it maybe actually smells a bit alcoholic

idk why this happened or what it means, because i wasn’t really finding any info on it. i’m sure it means it isn’t effective for cleaning anymore, but is it safe for consumption? is it just refermenting for some reason? did my apple cider vinegar decide it just wants to be cider again?


r/vinegar 21d ago

Why is my Apple Cider Vinger so mild?

4 Upvotes

I would need some advice.

I brewed a batch of apple cider with a safale yeast and is should be somewhere around 8 to 9% alcohol. I gave it access to pleanty of air, eventully got an airpump, but yet it is extremly mild and feels like that the amount of acidity is extremly low.

Compared to a storebought apple cider vinegar with 5% acidity its like veryy loww tastewise. It is acidic but way to mild for my taste.

Timewise it´s sitting already on the counter for 3 months at least.

Does anyone have an idea what might went wrong?

Thanks :)


r/vinegar 21d ago

Can I brew vinegar in an oak barrel?

1 Upvotes

I've been brewing small batches of apple scrap vinegar in glass jars, but wanted to scale up a little bit. I bought a 5 liter white oak barrel, which is sold for aging vinegar, but I'm wondering: can I also brew vinegar in it from the jump?

In other words, I would put my apple scraps, cider, distilled water, and backslop-starter directly into the barrel to start the batch, eventually strain out the solids and return the vinegar to the barrel to finish brewing, then finally close up the barrel to age the fermented vinegar.

The barrel has a 3 inch diameter hole in the top: I've tested and it's plenty large enough for me to get a wooden spoon in and give it a good stir. But I wonder if it will limit the airflow too much.

My second concern is keeping the barrel only half full, which is probably what I would do to ensure a good ratio of surface area for aerobic activity. But will that allow the barrel to dry out too much so that it starts leaking?

Lastly, I'm concerned if sanitation might be a bigger-than-usual concern in a barrel; I'm thinking the wood is going to be more hospitable to molds and bacteria compared to glass.

Any insights would be appreciated, especially if anyone has done this before. Thanks!


r/vinegar 23d ago

What is this in my store-bought balsamic vinegar?

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1 Upvotes

r/vinegar 24d ago

Chimay blue vinegar advice

4 Upvotes

Just got two bottles of chimay blue to make vinegar abv is 9 percent. Is this too high for the bactetia? Wondering if I should dilute down or not


r/vinegar 26d ago

Apple Cider Vinegar Cola

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7 Upvotes

r/vinegar 26d ago

Good?

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3 Upvotes

About 5 days ago I introduced my vinegar mother into my wine/mead. The original mother sank after a day or two. After I lifted the cheese cloth after 5 days in this is what I'm seeing. Is this okay?


r/vinegar 28d ago

Malt vinegar reduction?

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3 Upvotes

I have 1.5 bottles of Sarson's malt vinegar (imported from UK into Germany). It lacks the flavour depth that I enjoyed in Canada back in the 1990's. I'm thinking of reducing the .5 bottle and pouring it into the other bottle... thoughts?


r/vinegar 28d ago

Drinking vinegar production advice

5 Upvotes

So I started out with a tepache converted to pineapple vinegar and quite enjoyed the result as a diluted drink, and decided to make some other fruit vinegars. I ended up doing a two stage alcohol to vinegar ferment using wine yeast, but noticed the end product ended up stripped of a lot of the fruity flavours in comparison to the one stage pineapple ferment.

Is there a good method of producing more fruity vinegars without the risk/unreliability of a single stage ferment?


r/vinegar Jun 21 '26

Marrying two fermentations - a black garlic + koji moromi and a black tea kombucha, into a “not-quite-balsamic” vinegar

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2 Upvotes

r/vinegar Jun 19 '26

Vinegar as a weed killer

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1 Upvotes