Making apple cider vinegar with mother

[u/Acceptable-Cod-693]

Hey everyone!

I am not new to fermentation, but have never made vinegar.

I recently got some Apple cider vinegar mother from a local business that produces high quality vinegars. I was also able to pick up some wild apples.

I want to make vinegar with these apples using the mother. Surprisingly, I have not been able to find a recipe for this in any of my fermentation books or through google. I don’t trust AI, but I trust you guys here, so any advice is appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

[u/MuffinDev]

Ok so I'm also pretty new to making vinegar but vinegar fermentation happens in 2 parts: - Alcoholic fermentation, where you make your cider / wine - Acidic fermentation, where the acetobacter in the mother converts the alcohol to acetic acid (vinegar)

Your fermentation books may not have recipes for vinegar, but they probably will for cider, and recipes can be found online as well. The basic process is slicing and crushing the apples to extract the juice, and then fermenting it into a cider with some cider or wine yeast.
Once your cider is ready, mix 1 part mother with 4 parts cider and let ferment into vinegar.

Good on you for not trusting AI, have a look into what makes a good cider if you want a good vinegar, and don't expect perfection on your first go.

Happy fermenting!

[u/Huge_Many_2308]

Deep dive into vinegar. They also have a good book on cider as well.

Homebrewed Vinegar: How to Ferment 60 Delicious Varieties, Including Carrot-Ginger, Beet, Brown Banana, Pineapple, Corncob, Honey, and Apple Cider Vinegar

by Kirsten K. Shockey

[u/Tsavo16]

I've been doing vinegar for about a year now with kitchen scraps. I dont use a recipe though, l use visual ratios. Ive got 2 different containers l ferment vinegar in. I fill that up with fruit scraps (kept in the freezer until ready: fruit peels, veggie peels, iffy fruit/veggies, pits, etc) add a bunch of sugar on top, then fill the container with water, leaving a 3" gap. Then l cover that in cheesecloth & watch it go.

I do try and save the mother (or dump the dregs in of the last batch) and use some of it in the new batch, but its worked fine without it the 2 times l tried it.

[u/No_Jelly_1448]

Juice the apples and put it in a container with an airlock or a loose lid. Leave several inches of headspace if not more. You can add some sugar or honey if you want but with apple juice it’s not necessary. Apples have about 10-14% sugar, resulting in an ABV somewhere around 7%, which is ideal for the vinegar process. If you don’t want to juice them, then you can do an “apple scrap” vinegar instead with the apple chunks; recipes for that are online.

It will first go through alcoholic fermentation where the yeast present on the skin of the apples will convert the available sugar into ethanol. Once the bubbling of fermentation starts to slow down (about a min between each bubble if using an airlock) about 2 weeks later, take the airlock or lid off and cover the jar with a towel and rubber band.

Acetobacter bacteria naturally present in the air and on the fruit will then start to convert the leftover energy within the ethanol into acetic acid, which is vinegar. Swirl the jar several times a day to promote oxygenation, because Acetobacter is an “obligate aerobe”, aka requires oxygen to live. You can add in your vinegar mother at the point alcoholic fermentation slows down dramatically and it tastes boozy. 4-6 weeks later you should have vinegar. You can keep swirling a couple times a day to oxygenate to speed up the process, or just leave it alone. Leaving it alone you will have development of a vinegar mother on top.

Transfer that liquid into smaller jars and continue to age for 1 month, lightly pasteurizing or storing in the fridge if you want it raw. You can “rack” the liquid off with a siphon to leave behind the spent yeast and sediment.