Bragg's ACV grew a demon gel in bottle

[azygous]

Has this happened to anyone? This bottle has not expired by a long shot, had several more years on the "use by" date. It had grown a gelatinous substance displacing the vinegar. I tossed it not knowing if it was dangerous or not.

 

[Mosey2003]

That's the mother, that you're paying extra for Braggs' to get...

 

[azygous]

I've been using Bragg's for years, and this gel-like gunk is much different than the sediment that normally accumulates on the bottom of the bottle and when you shake the bottle, the sediment mixes. This stuff doesn't mix. It's pretty nearly a solid. It's why I posted photos of it so you can see it's not your regular "mother" sediment.

 

[Mosey2003]

Then I dunno :-/

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Interesting... I haven't been doing acv since it makes my water turn moldy almost over night.

My best guess would be something else inoculated it or got in and enjoyed the environment. I also would have thrown it out not knowing if it was dangerous.

Thanks for sharing, your experiences (and some others') add up to a little more peace of mind for me, my family, and our animals. And continual learning.

I guess even you come across something new every now and then.

 

[Intheswamp]

I don't know what to say about your gell. I did break out an older jug of Braggs a while back for human consumption. This jug *had* expired. What I found while drinking it was that the mother had turned "stringy"...kinda fibrous. I drank it for a week or so and finally after seeing this stringy stuff swirling around in the glass I decided to quit drinking it. But, it wasn't anything like what you've got. Have you contacted Braggs to ask them about it?

Ed

 

[FarmerMac]

Has this happened to anyone? This bottle has not expired by a long shot, had several more years on the "use by" date. It had grown a gelatinous substance displacing the vinegar. I tossed it not knowing if it was dangerous or not.

Was this gel floating on top of the liquid? My grandma used to make her own vinegar, she would have a big glass jar and at the top of the fluid, it would have a membrane that looks like that. She would feed it sugar for it to grow. If she wanted another batch, she would use water and fruits then use a chunk of that membrane and make a new vinegar batch.

 

[azygous]

This gel was in a big "plug" on the bottom of the vinegar, not floating. At first glance, it appeared the original sediment had multiplied and expanded. But it was no longer a loose, easily mixed substance. This was like a pudding.

 

[Pendragonz]

Has this happened to anyone? This bottle has not expired by a long shot, had several more years on the "use by" date. It had grown a gelatinous substance displacing the vinegar. I tossed it not knowing if it was dangerous or not.

What it looks like to me is the starter culture that is used in making Kombucha, which is a fermented tea drink that has a lot of probiotics in it. Pouring it out of the bottle it looks like what I call the "oyster" in the kombucha. I drink it all the time. I don't think it would have hurt anything, but not what you would think of a vinegar mother either.

ETA - the culture for making kombucha is called a SCOBY, or a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.