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How to Make Vinegar

Simply put, vinegar is the result of two step fermentation. The first step is the fermentation of a sugar source (fruit, grain, etc.) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae into ethanol which is the alcohol in beer, wine, hard cider, etc. The second stage is the fermentation of ethanol by Acetobacter into acetic acid, the acid portion of vinegar. The sugar source used to produce the stock alcohol is what will determine the type of vinegar that results since acetobacter is common to all varieties of vinegar.

There are two methods of vinegar production:

Fast - Commercial vinegars are made with vinegar generators that produce hundreds of gallons in a short period of time. These vinegars typically consist of a light 5% acetic acid and have limited complexity of flavors.

Slow – Small scale vinegar production is based on the Orleans method. This involves placing the vinegar stock (wine, beer, hard cider, etc.) into a vinegar vat along with the vinegar bacteria (acetobacter) commonly known as vinegar mother. The vinegar vat has holes in the top for air circulation and a spigot in the bottom for drawing the finished vinegar off. This is a much slower method than commercially made vinegar but it produces far superior flavored vinegar. Depending on the alcohol content of the beginning stock, homemade vinegar can be produced in the range of 5 – 9% acidity.

How much mother is needed per gallon of red and for white wine vinegar?

When making vinegar, you start by adding 1 part mother (8 oz. jar) to 2parts wine and 1 part water if alcohol of wine is greater than 9%.When the alcohol begins to convert to acetic acid, you may continue to addmore wine/water to get to the volume you want as this is a dynamic process. It is not necessary to start off with so much vinegar mother to convert 1gallon of wine if you gradually build up the volume.