Vinegar Files

So, Ya Wanna Make Vinegar From Leftover Wine, Eh?

Overheard:
“Kim, what the heck is that gob of goo?” Or, “You’re Stinkin’ Up The Kitchen Again!” (geo t.)

Every now and then the topic of how to make vinegar from leftover wine pops up in casual conversation amongst us winos and foodies. Having been involved in vinegar-making for over 20 years I have amassed a nice little collection of articles and, of course, that wondrous gob of goo called Mother of Vinegar you seen on your left. (Click images to enlarge)

In a circa 1990 Detroit Free Press article, “Leftover Wine Can Make a Fine Vinegar,” then wine critic, Christopher Cook wrote, “It’s enough to make a wine lover cringe. All those bottoms of wine bottles that end up being dumped down Detroit sinks because they sat around uncorked a few days.” Well, that doesn’t happen too often around here at Gang Central, thank you very much!

Over the years, my crock of vinegar has been blessed with the dregs of incredible wines left over from large tastings. Every time I empty the bottom of a bottle of wine into the crocks I smile, knowing that the crock has thanked me.

Any Zinfandel, Cabernet, Merlot, etc. will do although there are vinegar sites out there that warn you not to use wines with added sulfites but I’ve never had a problem with that.  Once the wine is transformed (sometimes taking 6 months or more) the resulting vinegar is intense and with a smell so overpowering it indeed stinks up the kitchen – but it’s a good stink! Here’s how I started all those years ago…

Since I didn’t know of anyone who had a crock or a barrel of vinegar which contains the slimy Mother of Vinegar I let my fingers do the walking and found a hardware store on the east side of Detroit which specialized in wine-making supplies. (It has since closed.) They also stocked the  mycoderma aceti, the bacteria culture, used to make vinegar. It came in a jar and was clear, like water. I purchased it and a crock and was on my way.

When I arrived home, I dumped the bacteria culture into the crock along with two bottles of wine.  Over a period of three months I watched the wine transform into vinegar.  The transformation began when a hazy veil covered the liquid.  The veil is referred to as bacteria zoogloea. Undisturbed and relying on oxygen, the zoogloea forms on the surface of the vinegar to protect the contents underneath. As it grows it becomes leather-like but upon touching it you discover a slimy, slippery yet solid rubbery gelatinous mass  – like raw liver. If left undisturbed it will keep growing and could eventually take over the entire container. Allowing alcohol additions to wet the surface of the zoogloea cuts off oxygen. It will sink to the bottom lifeless allowing another to form to protect the contents (description partially taken from Brian J. Helsaple’s A – Z vinegar glossary which is no longer online).

Mother of Vinegar is defined as a slimy, gummy substance made up of various bacteria — specifically mycoderma aceti — that cause fermentation in wine and cider and turn them into vinegar. Known as mère de vinaigre in French and sometimes simply as “mother” in English, its growth is best fostered in a medium-warm environment (60°-85°F). The mother should be transferred to a new mixture or discarded once the liquid has turned to vinegar.

The Internet has several sites describing various ways on how to “properly” make vinegar and for all intents and purposes, they all work even if they seem to contradict each other.  One way is to set up a barrel, crock or jar with a funnel fit snugly into a plastic tube. Let the funnel sit on top of the jar or the barrel’s bung hole being careful to ensure that fruit flies cannot enter.  You may need to use cheesecloth. The idea here is let the mother grow on top, never disturbing it, while you feed fresh wine into the funnel. The resulting vinegar is removed via a spigot at the bottom of the barrel/jar/crock. This is great for testing the quality of your vinegar or drawing off finished vinegar without disturbing the mother. However, sludge may develop over time at the bottom of the container plugging the spigot.

Another way is to just keep adding fresh wine on top of the old mother which will cause the mother to sink and regrow on top.  You’ll need to clean out the old sunken mother once or twice a year.  If you don’t it will eventually fill up the jar leaving no room for liquid and it will “rot.” It shrinks and gets a sort of crinkled black edge.

I have used the second method for 20 years and currently have about 35 gallon jars and crocks squirreled away in my cupboards. I also have three oak barrels and a large Italian demijohn with a spigot and funnel/tube system which works well.

Once the vinegar is deemed ready (by taste and smell) I ladle out the resulting vinegar and strain it through several layers of coffee filters if I think it needs it.  This technique of removing any sludge or bits of floating Mother works well. The vinegar is dark and intense and better than anything you could buy in a store. If I’m careful with the ladle to not disturb the sludge at the bottom the vinegar will not be cloudy

DO’S and DON’TS

After your crock is established, try to feed your Mother every other week or so with a glass or two of wine.

Let your Mother breathe.  A linen napkin or cheesecloth works well if you are using a crock or jar.

Throw out or give away the slab of Mother once it sinks to the bottom of your crock.

Don’t add fortified wine (port, sherry, etc.) to your crock unless to add water to dilute the high alcohol content.

Other interesting tidbits:

You can use a slab of Mother from red wine to start a crock of white.  Some sites say that this won’t work but it does.

In an April 14, 1991 New York Times Magazine article “The Good Mother” by William L. Hamilton, Hamilton dumps both red and white wines into his barrel. Others say “don’t do that.” I’ve done it with no resulting problems. But I tend to keep red red and white white.

Feel free to ask questions below in the comments box.  On our old site when I originally published this article over 10 years ago I had hundreds of comments and words of wisdom but, alas, those are gone now.  So, let’s start over here.

Cheers,

Kim Adams

211 Responses to “Vinegar Files”

  • Jim:

    Hey there.

    Just getting interested in vinegar brewing. Been brewing beer for 15 years and Kombucha for 3 years…I need more hobbies!

    I have a couple of starters going (I thought I killed the first one by moving it around and adding hydrogen peroxide late).

    That first one (Pinot, ACV with mother, 1 month old) has a sunken mother and is skinning over with a new mother so it will be ok I think. The 2nd one (Cabernet, purchased red wine mother, 1 week old) is just getting started. I may use the Pinot one for the pantry and the cabernet one for the barrel.

    I have a toasted 5L barrel from your friends at Oak Barrels Ltd. I look forward to using it after the holidays (pourover method). A couple of questions:

    1.) One site https://www.wine-tastings-guide.com/make-vinegar.html espouses boiling the finished vinegar to concentrate and improve it. Any comments about that?

    2.) If I go to the funnel and tubing method later, should I drill a hole for the tubing so that the access hole is always unobstructed? I could always plug it, then remove floating mothers if needed.

    3.) Is it easier for maintenance to remove the floating mother instead of doing pourover and removing sunken mothers?

    Thanks,

    Jim

    • Kim:

      1.) One site https://www.wine-tastings-guide.com/make-vinegar.html espouses boiling the finished vinegar to concentrate and improve it. Any comments about that?

      It would certainly concentrate it and it’s a technique used for culinary purposes but I’m not sure about it being improved. And I don’t think boiling is necessary. The reduction is usually brought on by a simmer or very gently boil.

      2.) If I go to the funnel and tubing method later, should I drill a hole for the tubing so that the access hole is always unobstructed? I could always plug it, then remove floating mothers if needed.

      I suppose this is ok although I didn’t do that with my set up and never had a problem.

      3.) Is it easier for maintenance to remove the floating mother instead of doing pourover and removing sunken mothers?

      At some point it will need to be removed otherwise it just gets thicker if you let it sit and will eventually replace all liquid. The ones that sink will just decompose so it’s best to remove them periodically.

      Good luck with your project and happy holidays!

  • I’ve been making apple cider vinegars, red and white wine, plus raspberry, pear, ginger-pear… Some more for drinking than salads.

    I have 2 questions:
    1. how do you know if a wine vinegar mother is still usable as a starter? Are all who sink no good? The red ones look fine – like flat liver. Can I give them to friends to start their own?

    2. My last large batch of cider vinegar formed a nice thick mother (or layers of) and never really got strong – 6 months now. It is nicely drinkable straight – more like a kombucha than vinegar.
    I was told at our local beer/wine making supply place that the old mothers maybe were reversing the process.
    We’ll drink that batch, but I’d like some ideas on what went wrong. I tried it again using champagne yeast to start fermentation. That took about 10 days – it seems to be working. So maybe I didn’t have enough alcohol content for the first batch?
    Thanks – Jeanne

    • Kim:

      Hi Jeanne:

      1. how do you know if a wine vinegar mother is still usable as a starter? Are all who sink no good? The red ones look fine – like flat liver. Can I give them to friends to start their own?

      Yes, you may give a fresh mother slab to friends and even ones that have sunk but look them over closely. If it looks like they are rotting, turning black around the edges and shrinking a bit it’s always best to toss those. And remember, the liquid is full of the bacteria. You don’t have to actually use a slab. The liquid should work just fine.

      2. My last large batch of cider vinegar formed a nice thick mother (or layers of) and never really got strong – 6 months now. It is nicely drinkable straight – more like a kombucha than vinegar.
      I was told at our local beer/wine making supply place that the old mothers maybe were reversing the process.
      We’ll drink that batch, but I’d like some ideas on what went wrong. I tried it again using champagne yeast to start fermentation. That took about 10 days – it seems to be working. So maybe I didn’t have enough alcohol content for the first batch?

      I don’t know the science behind why this happens. It’s happened to me a few times too. And it’s best to keep the sunken ones out of the container or at least don’t leave them there for months on end. While I have experimented with fruit juices I have not had much success. I’ve stuck with straight wine all these years.

      • Marc McCulloch:

        I have found that the really thick mother can be a blessing AND a curse. A thick, robust mother tells me that she is really working. BUT, if the thick mother covers the surface so that no oxygen can reach the wine/vinegar, the process stalls at the intermediate step and never quite finishes. In some instances, the batch starts to smell like acetone (Acetaldehyde). You have to remove the thick mother and agitate the batch to oxygenate it so that it will complete the transformation to vinegar. Don’t worry — the bacteria are still there and a new mother will grow quickly. In fact, you may need to remove several thick mothers to get the batch to turn completely.

  • Kayla:

    Hi Kim! I am just getting started on my first batch of vinegar and the instructions that came with the mother I purchased (an 8 oz. jar) said to add the mother, 2 cups of wine, and 1 cup of water (altogether, 32 oz. liquid) to a quart jar. However, another website I read suggested never letting the container you make your vinegar in get more than 2/3 full. What are your thoughts on this? Should I put the 32 oz mixture in a larger jar so there is more empty space, or is there another reason these instructions suggest completely filling the quart jar? Thank you so much!!

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Kayla, the concept is to have as much surface exposed to air as possible. So I suppose it does not matter if the jar is half full or nearly full if the exposed surface is the same. The more air the better. Good luck!!

  • Paul Dallemagne:

    Kim,

    I am a wine maker and have about 3/4 of a barrel of red wine (Marquette) that was too warm when fermented and ended up with a very “grassy” taste from acytaldehyde. Rather than just pour it out for the cows, I want to turn it to vinegar. It’s easy enough to strip any sulphates out of it by bubbling nitrogen through it. I also make Kombucha in a bottomless system of adding more tea and taking kombucha out of the bottom.

    Since the end result of Kombucha is vinegar if you let it go too long, can I use my kombucha mother to start the vinegar?

    What is the conversion rate of alcohol to vinegar? As in, if I start with 12% alcohol wine, will it end up as 12% vinegar, is there a lower conversion rate, or will at some point the bacteria die off and leave some alcohol behind? I’ll be giving most of this away once it’s done and I have quite a few friends who have religious reasons for not consuming any alcohol.

    I have an oak barrel that I aged merlot in for about 2 years that I plan on ageing the vinegar in. Should I convert the wine in a plastic barrel, then move it to the oak, or should I just do the conversion in the oak barrel?

    Thank you very much for your help!

    Cheers,
    Paul

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Paul. Sorry for the delay. While I have not made kombucha it is my understanding that you can use it as a starter.

      As for the conversion rate, there is no alcohol left after the conversion or are you talking about the acid percentage? Have you ever seen an alcohol amount listed on a commercial vinegar?

      The barrel question: You could do it in the barrel but make sure that there’s access to it large enough to remove any mother that might grow in it. Or you could do it in the plastic barrel then move it over. You still might get a large mother growth so keep an eye on it.

      Good luck!

      • Paul Dallemagne:

        Kim,

        Thank you very much for your help. As to the conversion rate I was trying to reference alcohol to acid conversion. From some other research, I diluted the wine from 12% alcohol to 9.5% alcohol before starting with the Kombucha mother, though I also added a gallon of unpasturized cider vinegar for good measure. I am fermenting it in a plastic barrel with an open top, and will move it to the oak barrel after it is finished fermenting to vinegar. I am aerating the batch with an aquarium air pump for 10 minutes (or so) every other day or so. It is starting to smell a bit like kombucha, so I hope things are going well. I will submit a progress report for everybody’s benefit later when it is closer to complete. Sorry, but that is the 22 years of military in me desiring “lessons learned” for all involved.

        Cheers,
        Paul

  • Christina:

    Kim! You rock for writing this post and answering all these questions. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

  • Jonathan Marks:

    Hi Kim –

    Thanks for the informative blog. I’ve been making wine vinegar for about six years, using mother I bought online. Occasionally, a batch will turn out “sweet,” not really acidic, but, for the most part, great vinegar. The last batch, however, is not turning out. Just tastes like bad wine. I had never heard until I saw it in your blog that mother can “rot.” I suspect that’s what’s happened. Is there any way I can submit a photo so you can confirm? Or do you have one you can post so I can compare? Do I need to purchase new mother? I’ve looked at all the bottles and most of the mother seems the same – black on the edges, crinkly and tough. Other pieces just seem thin and rubbery.

    Thanks,
    Jon

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Jon. I have some photos of bad mother around somewhere but it would take me a while to dig through my archive. However, your description is pretty perfect as I know exactly what you are referring to. Yes, the black edged, crinkly stuff needs to go. Throw it out. Not sure about the other thin and rubbery ones. You could send a photo to gangofpour@gmail.com and I will take a look. Might want to just toss all of the mother that has sunk and add some fresh wine and unpasteurized vinegar like Braggs (yes, it’s ok to use cider vinegar). Use an immersion blender if you have one and blend the heck out of it for a minute of so over two or three days. You want to incorporate as much air as you can. Monitor over the next few weeks to see what develops. Let us know how it turns out.
      Cheers,
      Kim

      • Bobby G:

        Hi Kim,

        Interesting and thank you.

        I’ve had no problems for years (10+). I believe the key is that when I add wine to the main vessel I put in a hose from a cheap aquarium pump and aerate for an hour. That’s most likely too long but it works. I also clean out the Mother maybe in 4 months. It’s an eye thing (art?).

        Also, I use a secondary for finishing. That gets only fluid from the main before any wine is added. Wine is never added to the secondary. I do aerate for a bit (smaller container).

        Cheers!

        Bobby G

      • Jonathan Marks:

        Thanks, Kim! Appreciate the advice. Jon

  • Judy:

    Hi,
    Thank you for all the information. I am having trouble making vinegar because I am getting mold forming on top. The mother is healthy, but the layer of mold on top is discouraging. Some batches are fine, other batches grow mold. I am using glass quart canning jars covered with cheese cloth. Any advice?

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Judy – Can you tell me how you are making the vinegar? Wine, fruit juice? What are you using as the inoculate, if any?

  • Charles:

    Hello Kim,
    Thanks for your article. Just wondering if I can make vinegar using sweet wine like sauternes (13% ABV and unfortified) or are the results normally better with dry wines? Thanks for letting me know.

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Charles. Yes you can. Because of the higher alcohol it’s best to add some water. I’d add a cup per one 750 ml bottle. Good luck!!

  • Marlene:

    Hi Kim,

    I made some amazing vinegar this year with natural wine from Germany. It’s so good, that I want to make more of it to give as gifts. A couple of months ago, I took the mother from a store-bought bottle of vinegar and put it, and some of the store-bought vinegar, into a bottle of the wine to make this vinegar. The new vinegar is wonderful and now has a visible mother.

    I’m inclined to take the half-bottle of delicious vinegar with its visible mother and blend it in my blender, then mix some of the blended liquid with fresh bottles of the same kind of wine to make more vinegar. I’d then do the same thing I did to make this vinegar, which was to top the bottles with cheesecloth and store them in a dark place for a couple of months.

    Do you think this is a good plan, and/or do you have any advice for me?

    Thanks in advance!

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Marlene. This would work although it can be a pain in the butt to filter out the chunks of blended mother. I have done this to make large batches of vinegar that has over 2-3 gallons of vinegar so it’s easier to ladle off the top while ignoring the globs that sink to the bottom. You would probably get the same results by removing the mother and just whizzing a lot of air into your new batch. Do this a few more times over the course of a week to speed up the process. I use am immersion/stick blender for this purpose. Alternatively, keep the delicious vinegar and just redo what you did to start with. Why waste good home-brewed vinegar? :-) I hope I understood your question correctly. If not, please get back in touch and we can go from there. Either way, let us know how it turns out.

  • Irene:

    Hi Kim,
    I first want to tell you that I really appreciate all the information you’re giving us in this site!
    I found some mother floating in a balsamic vinegar bottle I bought some time ago and I would like to use it to start making wine vinegar( both red and white)for the first time in my life. Could you please tell me if there’s a “right” proportion of mother to wine that’s needed so as to start a fresh batch?
    Thanks,

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Irene – thanks for stopping by. Not all mothers are created equal but that being said, most commercial jars that you buy come in an 8 ounce size with instructions to use one bottle of wine with one cup of water – preferably not chlorinated. Most bottles of balsamic have a small mouth so I am wondering how you would get the mother glob out. But remember, the liquid has the mother in it too. Depending on how expensive the balsamic was or how little you have you may not want to use it to make your own vinegar. It’s less expensive to buy a cider vinegar with the mother in it, like Bragg’s which is widely available. If you are a Costco member they may have cider vinegars with the mother too. Just add the contents of a bottle into a gallon glass jar and add a bottle of wine with a little water. If the jar has a lid, secure it and shake the heck out of it to incorporate air or use a stick/immersion blender and whizz it up. Remove lid and replace with a cloth napkin or paper coffee filter securing it tightly with a rubber band or string. Set it somewhere you can keep an eye on it to watch its development. In a few weeks to a month you should see some action forming on the top. If you don’t see anything, whizz it up again. This is a slow process. It may take 6 months. It may take 3. You never know. Let us know how it turns out. :-)

  • Georgia Denby:

    Hello, I have a few massive MOVs , one being almost 2 inches thick. Is Ive read that I can eat them but not sure how or how much? Is there something I can do to them to make them more palatable?

  • Bobby G:

    I noticed that my Mother seems much healthier after I clean out the old Mothers at the bottom.

    I aerate my vinegar with a fish pump and fine bubble attachment when adding wine so oxygen can’t explain all of it. Though, when cleaning, I do dispense the vinegar to a large bowl and then put it back with the Mother I took from the top. That is a big oxygen addition. However, the health lasts for well over a month.

    My Mother never grows a large as I’ve read of others and definitely not close to Kim’s photos.

    It grows thin layers and they drop. I started a second jar as I want to start a batch in the wood cask. In that jar I can see the layers. Less than ‘1/4 inch and they drop.

    It makes sense to remove the old Mother as it seems it may just take up oxygen or hamper the active Mother. I have no idea.

    Anyone else seen that removing old Mother seems to help?

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Bobby, once the mother drops it is deprived of oxygen and dies. It will slowly rot and some say provide an off flavor to vinegar. I do clean out my crocks at least twice a year and probably should do it more often. For me, the bigger problem is that the mother displaces the liquid through growth and then there’s evaporation. Best to keep an eye on things so that the culture stays healthy and produces a lot of vinegar, not mother.

  • Marc:

    Hi Kim -

    Thank you for a great site.

    I successfully made two batches of red wine vinegar from the same mother in a 5-gallon carboy. I am on the third batch now but it will NOT turn. It’s been months. The wine does not smell bad — but it’s not vinegar. The mother looks healthy. I’m using the same wine that was successful in the past. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?

    Marc

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Marc. I had this happen to me once in a carboy and I no longer use them. You might want to add some fresh mother of vinegar, like maybe a half gallon and try to swirl the carboy to incorporate a lot of air. Do this over the course of several days. Make sure that the carboy is not filled to the neck. It should be at the point in the container that has the most surface exposure. Let us know how it turns out. Good luck!

  • Inga:

    Hi, Kim
    I was wondering, is it OK to use an apple cider vinegar mother for making wine winegar?
    Thank you
    Inga

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Inga – yes you can. I have heard many positive reports from people using Bragg’s apple cider vinegar that has the mother. Good luck!!

  • Courtney J Nogar:

    I’ve been having a terrible fruit fly problem with some of my vinegars, any tips for keeping them away? Also is it best to toss a mother that has been infested?

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Courtney – sorry for the delayed response. I was out of town. Anyway, yeah, fruit flies can be a real problem. I had one really bad infestation in an oak barrel. It was so bad I dumped everything, sterilized the barrel and started over. But a few here and there aren’t a problem. I keep cloth napkins and/or basket coffee filters (depending on the size of my container) over the tops secured with a rubber band or string. Rubber bands will fatigue over time and break so be sure to keep an eye on them.

  • Debbie:

    Hi! I started my red wine vinegar April 21st- with a mother and a gallon glass container and covered it with red wine and cheesecloth. I have not done anything to it since- but it doesn’t yet smell of red wine vinegar? Do I need to do anything now? Or- just wait another few months? Thanks for your help!

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Debbie – how much mother to how much wine did you mix? Was it just the glob of mother or was there a lot of liquid as well? One thing you might want to do is remove the slab temporarily and immerse a stick blender or electric beaters into the wine. Mix the heck out of it to incorporate a massive amount of air. Do this every day for 3-4 days then see if you notice any action in a month or so. What you are experiencing is not uncommon. It does happen from time-to-time. Don’t give up.

    • Debbie:

      Hi Kim! I added a jar of “Mother” to one small bottle of wine. I will try and stick a blender in there for the next 4 days and mix it up. I didn’t think I was supposed to touch it though? There is no blob in there though- it is all liquid? Thank you!

      • Debbie:

        Kim- I just found the jar I used. So- I added this jar that is 10.6 fluid ounces and the directions said add 16 ounces of red wine and 8 ounces of water. The jar had the mother in it- but also liquid as well. That is exactly what I did on April 21st- and haven’t added anything to it since then. Thanks- Debbie

        • Kim Adams:

          Yes, technically, you should leave it alone but it sounds like you have a “stuck” conversion. I get that every now and then. The stick blender technique really has worked well for me. When blending, blend the heck out of it. I mean blend it to the point of it almost foaming over. Keep doing this over the course of 4 days or so. The air just may jump start the conversation. If not, contact the company and have them send you a new jar or get your money back. Oh, and I would also add a fresh cup of wine – maybe even 2 cups. 16 ounces wine to 8 ounces of water seems off to me. But that’s me. I’m sure there are a lot of ways to do this. I would do a whole bottle of wine (750 ml) to 1 cup of water. And most of the time I don’t add any water especially is the alc content is above 14 %.

          • Debbie:

            Thanks for the info. I will do exactly as you said for the next 4 days and add some more wine too. Then- just let it sit for another month or so. I will let you know what happens! Debbie

  • Suzette Bannister:

    Hi, I’ve had a bottle of Italian red wine vinegar for about 6 months. About 4 weeks ago I noticed it had some strange “growths” in it. The vinegar is still clear (I’ve had vinegar turn cloudy before but this is completely different) and the growths are two separate things. One is round and floats up and down on the top, the second stays on the bottom and is larger, layered with distinct edges and folds. I’ve been using the vinegar and it tastes fine (and hasn’t made me sick yet). If the top round piece is the mother, what is the bottom part? If I can use the mother I’d like to try making my own vinegar and add it to a new jar with a bottle of red wine. Should I discard the larger piece? Thank you so much for your help and advice…..never made vinegar before and always wanted to try.

    • Suzette Bannister:

      I have a photo that shows the two separate pieces inside the bottle but don’t know how to send it to you…..if it would help. Thanks.

      • Kim Adams:

        It sounds to me like it is a mother growing. The one that’s layered on the bottom used to be at the top but sunk. They don’t sink by themselves. It takes movement of the vessel or the addition of fresh wine on top to make it sink. You probably don’t have very much in the bottle so I would start small, like maybe a pint. Once that’s vinegar and showing a healthy mother you can transfer it to a larger vessel. Is the mother on the bottom fresh looking or are the edges shrunken dried up in appearance? If it still looks fresh and plump go ahead and use it. Once you’ve made your first batch, toss it. Hope it works out for you.

  • Elizabeth:

    Hi, i have read some where that there is a maximum and minimum of percent of alcohol that should be present in the wine. Some of my wines are 14.4% and some are less. Is there a range that is bedt to have for making the vinegar?

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Elizabeth. If I used a 14-16% alc wine I would add a cup of distilled water for every bottle. Lower than that I don’t bother. And according to Lawrence Digg’s Vinegar book he uses the following formula using any size measure. If you have 20% alcohol and you want 100 gallons of 10% for your vinegar stock you multiply 100 x 10% and divide it by 20% = 50 gallons of wine and the rest water. Or easier, divide 20 x 10=2 meaning that one gallon of 20% stock will make 2 gallons of 10% vinegar.

  • Zack renner:

    Hey
    So wine that has sulfites will still turn to vinegar?? The vinegar mother I bought said to not use wine that has sulfites or to remove them

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Zack. Yes, wines with sulfites will turn to vinegar. Whites have more than dry reds. Sweet wines have more than dry wines. I don’t usually have a problem with any of the wines I use for vinegar making but sometimes my whites don’t work out well and it’s probably sulfites but I’m not certain.

  • Geoff Cohen:

    Hi Kim, I have started making my first batch of red wine vinegar. I bought a mother and it is in a one gallon glass jar. I have wine in the bottom, then the mother, and last, I added more wine since so much had evaporated.

    The wine I poured stayed on top of the mother.

    So now I see three layers; original wine, mother, and added wine. Is this normal?

    That is my one question!

    Geoff

    • Kim Adams:

      Hi Geoff. That is normal. Once you added the fresh wine on top of the mother you deprived the mother of oxygen. The jar will grow another but at some future point you should remove the old one.

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