Something rather odd has happened.... #143 .It has taken five days for mother vinegar to cover the entire top of the malt brew....The best looking mother , to have grown so far....I must say .... mwood ....residual nutrients , could have something to do with it....I will add 1 tsp of sugar dissolved in a little boiled water to the white vinegar, see what that dose....

pickles7 - 2009-12-20 21:35:00

The member deleted this message.

mwood - 2009-12-22 06:24:00

mmmm got all that ....mwood....The gin and water is weak enough, I wasn't trying to produce alcohol because there is no yeast in the jar , I am disappointed with the resulting vinegar.... It is not very nice , sort of sour, tasteless, no body.... The sugar has not done anything , I taste again , now... BBS

pickles7 - 2009-12-22 15:57:00

I just took some pics but they are no good... shame as I am confused as to what it is that was floating in the white vinegar...sort of looks like a mother of vinegar, having feed it twice , it has not done anything....The flavour is reminding me of lemons lol sort of like gin, isn't it....sour...mmm just like gin.... I thought vinegar mother only needed alcohol...Not distilled alcohol , going on the fact nothing has happened....The alcohol would be the same as it was for the wine vinegar , so I cannot see that as the problem. Do you think if I put some wine into the gin jar, that may get it moving....I am not going to put too much more into that jar, but will be prepared to leave it to itself....I took a pic of the malt , that came out well .. I will post that later...

pickles7 - 2009-12-22 16:52:00

I am posting the pic of my malt "vinegar mother"##### http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/98/115166598_full.jp
g
#####I have also just pasteurized 4 bottles of cider vinegar this morning... I strained it through 2 layers of muslin poured it into clean bottles , put the bottles into a large pot with a tea towel on the bottom... Bought the water to simmer , tested the vinegar until it reached 160%F took it off the heat and kept testing as I needed to keep the vinegar , over 150%F and under 160%F for 30 minutes....pasteurized vinegar will remain good for ever , unpasteurized and vinegar mother will take over....

pickles7 - 2009-12-25 17:17:00

I came across this site ...
http://stason.org/TULARC/food/preserving/8-1-How-do-I-make-v
inegar-from-wine.html

pickles7 - 2009-12-25 17:28:00

I have just tasted the malt vinegar , after letting it develop a few weeks.... It is superb...It is a lot clearer than the cider vinegar as well . It will continue to develop as it ages....My Husband is going to put up a garden shed for my vinegar....I am so looking forward to having plenty of storage room..The shed needs to be put up , it has been flat packed , long enough..

pickles7 - 2010-01-03 20:08:00

Talking to yourselves for some time now ... ?

uli - 2010-01-03 22:29:00

Not so , uli, lol ... Just keeping up with what is happening with the vinegar , uli....This will be handy to refer back to , I can get my hands on as much apple juice as I can handle here , it is all very exciting....I was going to make the malt vinegar just for myself , but it has such an interesting character , I may , yet , bottle it in 250 ml , bottles , and put it along side my , olive oils , worcestershire , and plum sauce....

pickles7 - 2010-01-04 09:55:00

This message was deleted.

mwood - 2010-01-06 21:20:00

O my golly... There has been progress on the white vinegar. I will need to go back over what I have done to it , but it has a vinegar mother growing over the top....Looks as if I thought of adding a bit of wine , but I didn't....I didn't move the jar too much , I hope....I will leave well alone again....It is still crystal clear... how exciting....

pickles7 - 2010-01-07 21:31:00

I have just feed the white vinegar another 1/2 cup each , gin and water...It is a very odd looking brew. pity it won't photograph

pickles7 - 2010-01-14 09:06:00

....mwood....how is your brew ???? I am finding the making of vinegar so much fun....I have a lager down right now , lol , be it beer or vinegar , only time will tell...The cider vinegar is still brewing , the mother is still on top of the brew , a sign she has not finnished her work.... The malt vinegar is "top shelf" I have been brewing that in smaller lots , so as not to ruin all the brew , if something went wronge... Nothing has and it is just about all turned to vinegar....I am going to make another lot of malt vinegar , once the cider vinegar has been bottled....

pickles7 - 2010-01-21 18:01:00

Here is a pic of my malt vinegar mother, she produced 23 liters of the nicest malt vinegar , I could have wished for.Well done.... My cider vinegar I have been using to make plum sauce with , and to be fare You would not know it was made with cider vinegar...I have a huge undertaking on my hands , amazing....
http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/50/119811650_full.jp
g

Edited by pickles7 at 11:31 am, Wed 10 Feb

pickles7 - 2010-02-10 11:29:00

I have just put down another brew of malt, to make vinegar with... This time I took the specific gravity, I will get an alcohol of 7.5%.
24 liters of water, 8 cups of sugar.2 Tablespoons of turbo yeast..... I have it sitting on a heat pad....I have just racked off 23 liters of banana wine, thought maybe banana wine vinegar.. not so, as it is top shelf wine.

pickles7 - 2010-03-04 16:11:00

You can preserve your vinegar using 3 campden tablets per gallon of vinegar..I have done this, to see if I can use this method as against heat for a larger lot. So far it has been good, no after taste. I also used campden in my banana wine, I decided as it tastes nice now, the only way to suspend it, was to kill off any chance of spoilage....

pickles7 - 2010-03-12 09:29:00

campden tablets have worked well, no mother of vinegar taking over now... cool as...

pickles7 - 2010-04-29 18:36:00

http://images.trademe.co.nz/photoserver/9/144581709_full.jpg

Here is a pic of my "mother" mother of malt vinegar. 20 liters of malt is beneath the mother. I must stop making it. I don't need any more for preserving this year. I may just go back to making raw cider vinegar

pickles7 - 2010-09-24 15:10:00

Bumping for the person who is looking at making there own vinegar. I am just getting sorted to make another batch myself.

pickles7 - 2011-04-15 11:37:00

bumping up for....raewyn64 ....

pickles7 - 2011-04-15 17:24:00

lots of good info.
Adding this -
Apple Cider
1.5 kilograms cooking apples (these must be sour old-fashioned apples which can only be used for cooking such as Ballarat or Granny Smith). Look around your neighbourhood for old trees)
7 litres water
1kg sugar
3 big lemons
1 thumb sized piece of ginger which you have squashed with a hammer.
Freeze the apples for three days. Take them out of the freezer and let them defrost. Cut them up in your food processor including skin and core. Put in a large bucket and pour on the cold water.
Leave for 7 days covered and stir twice a day. Strain through a piece of muslin, old tea towel or net curtain and mix the liquid with the sugar, grated lemon rind, piece of ginger and strained lemon juice. Leave for a further 24 hours.
Strain and bottle. We use old plastic bottles which have a bit of give in them as this mixture does expand. Leave in a cool, dark place for as long as you can. It’s drinkable after a month or so, but much more alcoholic after a year.

bev00 - 2012-04-15 00:19:00

This message was deleted.

deus701 - 2012-04-15 01:16:00

bev00 wrote:

lots of good info.
Adding this -
Apple Cider
1.5 kilograms cooking apples (these must be sour old-fashioned apples which can only be used for cooking such as Ballarat or Granny Smith). Look around your neighbourhood for old trees)
7 litres water
1kg sugar
3 big lemons
1 thumb sized piece of ginger which you have squashed with a hammer.
Freeze the apples for three days. Take them out of the freezer and let them defrost. Cut them up in your food processor including skin and core. Put in a large bucket and pour on the cold water.
Leave for 7 days covered and stir twice a day. Strain through a piece of muslin, old tea towel or net curtain and mix the liquid with the sugar, grated lemon rind, piece of ginger and strained lemon juice. Leave for a further 24 hours.
Strain and bottle. We use old plastic bottles which have a bit of give in them as this mixture does expand. Leave in a cool, dark place for as long as you can. It’s drinkable after a month or so, but much more alcoholic after a year.

You would be half way to making "cider vinegar" after you made this recipe up.
I have not bought vinegar from the day my first lot had been made. I try and squirrel away some bottles from each brew to let it mature.
http://makingvinegar.blogspot.co.nz/

pickles7 - 2012-04-15 10:42:00

I came upon an old vinegar thread ,what fun.

pickles7 - 2012-11-26 08:51:00

This message was deleted.

mwood - 2012-11-26 14:22:00

I finally got a pic of the vinegar eels up ,in my blog. They have gone now, they did a good job had fun and passed on. Some will find them repulsive but when you make vinegar they have a job to do. The vinegar is tasting real nice and that is what matters.

pickles7 - 2013-02-06 20:04:00

This message was deleted.

mwood - 2013-02-06 20:44:00

Just open a bottle of beer and let the fruit flies help you out then.

pickles7 - 2013-02-06 21:04:00

This message was deleted.

mwood - 2013-02-06 23:56:00

mwood wrote:

nope does not work at my location - the point of my posts

How did your vinegar turn out..mwood....?

pickles7 - 2013-10-04 13:00:00

I came upon an old vinegar thread ,what fun.

pickles7 - 2013-11-25 17:26:00

The member deleted this message.

mwood - 2013-11-25 21:27:00

This message was deleted.

elliehen - 2013-11-25 21:29:00

one for the archives

bev00 - 2014-11-26 00:28:00

I found a very easy way to make cider vinegar most folk will be able to follow.
I am about to start another Cider vinegar using the easy method again in about one week from now.
I will put pics up on my blog as the pics on here do not stay that long. I will however log progress in here as well..

pickles7 - 2015-02-18 10:41:00

pickles7 wrote:

I found a very easy way to make cider vinegar most folk will be able to follow.
I am about to start another Cider vinegar using the easy method again in about one week from now.
I will put pics up on my blog as the pics on here do not stay that long. I will however log progress in here as well..

Pickles, I would love to make my own vinegar, especially apple cider vinegar. My trees are laden this year. I could do with a little bit of instruction because I have yet to find a site with clear and concise (i.e. - step by step) for the absolute novice. There is no such thing as a vinegar group where I live.

Will googling jellybeans get me to the appropriate blog do you think?

buzzy110 - 2015-02-18 13:50:00

buzzy110... there are many who for their own way of pleasuring themselves have passed some very odd comments in here. I have not let them drag me down. I know the traffic level on my vinegar site so know the amount of interest out there.
When I started to make my own vinegars there were approx. two sites to refer to, now there are so many all with different bits of information. Depending on what you want your vinegar for is to how one should make it. Everyone did used to make there own, but it was very hit and miss as to the strength, a lot of people got food poisoning from the preserves, hence the commercial production took over to ensure everyone's safety. I too have tried letting mother nature take over the job and saw first hand the problems associated with that method. I do use my vinegars for preserving and to make sauce with, so need to know it is of a safe strenght. I have 15 litres of vinegar now that taste and smells like vinegar, but it is not up to strength yet. I will wait until it is, pasteurize, and squirrel it away to mature.
On saying all that I need to say if folk want to make vinegar to preserve with , they must be responsible and ensure their own vinegar, is safe.

pickles7 - 2015-02-19 10:16:00

For this next lot of Apple Cider Vinegar.
I will use 1 x 3 litre bottle of pure apple juice, [ Fresh Up] not fresh juice.
A 9 liter plastic bucket
A cotton tea towel
1/2 a teaspoon of dry yeast
A 5 litre glass jar
1 cup of raw cider vinegar [buy it from a health food shop]
A little bit of muslin to cover the jar, doubled.
My vinegar site has had such a lot of folk visit I know there are a lot of folk who are interested in this hobby.

pickles7 - 2015-02-19 10:20:00

Hello pickles7, I'm looking at having a go at making my own vinegar (wanting to have a go at making Malt vinegar) but I've got a 'naysayer' who reckons it'll be cheaper just to buy vinegar from supermarket than to buy 'bits and pieces' to make it. I like to think I'm a bit self sufficient in making things for myself and had just finished canning a whole batch of sweet pickled onions lol. Would I be saving on costs if I do my own vinegar? Also do you have an acid tester? Is there any other 'special' devices/equipment needed for 'vinegar-making?'

cheers ;-)

firecentaurr - 2015-03-08 19:32:00

firecentaurr wrote:

Hello pickles7, I'm looking at having a go at making my own vinegar (wanting to have a go at making Malt vinegar) but I've got a 'naysayer' who reckons it'll be cheaper just to buy vinegar from supermarket than to buy 'bits and pieces' to make it. I like to think I'm a bit self sufficient in making things for myself and had just finished canning a whole batch of sweet pickled onions lol. Would I be saving on costs if I do my own vinegar? Also do you have an acid tester? Is there any other 'special' devices/equipment needed for 'vinegar-making?'

cheers ;-)

http://makingvinegar.blogspot.co.nz/
Take a look at the cider vinegar I am making right now.
I will post a way of testing the strength, in my cider vinegar starter, site as soon as I find it.

pickles7 - 2015-03-08 20:36:00

Thank you pickles7, love your blog site...I will have to have a good read through it all to get the gist of it all properly. Its all interesting but not sure how I feel about them 'vinegar eels,' lol. So with the presence of vinegar eels, does that means 'bad batch, so throw out?'

Oooh I'm very keen to start on a Dark ale vinegar but must source some huge bottles or some 5 litres plastic containers before I think of starting...but at least I've got some muslin cloth which will serve as a lid sealer (stopping bugs, dusts from getting in but allowing air to get through) so that's a start ;-)

When you've added 'dark ale kit,' do you use the whole container?

Having looked on trade me, there's a few 'brewing kits' so that brands that have got 'dark ale' are, Brewtec, Mangrove Jack's Craft Series Yeast and Lion home brew. I've no idea how many grams each brand have, can I choose any one of them?

Yeast? Would that be Cider yeast similar to auction 855757947 or yeast commonly used for making bread? sorry in advance with all the questioning...very keen to learn here ;-)

firecentaurr - 2015-03-08 22:21:00

I buy everything I require from Bin Inn, they have everything there and at a good price.

pickles7 - 2015-03-09 00:54:00

Awww, no bin inn here. So either I do things the hard way...or go the long way :-/ Never mind, will get there eventually

firecentaurr - 2015-03-09 09:09:00

Hey pickles7, are you able to provide a list of equipments, devices, utensils needed for brewing/, making vinegar...I was a bit doubtful when trying to compile a list of things to get for myself (I'm worried that if I get a full brewer kit, I might not need half the things, so waste of $$$??)...I know I need to get a vinometer but I've come across these refractormeters and they looked as though they measure different things...maybe I'll start off doing apple cider vinegar before attempting the malt vinegar? Total dunce here :P

firecentaurr - 2015-03-13 19:54:00

firecentaurr ...I hope you were able to follow the simple method I used to make my last lot of cider vinegars. They have a wee way to go yet, it has got a little cool now so the vinegars will take longer, to develop.

pickles7 - 2015-05-04 09:30:00

How did they turn out pickles7?

uli - 2015-08-31 15:53:00

Well pleased with it...uli.
The brown sugar lot is doing well now too. That to me is the most economic vinegar to make so far. It was dodgy to start, but now after my last taste that near took my breath away, I am changing my thoughts on it. 760 grams of brown sugar makes 1 gallon of vinegar. I will repeat that recipe and add a bit of molasses or malt, that will add flavour and enrich the colour. Brown sugar we buy these days is nothing like it once was. .

Edited by pickles7 at 2:23 pm, Tue 1 Sep

pickles7 - 2015-09-01 14:18:00

Horrors I had to buy some malt vinegar, I have to say shame, on the manufacturers of what is on sale these days, sour, insipid, and gutless vinegar.
I wish I could share the brown sugar vinegar with those who could be wanting to make there own malt vinegar.. I have been taste testing it a while and I would now have to say it is perfect just as it is. I will put another lot down and follow the original method, it looks way easier and won't take too much looking after.

pickles7 - 2016-02-03 21:31:00

bump

uli - 2017-01-28 16:18:00

Are you still vinegaring pickles7?
or have you gone full time into fermenting?

uli - 2018-01-19 15:23:00