acv with "mother"

[Eggcessive]

What size bottle of ACV do you use 1/2 of? I finally found 32 ouncebottles of Bragg's ACV at my local Kroger in the health food aisle, so I don't have to buy the gallon jug in a special store now.

 

[galanie]

What size bottle of ACV do you use 1/2 of?   I finally found 32 ouncebottles of Bragg's ACV at my local Kroger in the health food aisle, so I don't have to buy the gallon jug in a special store now.

Put a cup or two in there. It's really not an exact science but I think it's a 32 oz bottle that I have.

 

[Beekissed]

If you add your mother vinegar to apple juice you may be waiting awhile for the whole mix to become fermented but you can skip that wait by just placing the same mother into regular ACV from the store....the only reason the mother is important is for the good bacteria(probiotics) it contains. Regular, pasteurized vinegar still has good health benefits due to the vitamins and minerals but the true health benefit for us and for chickens is in the probiotics of the cultures that form the "mother".

This thread will explain just why those bacteria are important for livestock, beyond the benefits of the vitamins and minerals:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...osis-and-other-poultry-diseases-in-chicks-acv

 

[ChickenJerk]

The sediments you see in vinegar are just that. Sediments. The remains of dead bacteria and yeast cells. Not its sainted mother.

"Mother-of-vinegar" is a jelly like mass of cells that I don't think you would ever see in a product offered in a store. It is really pretty disgusting looking. What came out of the wooden barrel in the basement we used to make our own vinegar in at home is something that very few would consider consuming any part or product of. But WOW was that vinegar!

I seem to recall my grandmother saying that we couldn't use a clear glass jug (5gal) to make vinegar in if it was in the sunshine for that would kill the mother.

 

[Beekissed]

Yep, agreed...looks like a jelly fish or even snot swirling around in the vinegar if you break it up. Most folks stored theirs in the cellar, so clear glass jugs were often used but just kept out of direct sunlight...most all molds/yeasts like the dark.

You can "infect" other jugs of vinegar with it by just shaking your mother up in the jug until it fragments and then pour some of it into the pasteurized version of ACV, leave it uncovered for a few days in a dark and reasonably warm~ but not hot~ place...room temp is fine. I usually place a paper towel over the mouth of the jug and secure it with a rubber band. Within days you can pick up your new jug and see the swirl of snot-like "mother" growing bigger and forming into a single unit again. If you pick it up in your hands it is much like the stuff around frog's eggs.

 

[Eggcessive]

Whew, "snot-like mother"--you sound like you are from my family, Bee. Oh yeah right, since we are both West Virginians, we probably are family!

 

[Beekissed]

The scary thing about that is you are probably right....

Hey, Cuz!

 

[galanie]

It's true that the snot thing is the real "mother" but for those that don't have that yet, using Braggs in unpasteurized apple juice is a great way to get it. Only takes a couple dollars and a month to make a whole gallon.

 

[dirtylittlefly]

I use the very cheapest frozen apple juice concentrate I can find. And if I could find some without added Vitamin C I would use it, but it works fine. They have another with added calcium, I don't know that I'd use that one.

Nice, I was hoping the extra vitamin C was ok. I think I bought Treetop and it had 120% vitamin C, just like the other 4 brands available at Albertsons. As a preservative it makes sense that it would inhibit the vinegar to grow, just a bit slower.

 

[galanie]

I posted this in another thread but I'll say it again. I did accidently use the kind with added calcium last batch and it was horrible. Turned really dark and the "mother" looked like something from a horror film. I tossed the whole batch. So don't use the added calcium stuff!