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possibly OT: homemade `champagne' vinegar

[... not sure this belongs here, feel free to redirect me to rec.food.cooking if appropriate ...]

well, California sparkling anyway...

so i served three of four planned bottles at a gathering recently. only a single serving was poured from the fourth, and it sat out at room temp overnight. so i figured i'd make champagne vinegar.

i cleaned a 2.5 liter glass pitcher. dried it, and poured in the rest of the sparkling wine. i covered it with plastic wrap, and secured that with a rubber band. i poked several holes in the plastic with a toothpick, and i'ts been sitting in a dark location, ~18 degrees Celsius (my cellar) for about three weeks. do i need to move it to more of a room temp (my house runs between 21 and 22 degrees Celsius).

i was figuring to let it sit at least six weeks. sound about right? do i need to mix it at all?

i'll report back after i have a chance to use it. i'm already researching recipe ideas.

thanks...

Reply to
<singleuse
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Reply to
cwdjrxyz

No problem. Most who like wine have some experience with vinegar, like it or not :-).

Wine does need some exposure to oxygen in the air to convert alcohol to acetic acid (the acid of vinegar), so your holes in the plastic cover should take care of that. Wine usually will convert to vinegar without any special help, as the organisms that do the conversion are about everywhere. Some will use a live starter vinegar culture that will ensure a large quantity of good organisms to give the conversion a good start and good result. Then some of the fresh vinegar made with the culture is added to new wine to start a new batch. Some commercial vinegars might work as a starter unless the organisms have been removed or killed by pasteurization, filtration, etc.Distilled white vinegar available nearly everywhere would be of no use as a starter. It can take several days to many weeks for the process to complete and for the vinegar to be of best quality. Just taste it now and then to see how it is coming along. If by chance it is not developing at a reasonable rate, a little increase in temperature may help.

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Reply to
cwdjrxyz

You might like to look at

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that discusses making vinegar and
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which is a source for vinegar starter (mother of vinegar) which contains a high concentration of the live organisms needed to get a batch of vinegar off to a rapid start and thus help avoid other organisms that can produce nasty smells from working on the wine before conversion to vinegar is underway. __________________________________
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Reply to
cwdjrxyz

On 30 Dec 2006 23:30:36 -0800, cwdjrxyz wrote:

| > Wine does need some exposure to oxygen in the air to convert alcohol to | > acetic acid (the acid of vinegar), so your holes in the plastic cover | > should take care of that. Wine usually will convert to vinegar without | > any special help, as the organisms that do the conversion are about | > everywhere. Some will use a live starter vinegar culture that will | > ensure a large quantity of good organisms to give the conversion a good | > start and good result. Then some of the fresh vinegar made with the | > culture is added to new wine to start a new batch. Some commercial | > vinegars might work as a starter unless the organisms have been removed | > or killed by pasteurization, filtration, etc.Distilled white vinegar | > available nearly everywhere would be of no use as a starter. It can | > take several days to many weeks for the process to complete and for the | > vinegar to be of best quality. Just taste it now and then to see how it | > is coming along. If by chance it is not developing at a reasonable | > rate, a little increase in temperature may help. | | You might like to look at

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that | discusses making vinegar and |
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which is a source for | vinegar starter (mother of vinegar) which contains a high concentration | of the live organisms needed to get a batch of vinegar off to a rapid | start and thus help avoid other organisms that can produce nasty smells | from working on the wine before conversion to vinegar is underway.

thanks for the great information.

Reply to
bitbucket

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