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Post by steveinpa on Oct 27, 2017 0:14:38 GMT
My wife said NO MORE applesauce this year so I am making hard cider. I tasted some tonight after the initial fermentation, yum!
Being raised by my depression-era grandparents I was bothered by throwing out the remnants of the pressed apples. I had read about making ACV at home before so I decided we would do a small test batch. I now have 1/2 gallon of delicious smelling organic ACV in the basement.
My question is what do I do with the mother? I won't be making any more this year as we have used up all of our apples. Do I stir it in or just discard it and keep the vinegar in the fridge so it doesn't form another?
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Post by feather on Oct 27, 2017 0:21:15 GMT
There's a thread about pear/apple vinegar around here somewhere. When I made it, I put the vinegar in 1/2 gallon jars and put it in the pantry downstairs. The mother formed and solidified. I use the vinegar and pour it off of the mother and I leave the mother in there. I leave it so that the next time I make vinegar from scraps of pears or apples, I'll just put that in the next batch. It might be ugly but it's useful.
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Post by steveinpa on Oct 27, 2017 1:01:45 GMT
Thanks. I didn't know if it was useful for anything other than starter in the next batch.
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Post by feather on Oct 27, 2017 1:10:03 GMT
You can maximize your vinegar making quantity, by taking the apple/pear leavings, in a bucket, add a few cups of sugar, a few gallons of water, cover with a cloth, secure with a strap to keep the cloth secure. Leave for a month or so, and you've got lots of it.
I use a lot of mine for cleaning, I'm sure it is edible too, I just don't know how much acid is in it without measuring it.
When I'm doing laundry, it does a good job of softening and cleaning out extra soap. When I do pressure canning and water bath canning, I add some to the water, so the pot doesn't get calcium deposits on it, and the jars are clear and not coated with a white film. Scrubbing aluminum pots, use baking soda and cleaning vinegar. Handling cheese, wash with soapy water, rinse, then squirt some vinegar on hands to avoid transferring mold or yeasts to the cheese.
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Post by Billie on Nov 13, 2017 22:18:18 GMT
feather , thanks for the info on making it in the bucket. I have severals jars of acv sitting on the counter right and 2 bushels of apples yet to be made into applesauce. I will find a bucket before I process them so I can try this so I don't have 20 jars sitting around!
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Post by feather on Nov 13, 2017 22:29:04 GMT
feather , thanks for the info on making it in the bucket. I have severals jars of acv sitting on the counter right and 2 bushels of apples yet to be made into applesauce. I will find a bucket before I process them so I can try this so I don't have 20 jars sitting around! Yes, just throw the apple cores and peel into the bucket, add a few cups of sugar, fill with water. Top with a towel and something to hold it in place. You want it to get oxygen but not let in fruit flies. At first it smells like wine, alcohol, that is what it is supposed to do, then the alcohol starts converting to acetic acid, a thin shiny film develops on the top, the film gets thicker (it is the beginnings of a vinegar mother). It takes a month or so. Then it starts to smell like vinegar. Then I put it in jars, straining it of course first. It continues to ferment the mother gets thicker and floats down to the bottom. When you use it you can just avoid putting the mother into anything. If you need more than a 5 gallon bucket of vinegar, then make 2 or more, in buckets. Split up the apple peels and cores among the buckets and add the sugar and water and go. You're welcome. It's an easy thing to do, just set it and forget about it for a while. |
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Post by feather on Nov 13, 2017 22:47:25 GMT
@redfish, it is perfectly possible that fruit flies did get into the vinegar making liquid. There are lots of results on 'why wine turns to vinegar with fruit flies' if you ask Mr. Google. He is sometimes a good source of information.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2017 23:00:29 GMT
We make a barrel of apple cider every year, when it turns into hard cider we add mother and it makes vinegar. We put it into gallon jugs, as we use the jug we put the last and the mother in 1 jug to start the next years....James
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Post by Billie on Nov 15, 2017 4:39:32 GMT
feather, a couple more questions on the acv, if I may? How many cups of sugar would you put in a 5 gallon bucket? Could I add the acv that I already have started, (about 10 days ago) to the bucket and mix together?
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Post by feather on Nov 15, 2017 6:34:40 GMT
feather , a couple more questions on the acv, if I may? How many cups of sugar would you put in a 5 gallon bucket? Could I add the acv that I already have started, (about 10 days ago) to the bucket and mix together? 1. yes. 2. 2-4 cups of sugar, it creates, more alcohol which later becomes vinegar. When I made it, I didn't want to possibly waste a lot of sugar, so you may add more if you like. You might end up with stronger alcohol and then a stronger vinegar. 3. Yes, the old and new bacteria mixed w/sugars from the fruit and the sugar from the granulated sugar will continue to produce more alcohol which again gets turned to vinegar. Making vinegar is like being a very bad wine maker. Have you ever tasted bad wine, wine that has begun to 'turn'? It tastes of vinegar. |
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Post by Billie on Nov 15, 2017 16:37:46 GMT
feather, thank you for the info. Apple are done and cores are in the bucket. Now to find a place to put it so I am not tripping over it ( which we kept doing last night while finishing the apples).
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