Homemade Vinegar

Ok.....now she's done it. She's gone completely crazy! Making your own vinegar? Why not just buy some from the store? Well my friends the answer is simple. I do it because I can mostly. It is always nice to test your limits and see if you can make something yourself even if it is readily available at every store you go in. And more times than you may realize the homemade version of anything tastes much better than store bought. So now that we have answered that question, we can move onto your next question. How do you make your own vinegar? Vinegar is basically fermented wine. If you left your wine long enough it would turn into vinegar. However that could take a long time. What you need to speed up the process is mother of vinegar. Question? Ahhh mother of vinegar....unfamiliar? Mother of vinegar is the cloudy, slimy substance added to aid fermentation of wine or cider. It can be purchased online in several places or at a brewery. They make red wine mother, white wine mother, and cider vinegar depending on the kind of vinegar you want.

The next process, once you have decided you want to make vinegar and got your mother, is to assemble your next items. The fermentation process will take a few months to mature so you needs the proper storage container. The most important thing is no metal container. You do not want the metal flavor injected into your vinegar. I also would not advise using a glass container. Once it starts to ferment there will be cloudy substances or even a thick curdlike substance inside your vinegar and you may not want to see it. Another factor to consider is a spout. I insisted on a spout for my container so that as the fermentation byproducts, which by the way is another mother that can be transferred into another batch of wine, rise I would be able to pour vinegar and taste or use without disturbing the byproducts. I would recommend ceramic. 

This is my ceramic crock with a spout. We found this one at an antique mall. But they are available online by searching ceramic crocks. 

The next step is wine. Well I am very fortunate in that my father had acquired some bottles of 1982 & 1983  cabernet sauvignon from my grandfather. These were not kept at an ideal temperature and therefore not suitable for drinking. Now why he saved these for so many years....I do not know. Maybe he doesn't even know. But one thing is for sure, after talking about wanting to make vinegar and getting the mother starters from him for Christmas, the old bottles of wine suddenly had a purpose! 

Do you need old wine to make vinegar...absolutely not! Any wine you have or like is just fine. That is what I was going to use before the old bottles came into my life. It can even be pieces of bottles leftover from a party. Now word of caution if you find yourself in possession of old wine, the corks are probably going to break apart on you and not pop out of the bottle. We pushed it into the bottle. It's just easier in my

 opinion. My dad and Alex both tried a little from the 1982 bottle and determined it not so great for drinking. Once we got the bottles home they need to be strained free of cork. But to our lovely suprise one of the bottles already had a large clump of vinegar sitting in the bottom of the bottle. I placed a coffee filter inside a hand strainer to make sure the small bits of cork did not make it into the vinegar. 

Once it was all strained it was time to start the fermentation process. First I brought forth the ceramic crock with spout and thoroughly clean it, of course. Then I placed the mother of vinegar in the bottom of the crock. Finally I slowly poured my strained wine into the crock. By placing the mother in the bottom the pouring of the wine helped to stir the mother into the whole mixture. 

Now the final step is to cover the open top with cheesecloth or other lightweight breathable fabric. We used  an old almost threadbare tshirt. There was a plastic ring that came with our crock so I placed the cloth between the plastic ring and the crock. Now you let it hang out in a warm place for 6 weeks minimum. You can taste it periodically to see how far into the fermentation process it is. This is where the spout comes in handy. 

Mine has been sitting for one week. I will let you know how it tastes as I proceed. Just remember this isn't about easy. This is about a higher quality of food in a society where McDonald's reigns supreme.......even in my house! So take a chance and have a littl efood experiment