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How to Make Your Own Vinegar

Problems Making Homemade Vinegar

Making homemade vinegar is not free of problems. Here is are a few that I have encountered:

Nothing happens when I added mother of vinegar to my wine:

I added a healthy portion of mother of vinegar to a quantity of mead and waited for three months for the mead to turn acidic. Nothing appeared to happen. I am sure that the high alcoholic level had killed off the vinegar bacteria. I added enough water to dilute the alcohol by half and a new mother of vinegar to get the process started.

Nothing happens when I add mother of vinegar to diluted wine:

Initially I made vinegar by diluting wine to a level of 5% to 7% alcohol, adding the mother of vinegar immediately, and waiting for the results. Sometimes nothing would happen to the diluted wine. I am afraid that the sulfites in the wine killed the vinegar bacteria immediately. I found that if I strained the old mother of vinegar out and added a new mother of vinegar, the process would finally start.

Nothing happens after letting diluted wine sit exposed to air for a week or so before adding the mother of vinegar:

I once prepared a batch of diluted wine and let it exposed to air for a week before adding the mother of vinegar. I was surprised when nothing happened. It is possible that there were not enough active bacteria in the mother to start the process. I added more mother of vinegar to the batch and a new mother grew on top of the diluted wine within a week.

My vinegar has evaporated away:

Temperature plays an important role in how fast the alcohol will be converted to vinegar. A batch might take only two weeks to complete in hot weather. Hot weather also increases how quickly the vinegar will evaporate. I have come back to batch after waiting three months to discover the only thing in the glass jar is a dried out mother of vinegar. If you let your vinegar brewing vessels sit in a hot room, expect to have up to half of the vinegar evaporate.

Mold:

Occasionally you will find a black, grey, or white mold beginning to grow on top of the mother of vinegar. The entire batch of vinegar and mother should be immediately discarded and the brewing vessel sterilized.

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