Making beer vinegar

[jp27300]

So ive been interested in making some vinegar from some of my brew. Does anyone have any experience doing this? I know about the technique from reading about mothers and all. My questions is if i make the vingar, ie let it sit in my basement or other room containing my brew equpoment, will it pick up any contamination thus souring my future brews.

I will not clearly use any of the same equipment for the vinegar as my brews, and im not into sour beers, so...

 

[Aristotelian]

I have been doing this. I just made a small batch with about 10 oz of leftover blonde ale that wasn't enough to make a full bottle. Added about a tablespoon of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar labelled as "with mother". Wait 2-3 weeks and you should see a skin form on top. Run the vinegar through a coffee filter to get rid of the gunk and refrigerate. Just added some to roasted brussels sprouts and it was excellent.

 

[jp27300]

I have been doing this. I just made a small batch with about 10 oz of leftover blonde ale that wasn't enough to make a full bottle. Added about a tablespoon of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar labelled as "with mother". Wait 2-3 weeks and you should see a skin form on top. Run the vinegar through a coffee filter to get rid of the gunk and refrigerate. Just added some to roasted brussels sprouts and it was excellent.

Nice. How long have you been doing it? Is that Bragg Vinegar? Can you reuse the "new" mother skin?

I'm concerned with contamination via the air, for my beer making. Is that possible?

 

[Aristotelian]

Yes, the Bragg vinegar should work. (I used a gourmet grocery store in-house version).

No, air is good for making vinegar. I neglected to say that you cover it with cheesecloth or similar material.

I have done two batches this way and they both turned out well.

 

[imasickboy]

Here's a couple hundred posts about it: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=505812

 

[Agate]

You cannot contaminate other batches by fermenting something like this in the same area as clean beers. I think that's what you're asking regarding contamination via the air? Souring bacteria don't really go from liquid, to being airborne, to getting in through an airlock to infect a beer. I have bacteria in buckets and carboys right next to clean beers, and it isn't an issue.

If you do run into a cross-contamination issue, it almost always is transferred from equipment, be it racking canes, hoses, and improperly sanitized airlocks and the like being used on sour beer and then inadvertently used on clean beers.

 

[jp27300]

You cannot contaminate other batches by fermenting something like this in the same area as clean beers. I think that's what you're asking regarding contamination via the air? Souring bacteria don't really go from liquid, to being airborne, to getting in through an airlock to infect a beer. I have bacteria in buckets and carboys right next to clean beers, and it isn't an issue.

If you do run into a cross-contamination issue, it almost always is transferred from equipment, be it racking canes, hoses, and improperly sanitized airlocks and the like being used on sour beer and then inadvertently used on clean beers.

Yes that was my question. Thanks.