Malt Vinegar Makers

Update.

I bottled it today, and it smells and tastes pretty darn good. I think I'll use it when I grill mostly, but this could end up in a salad pretty easy.



Going to try with another beer eventually.

If you perfect that (or even come close) you could set it up at a farmer's market, no prob. I mean presumably you'd want to have something else, too, but I think it would do well around here.

Maybe once I get some guineas going I'll sell eggs and homebrew malt vinegar...

I believe commercial vinegar production is sort of regulated as you need to make alcohol first. I know there is a reference on the ATF/TTB site about vinegar producers.

Sorry to be a buzz kill. I can't wait to use the decant from my next starter for some malt vinegar. And then use that in a hot sauce.

Really?! That's crazy. Good to know.

Have a 1 gallon batch of this started.

richbrew99 said:

Have a 1 gallon batch of this started.

Click to expand...

Very nice! I hope it turns out great!

A little update on my vinegar making. The Bourbon Barrel Porter vinegar was by far the best I've made so far. I have some that's been aging since that post above and have used it a lot. I did a few others, an Irish Red was pretty decent. Going to start branching out and doing some crazy ones like, mead vinegar and turning some fruit beers into vinegar. I find it's a really great thing to do with that little bit left in the bottling bucket.

...

There is at least one other thread here on vinegar making.

...

Link: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=505812

You will find some pictures of other's mother formation there.

richbrew99 said:

Have a 1 gallon batch of this started.

Click to expand...

Been over 3 weeks now. The only vinegar with a mother I found was with dusty dregs on the bottom. That is what I used for my starter that I fermented down with some yeast. Still looks the same, dusty dregs on the bottom of my jar. Is this what it is supposed to be doing?

(duplicate)

richbrew99 said:

Been over 3 weeks now. The only vinegar with a mother I found was with dusty dregs on the bottom. That is what I used for my starter that I fermented down with some yeast. Still looks the same, dusty dregs on the bottom of my jar. Is this what it is supposed to be doing?

Click to expand...

Could be there were no active acetobact in that old vinegar. You can order cultures online to make sure you get a healthly start.

Typiclay mother (cellulose) forms on the surface as a by product of fermentation and then drops to the bottom.

I bought the store brand vinegar with mother but even the Braggs vinegar all had dregs on the bottom. Do I just keep searching for a bottle with the cellulose mother?

What really matters is that there are viable acetobact in the vinegar. There will likely be some on the mother, but the mother itself is just cellulose created during fermentation. But, I expect if a mother is present then it is far more likely that there are viable acetobact in the bottle.

Aside from doing a small test fermentation I don't know of any other way to determine the viability of the acetobact in a typical homebrew environment.

I still have no signs of lacto fermentation. I poured the whole bottle of Braggs in a gallon jug and added Belgian Golden Strong Ale.

Probably killed the active bugs with alcohol...

I'm gonna keep at it and see if I can start something. Maybe buy another bottle of acv and add the sediment to my jar.

Would the beer you added have been pasteurized or be treated as not to ferment any further? If the beer maker added ingredients to stop it from spoiling it may be difficult to get the vinegar to start.

If its homebrew than I am not sure what the issue is.

I made a 2 liter starter and just let ferment for a few days with us-05 yeast. Decanted and added the dregs from the vinegar.