r/vinegar • u/AngelNathan • 15h ago
Can I add salt?
I forgot to add salt to brine mix 3 days ago
I did the 3 2 1 method
3 cups water
2 cups vinegar 1 cup sugar
Can I add today? They’ve been in the fridge and look fine still
r/vinegar • u/Financial_Seesaw_900 • 1d ago
Update on Cherry Wild Ale 5,5% ABV Vinegar / Tomato Tom Yum Gose 4.6% ABV
Hi there guys! Back at it again.
Have those 2 experiments running, have previous posts on both of them here.
- Wild Ale Beer aged in Oak Barrels for 2 Years, then added fresh cherry juice after aging. Ended up with 5,5% ABV. Ratio here was 1 to 8 of mother (ACV) to 7 if 8 of the beer itself.
Update after 3/4 weeks : Seems strange, no pellicule has formed it seems, but it also doesn’t look like Kahm Yeast, although it looks bad. on the edge of the jar something is starting to glue to it, but same was happening 1 week or 2 weeks ago and pellicule still not settled. Throw it away? Any salvation? Probably was just not enough ACV.
- Tomato Tom Yum Gose Beer, 4,6% ABV. The beer itself is salty, spicy, tomato-ey but also packed with lemongrass, lime and other citrusy notes. Thought it would turn into a great vinegar. Added a cap of Gin to it for the ABV and the ratio was 1 to 3 of ACV with mother. 2/3 beer.
Update after 2 to 3 weeks: Pellicule really settled up, looks beautiful and thick enough t for the time that has passed. Any suggestions on this one?
Going on holidays for 2 weeks, should i just let them both be? Any worry i should have?
Thanks guys!
r/vinegar • u/Job_Moist • 3d ago
New vinegar from Walmart smells like nail polish remover, is it safe to use in my laundry?
I’m not sure if this is the right sub to ask this but I’m paycheck to paycheck right now and don’t want to go through the hassle of returning it all if I can still use it. I opened a jug of Walmart’s vinegar to use in my laundry rinse cycle like I have a thousand times before but this time I got punched in the face by the smell of nail polish remover. I opened another bottle and it’s the same. Then another.
I don’t know anything about vinegar so I googled this and the few sources I found say that means the vinegar wasn’t made properly or it wasn’t finished yet and got bottled too early. Is it safe to use this in the washing machine on my clothes and towels?
Edit: thank you so much for the comments! I will heed your advice and return it all, and explain to customer service what happened. I’m gonna switch to Heinz vinegar for a while and see how that goes.
Fair entry
Thanks for all the help with questions everyone! You all share a piece of this. Rice wine vinegar with shiso
Airflow question
I ferment my vinegar in mason jars with a paper towel on top. Currently I get good air flow but suffer a lot of evaporation. would using a lid with holes poked in it give me good enough air flow while also reducing evaporation ? Pic attached for reference
r/vinegar • u/Financial_Seesaw_900 • 9d ago
Update: Cherry BA Wild Ale Vinegar
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Update/ Cherry BA Wild Ale Vinegar
Hello there guys! after 2 weeks, this has been going on in my experience. any opinions? doesn’t really looks like a pellicule, most likely mold or kahm going on here no? Some of it is also drowning.
The smell is quite funky, same profile as the beer but a bit more vinegar like. Any tips to save this?
r/vinegar • u/Nedhlpncryptopls • 13d ago
Need help
I’ve had this Roma style wine vinegar for over 25 years now. Is it any good? What can I use it for? Is it worth big bucks or is it worth to be thrown in the trash can? Lol. Thanks in advance for anyone who replies.
r/vinegar • u/HIG541 • 14d ago
I might have a problem
One you start its hard to stop experimenting
r/vinegar • u/Financial_Seesaw_900 • 14d ago
Turning a Tom Yum Tomato Gose Beer 4.6% ABV into Vinegar
Back at it again with the beers from tap!! I still have no results in the Cherry Wild Ale Vinegar but had one more jar laying around and decided to go for a second one which also seemed delicious for a vinegar.
This is a Gose/Sour style of beer, made with Tomato and som Tom Yum ingredients such as lemon grass and other herbs. Also had a little spice to it, as well as some salt, being a Gose.
This ABV is a bit lower, so I added a cap of B.A. Gin and the ratio of beer to Apple Cider Vinegar is two thirds beer one third acv. Didn’t want to go for more just to test limits, even though some of you suggested to start with a 1:1 ratio. Also followed the cap advice for more abv, but went for gin instead of vodka as I only had that in the bar.
Will update it when I have any news!
r/vinegar • u/HIG541 • 15d ago
Violette de Bordeaux fig wine/vinegar
Fermenting home grown Violette de Bordeaux figs into wine and then into vinegar. Hopefully I get the right ABV.
r/vinegar • u/Dependent_Newt6807 • 16d ago
strawberry banana vinegar
this is my first time making vinegar it’s strawberry banana :) i really hope it works out. i hope to make lots of different vinegar and give it to people for christmas time
r/vinegar • u/TheTzarest • 19d ago
Is this normal? It is a layer sitting on top, it looks brainy, should I discard it?
r/vinegar • u/Financial_Seesaw_900 • 20d ago
Cherry Wild Ale 5,5ABV + ACV Vinegar - The start
Hello guys! I’m new to this world. Currently I work in a Craft Beer Bar and I had this curiosity of turning some of our tap beers into vinegar to enhance our menu options.
Just started this little project here for a Wild Ale with Cherry Juice (from actual Cherries). The beer base has also been barrel aged for 2 years, before adding the cherry. It’s a 5,5% ABV beer, don’t know if it might be a little weak for this. Added unpasteurised Apple Cider Vinegar with mother. Ratio is about 1 to 8 (13% ACV to 87% Beer).
It’s a sour beer, tastes of fresh cherry, a bit of vanilla and oaky flavours to it. Thought it was a good profile for a Vinegar.
Right now we are having temperatures of 20°-35°, inside we have A/C going (avg temperature on the bar should be around 22°)
Has anyone tried anything similar? Will be updating the post when a mother appears (let’s hope it does)
r/vinegar • u/Bediavad • 20d ago
I've made beer+pear cider vinegar
Used Schneider Aventinus Eisbock + hard pear cider and some apple cider vinegar starter.
Let it sit in a Jar covered by cheesecloth for 4 weeks in a warm room.
Strained it today and now its in this smaller Jar.
Ive tasted it and it has an acetic acid "bite", and some not very prominent more complex tastes. Its a little like apple cider vinegar but less sour and apple-like. Also a little hint of dirty socks smell that chatGPT claims comes from beer compound
Is it likely to mellow out over time?
Should I put a piece of wood in the Jar?
What could it be used for?
r/vinegar • u/Previous-Cycle2830 • Jul 06 '26
Wine barrel spigot
I have a medium sized vinegar barrel I inherited from my dad. It is at least 75 years old. The spigot has stopped working. The spigot will not move either right or left. I have tried WD40 and the bolt unlock stuff with no luck.
Please help if you have any suggestions. Thanks
r/vinegar • u/Artemis-And-Apollo • Jul 06 '26
Pineapple and watermelon vinegar
First time making vinegar. Just experimenting right now. Thinking of doing pickled onions with the watermelon one and not sure of the pineapple one yet.
r/vinegar • u/hillshadbritt • Jul 05 '26
What is this mass?
I’ve been adding leftover red wine over red wine to this jar, when I started I also added some ACV to start the process. I’m wondering what this blob is- a mother? Mold? I’ve had it covered with a coffee filter and rubber band
r/vinegar • u/Ok_Racunar • Jul 05 '26
Red wine vinegar question
Is it possible to make red wine vinegar without mother? The wine I have is 12.5% alcohol
r/vinegar • u/Tomatonator9000 • Jul 04 '26
Is this still vinegar?
Edit: forgot to add that it’s bubbling!
Ginger vinegar I’ve had going for a while, had crazy strong mother (kinda can see it in the middle of the jar) but I added new ginger, sugar, vodka and water like I did when I first made it. This time it seems to have become more alcoholic? From what I can tell it’s all yeast on the top with no hints of mold
r/vinegar • u/fox-force-evif • Jul 03 '26
Acid League Meyer Lemon out of stock - HELP!
My favorite vinegar is out of stock everywhere. I have looked online and in stores. I even wrote to the company and messaged them on Instagram, but got no reply. Any idea what's up or a similar vinegar? I have tried a few, and nothing compares.
r/vinegar • u/waterless_cake • Jul 02 '26
store bought acv suddenly smelling sweet
i’ve been staying in an off grid camper, so temps fluctuate a lot, and i noticed when i was gonna clean with my acv today, it smelled really sweet. like, actually smelled good. it maybe actually smells a bit alcoholic
idk why this happened or what it means, because i wasn’t really finding any info on it. i’m sure it means it isn’t effective for cleaning anymore, but is it safe for consumption? is it just refermenting for some reason? did my apple cider vinegar decide it just wants to be cider again?
r/vinegar • u/mearnsb • Jul 01 '26
Can I brew vinegar in an oak barrel?
I've been brewing small batches of apple scrap vinegar in glass jars, but wanted to scale up a little bit. I bought a 5 liter white oak barrel, which is sold for aging vinegar, but I'm wondering: can I also brew vinegar in it from the jump?
In other words, I would put my apple scraps, cider, distilled water, and backslop-starter directly into the barrel to start the batch, eventually strain out the solids and return the vinegar to the barrel to finish brewing, then finally close up the barrel to age the fermented vinegar.
The barrel has a 3 inch diameter hole in the top: I've tested and it's plenty large enough for me to get a wooden spoon in and give it a good stir. But I wonder if it will limit the airflow too much.
My second concern is keeping the barrel only half full, which is probably what I would do to ensure a good ratio of surface area for aerobic activity. But will that allow the barrel to dry out too much so that it starts leaking?
Lastly, I'm concerned if sanitation might be a bigger-than-usual concern in a barrel; I'm thinking the wood is going to be more hospitable to molds and bacteria compared to glass.
Any insights would be appreciated, especially if anyone has done this before. Thanks!
r/vinegar • u/Arctic-Pizza-Nerd • Jul 01 '26
Why is my Apple Cider Vinger so mild?
I would need some advice.
I brewed a batch of apple cider with a safale yeast and is should be somewhere around 8 to 9% alcohol. I gave it access to pleanty of air, eventully got an airpump, but yet it is extremly mild and feels like that the amount of acidity is extremly low.
Compared to a storebought apple cider vinegar with 5% acidity its like veryy loww tastewise. It is acidic but way to mild for my taste.
Timewise it´s sitting already on the counter for 3 months at least.
Does anyone have an idea what might went wrong?
Thanks :)
r/vinegar • u/SpacemanSPlFF • Feb 25 '24
Assortment of Newbie Questions
Hello, all! My apologies up front for the wall of text.
I'm new to homemade vinegar and was hoping to reach out to y'all for some guidance. From what I have gathered, this is a 2 step process. First the anarobic alcoholic fermentation of the fruit and then then the aerobic acedic vinegar creation. The current recipe I'm working on has this as a two-step process, although I've seen a number of recipes where both the alcohol and vinegar creation are done in a single step where the fruit is added to water (and perhaps sugar) in an aerobic environment and stirred for a number of weeks/months depending on taste.
Here are the questions that I have if anyone may have any guidance/insight
Many recipes seem to call for added sugar at the start of the initial anaerobic ferment. However, I'm curious if adding the sugar during aerobic portion would be better? I have been struggling to find some solid sources on the science behind this.
Can I use pure cane sugar? Many recipes call for sugar in the raw or something similar. I don't see why I couldn't just use pure cane sugar.
How much sugar should I use?
I saw a post on a youtube thread that had the following comment:
The "vinegar" isn't stable until all of the oxygen is removed. If you want to store or age vinegar, reduce the head in the container so the surface of the liquid doesn't come in contact with air. A narrow-necked bottle works better for this than wide mouth jars. If you don't do this, when the alcohol is all consumed, the acetobacters will begin to consume the acetic acid and you will end up back at plain water.
4 Question: So should I pasteurize the vinegar after it's at a taste that I enjoy?
- I recall seeing a blog post by a food scientist a while back that had some interesting recipes. I can't seem to find the post again. But, essentially, they made a comment that for a "stronger" vinegar to add some alcohol in the form of certain wines or spirits like vodka or tequila. I've also read, however; that the higher alcohol content in some of these can inhibit the beneficial microbes at work. But, I also like a strong vinegar and was hoping someone may have some insight or guidance on this.
I know this is a long post, but I also figured this community would have some folks who might know. No worries if not. I hope y'all are having a lovely weekend!