Make your own Apple Cider Vinegar

[DrakeMaiden]

For those who may be interested, it is really easy to make your own vinegar.

1. Buy unfiltered, unpasteurized Apple Cider Vinegar (w/ "mother")

2. Get some fresh or frozen apple juice (you could also use other fruit juices, but then it wouldn't be ACV!) -- make sure it has no added chemicals (some can inhibit vinegar formation).

3. Combine the store-bought ACV with your juice in a large glass jar or stoneware crock -- don't use metal and avoid plastic. Mix well with a non-reactive spoon (or just swirl the jar around).

4. Cover with cheesecloth or similar fabric -- I use a somewhat porous dish towel. You want to keep bugs, dust, etc. out but let air in.

5. Set in a mildly warm (60-80 degrees F), dark place for weeks.

6. Taste it to check on strength, until you feel it is done.

Then you can filter it and keep it in a jar . . . I think you might want to refrig it just to be safe, or

You can keep your "mother" (the bacterial culture responsible for converting your juice to vinegar) alive by regularly taking small amounts out and then adding small amounts of juice back (and then waiting a few weeks for the vinegar to regain strength).

I'm still learning this, but I thought I'd share it in case some of you are interested in trying it too.

 

[lakehuroncluckers]

Just buy a gallon of unpasturized apple cider from your local cider mill, transfer to a glass container, cover with cheesecloth or tea towel. Put in dark place for about 3 months, and there you have it. Apple Cider Vinegar. Did this last year with some cider that was a little ripe to drink. Worked great. We always add it to our chicken's water, all year long. The cost is unbeatable...$5.00 for a gallon of cider, or about $16.00 for a gallon of Braggs.

 

[BarefootMom]

another way to make vinegar ( I do it this way) I made pear vinegar last fall with my peelings and cores. It is GREAT!


Fruit Scrap Vinegar

By Cindi Nesler in Canning

How to make Fruit Scrap Vinegar

by Kim on September 20, 2010

This is one of those ‘no cost’ recipes made from things that other people normally throw away. When I made applesauce, I also started making this vinegar at the same time, with all of the fruit trimmings, cores, and cut out bruises. I fermented them in jars for awhile, strained out the fruit scraps, and let the vinegar ferment longer. The result? An amazingly fragrant and abundant fruit vinegar for almost no cost. Waste not, want not!

Tips for making Fruit Vinegar

Chopping up your fruit helps them ferment quicker, but make sure the pieces are big enough to strain out easily later (no puree).
You could use whey to jump start this fermentation, but I don’t since I always have such a large quantity to do at one time. If you want to, use 2 Tablespoons per quart.
If you choose to use honey instead of Rapadura, the ferment will take a bit longer but it will still work.

Pineapple or Apple or other Fruit Scrap Vinegar

Rating: 4 forks (key) They all eat it with realizing it

Difficulty:

Easy and inexpensive!

Page in NT: 156

Equipment:

Chef’s Knife
1/2 gallon mason jars
No stain, No Slip Cutting Board
Cheesecloth

Ingredients:

skin and core from 1 pineapple
for pineapple vinegar only: 2 teaspoons dried oregano & 1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes

–OR– for apple scrap vinegar

apple or pear cores, trimmings and peels (bruised or overripe fruit ok, except throw out any pieces with mold on it)

To make sugar water:

1/4 cup Rapadura sugar (or honey)
1 quart filtered warm water

Preparation:

Prepare the sugar water for the amount of fruit scraps that you have with the ratio of 1 quart water to 1/4 sugar. Make sure all sugar is completely dissolved. Fill jars with coarsely chopped up fruit scraps about half full, then pour in the sugar water solution. For pineapple vinegar, add the additional spices and stir in. Cover with a towel or cheesecloth and let ferment at room temperature. Stir once/day if you can.

You will notice the liquid darken after about a week. At that point, strain out the fruit scraps and discard or compost them. Ferment the vinegar for 2 to 3 weeks longer, stirring it periodically.

 

[WalkingWolf1]

Am I missing something?

The first ingredient you need to make Apple Cider Vinegar is Apple Cider Vinegar?

Is Apple Cider Vinegar just like stone soup?

Cute -- This is usually spoken by the naive. You don't need ACV to make ACV but you do need a source of Acetobacter spp and that is easily obtained in the mother of ACV.

It is simple and fun to make and can be quite educational if you have children in the home. You have the apple juice extraction lesson, the fermentation of the sugar lesson as well as the conversion of the alcohol to vinegar lesson on top of the health benefits of making your own unpasteurized ACV from scratch fostering independence and creativity. Here is a pic of a batch I started yesterday. After a fermentation period of ~ 1 week I will let the yeast settle for 2-3 days. I will then decant into another container and add 10 ounces of unpasteurized ACV and leave on the counter top. Will be ready to use in ~ 6 weeks.

 

[marymac]

Care to share how you made yours? Thanks

Sure, here is the link to the directions. I used a 5 gal. crock and a 5 gal. plastic bucket to ferment my apple scraps and cores.
http://www.fresh-eggs-daily.com/2012/09/diy-make-your-own-apple-cider-vinegar.html

 

[Stuffedcritter]

I've made it using cranberries 50/50 mix apple peels turned out with nice flavor. All the critters get in their water helps keep fleas and flies off them. Vet completed me how nice the dogs coats were if you have rabbits "bucks" it helps with the smell.

 

[Meadowchick]

Update on the homemade ACV....All went well. I used peelings, and cores from the fruit. Let it go brown for about 4 days in a clean bucket, stirred daily & covered with a towel to keep out fruit flies. Then placed the pieces in a gallon pickle jar I had saved and poured nonchlorinated water over the fruit, filling to within about 3 inches from the top. Placed doubled cheesecloth over the top and secured with a rubberband. Placed the jar in my laundry room beside my clothes dryer to ferment. In a week I was really seeing action. No problem with mold, but I did stir down my fruit pieces once and let it continue. At 3 weeks, I gently removed the chunks of fruit and returned the jar to it's happy home. Taste test proved it to be sour. A mother formed nicely in a solid gel across the top .It's been 5 weeks and I just put the mother in a bowl, strained my vinegar, and am drying some empty/clean Braggs bottles in the oven at 200*F. Will pour into the jars when they dry and cool. Yield was 6 full cups of ACV I am thrilled with the results.

Here is what the mother looks like:



2. My First Batch of Homemade ACV


3. And here is the fruit scrap after removing from the jug of my 2nd batch
using home grown apples...golden variety.

.

4. Strained fermented apple juice/cider in the jug with the
"old mother" from the first batch...then the cloth
will go back on and back beside the dryer it goes!
This is so easy!
I read somewhere that it is best to refrigerate non pasteurized ACV...does anybody know about that?

 

[ORChick]

I have no idea where to find pure unfiltered apple cider vinegar with mother. If others are like me, you can follow the advice above, just using plain, unpasteurized apple cider, which may be easier to find at this time of year. Or juice some apples, if you have a juicer. I have been doing this for awhile, and, though I get very nice ACV, with all the *live* elements that makes it so healthy, I have not yet acquired any *mother*. I still don't know why, but I don't care anymore. A cup of this finished vinegar in a new batch of cider will get things started more quickly, but, in my experience, unpasteurized cider will turn to vinegar, given the chance, without any outside help. (Add a bit to some red or white wine and you'll end up with nice wine vinegar as well)

 

[junebug7334]

I used this when my girls get the sniffles.......is this what you use it for?

 

[MissPrissy]

Great info, DM. Everyone should keep some on hand at all times.