Pg5042

Recipes 

Anybody else make their own vinegars? I do and find the results to be infinitely superior to store bought. If so, tell what you started with and how it turned out...

Kind of a side question, and I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but is it ok to store active (live mother) vinegars in the same general area as beer supplies/fermenting batches/stored bottles (ie both in the basement, albeit away from each other) or would you keep them as far away as possible?

mr_goodwrench

Recipes 

I have a couple of batches of vinegar under my belt. I did a cider vinegar using some oaked cider that was a bit too oaky for my tastes that turned out really good. I currently have a malt vinegar in the works. I am about to sample it to see if it is ready yet.

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MultumInParvo

Recipes 

This seems interesting. I am sure the powers of google can show me a lot. Any site in particular I should head to though about how to get started?

Pg5042

Recipes 

Not sure about any site in particular; I just learned from working at a restaurant where we made our own. It's super easy, just grab a bottle of unpasteurized vinegar (with mother) and mix with whatever you'd like to make into vinegar, eventually it will generate a nice amount of mother that you can use for other vinegars. My favorite is a Clos Normand cider vinegar, it always turns out really well, and the flavor is awesome. I do admit I look forward to making my own out of beer I've brewed. PM or just ask here if you want any details.

BraveSirRobin

Recipes 

Beer vinegar! I've not tried it yet, but I came across a blog by Michael Ruhlman where he talks about it. It's incredibly easy. Pour half a gallon of beer into a container, stir vigorously, let sit for 6 hours, cover with a cheese cloth and let it sit in the kitchen for 6 months. You can use a mother too if you want to be a bit on the safer side. That reminds me, I need to convince my wife that the fruit flies in the kitchen will be worth it.

Beer Vinegar & Food As Solace | Michael Ruhlman

mr_goodwrench

Recipes 

My malt vinegar, which is pretty much ready, was made with an unhopped beer I made from extra light DME. It fermented out to about 6% ABV and I infected it with a bit of mother that I saved from my cider vinegar. I am actually going to have it on my lunch of homemade fries in a few minutes!

Here is the vinegar:



You can see the mother floating around at the bottom.

And my lunch...

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Pg5042

Recipes 

Don't worry about fruit flies if you have them covered. I worked at a restaurant where we made our own vinegars (it may or may not have been mentioned in Ruhlman's article ) and we had about 5 carboys plus a couple oak barrels of various different vinegars aging, and I never saw a fruit fly. Just keep em covered.

Also, mr_goodwrench... Here's my vinegars, an Ommegang Hennepin and a bit of Clos Normand (also have a Louis Jadot Beaujolais that I'm not sure if I love or hate.)



I'm running a bit low at the moment. Got some serious mother though...
Also, Nice lunch! Some mayo or aioli and you're set with those frites.

HerbieHowells

Recipes 

Cut and paste to see a video on making your own mother for home vinegar making purposes using nothing but sugar, water, and a banana peal stuck in a bottle and hung in a tree is something else. I am just going to take the guy's word for it. Shortly after watching it, I actually had someone ask me if I knew what malt vinegar was. I went into the full description, fly parts and all. That person probably didn't want that much detail. It's a messy world we live in.

(This is someone else's video- if this is an issue, maybe someone can tell me how to only post an address so that it does not become a link and potentially cause a copyright issue.)