Joe,

Thanks for your guidance.

Does the vinegar get better with age?

Is barrel aging better than glass?

Have you tried making any herbal vinegars?

Boatman

On 19 Nov 2003 03:46:43 -0800, (Joe
Sallustio) wrote:

>I make vinegar; I use my wines for the base and all of them are
>sulfited to 0.8 ppm molecular. As long as you follow the normal
>process there should not be an issue with normally sulfited wines. Red
>or white, it's acetobacter that does the work.
>
>You don't need to buy a mother if your friend gives you some vinegar.
>Just use 1 part vinegar, two parts wine, 1 part water. That reduces
>the sulfite and the alcohol content. Most store bought vinegar is dead
>as an FYI.
>
>I would not use sorbated wine, but have no idea if it's an issue or
>not...
>
>That 'clump' you see is often called the mother around here but it's
>only celulose, a byproduct of the bacteria at work. The bacteria are
>present in the actual vinegar, you do not need the clump.
>
>It's pretty hard to kill a mother, they can live longer than any of
>us. Some use high sulfite levels, some heat to 160 F for 5 minutes to
>kill them. There is no good reason to kill them that I can think of.
>Vinegar prefers warmer temps to cold when converting, but room
>temperature is fine. It can take several month to convert though.
>
>Storage at home temperatures is not an issue, mine are several years
>old.
>
>Just DO NOT make wine and vinegar in the same area, and do not mix up
>equipment. If you must use it on both, use a bleach solution to kill
>the acetobacter before reusing equipment on wine. It does not take a
>lot of acetobacter to turn a wine to vinegar.
>Regards,
>Joe
>
wrote in message >...
>> I want to turn some of my wine into wine vinegar.
>>
>> I have seen 'mother' available from the local wine store for reds and
>> whites. Is there a real difference? A friend of mine has mother that
>> works just fine on his wine and he makes a it with a blend of red and
>> white grapes.
>>
>> Can I use kit wine that has been stopped with sulfates?
>>
>> Can I use kit wine that has sorbate added?
>>
>> What is the best way to store mother, to keep it active?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Boatman