Beer Forum

So I have tried to make vinegar from a batch of beer that I didn't like... It has only been 4 weeks, But so far it has made some shit vinegar as well...

All I did was pour about a six pack of homebrew into a large jug and added a white wine vinegar mother to it...

Anyone else try this?

I see part of a new mother that formed on top surronded by what looks to be yeast... I think it's workin right... I should have known that crappy beer would make shitty vinegar

I may be wrong but it sounds like you're trying to make malt vinegar. I don't think that the liquid that becomes the vinegar is actually beer in that it probably isn't hopped. Maybe that's why it's making shitty vinegar?

The bottle of commercial beer vinegar from Austria which I have does list hops in the ingredients. While I've never tried making beer vinegar (which is definitely different to malt vinegar), the process is the same. My only vinegar experience is making wine vinegar. Generally by now (4wks), it should be smelling and tasting of vinegar. If it doesn't then the conversion process is incomplete.

A 6 pack in one vessel is probably too much. You need exposure to the air - the bacteria needs oxygen which can only be obtained by a larger surface area of the vinegar exposed. Put it in two vessels. A 6 pack = 1/2 a gallon, that is too much for one vessel, you need to get it across two vessels or more. It's the opposite of brewing: more exposure to the oxygen the better.

Keep your temps between 15C & 25C (60~80F). Wherever your ale is brewing put it there. Cold temps slow down the process.

You could have the vinegar equivalent of a stuck fermentation. Add a small amount more of prepared vinegar or mother; the alcohol can kill the bacteria before the job is done.

Anyway, I might give it a go. The commercial bottle which I've got is a bit old but once the red wine vinegar finishes that I've got at the moment, in will go a bottle of beer as a test.

Good luck. Hope the above helps.

Simon

so vinegar, also known as acetic acid, is made by acetobacter converting alcohol and oxygen into vinegar and some gas (CO2?).

Most common vinegars are about 5% acidity. meaning that it is 94.99% water 0.001% "stuff" and 5% acetic acid?

My main question is.....if you have a 5% alcohol liquid and add acetobacter and oxygen, do you get 5% acetic acid?

mauriceatron wrote:if you have a 5% alcohol liquid and add acetobacter and oxygen, do you get 5% acetic acid?

Yes, from what I have read the amount of alcohol is directly related to the acetic acid. The bacteria that eat "oxidize" ethanol "fermented alcohol" turn it in to acetic acid. Oxygen speeds up the oxidation process.

Vinegar has to be at least 4% acetic acid, but it has to be at least 6% for pickling, or it will spoil. The alcohol percentage of the liquid that you want to turn to vinegar should match this.

Beer needs to be high enough and Wine needs to be diluted. Ciders usually come out to be around 6% and this may be why cider vinegar is so common.

I used a vodka infuser jar thing that i spray painted black...

I keep it in the kitchen because my paranoia keeps me from putting it around my fermenting beer. I don't want some of that bacteria wrecking a good batch of beer.

This is a picture of inside it at 6 weeks...

The white stuff in the middle is the mother and the brown stuff around it looks like it's the beer yeast