[Andy Farke]

I recently turned a lower-alcohol, lower-IBU weissbier into a vinegar...I took a few cups of beer, degassed it, added some unpasteurized vinegar as a starter, and let it sit at coolish room temperature for a few months. It developed a gorgeous vinegar mother. The flavor on the final version is fantastic -- it tastes just like the stuff you'd put on fish and chips. I used it to spritz a pork shoulder on an extended smoke, and the end result was amazing.


Anyone else made beer or malt vinegar?

[fredthecat]

i'm always tempted but i can get good quality malt vinegar of several different makes and apple cider etc for a cheap price. not sure where i'd find a vinegar mother without buying a $5 bottle of apple cider vinegar with a mother in it, and once i got that... i just don't use that much vinegar.

i absolutely do want to make a cooking wine again though. if i did it again i'd get
-enough cane sugar for ~10-14%ABV
-EEEC118 or whatever wine yeast
-lots of cheap mead/wine nutrients, DAP
-either a minimash of 2lbs 2row or 1/2lb DME
-cheap clarifying agent

[Andy Farke]

i'm always tempted but i can get good quality malt vinegar of several different makes and apple cider etc for a cheap price. not sure where i'd find a vinegar mother without buying a $5 bottle of apple cider vinegar with a mother in it, and once i got that... i just don't use that much vinegar.

i absolutely do want to make a cooking wine again though. if i did it again i'd get
-enough cane sugar for ~10-14%ABV
-EEEC118 or whatever wine yeast
-lots of cheap mead/wine nutrients, DAP
-either a minimash of 2lbs 2row or 1/2lb DME
-cheap clarifying agent

Fair enough on not wanting an excess of vinegar! We go through a fair bit in our house...a decent bit goes into typical cooking projects, and I also make homemade brown mustard that goes through a steady supply. What can I say, I'm a vinegar-head.


Cooking wine sounds like a fun project, though!

[pete b]

I use quite a bit of vinegar but I have always been a bit concerned that the acetobacters would not mind their own business and get in ferments they are not welcome in. This may be an unfounded fear, I don't think I have ever actually researched the likleyhood of this happening.

[Andy Farke]

I use quite a bit of vinegar but I have always been a bit concerned that the acetobacters would not mind their own business and get in ferments they are not welcome in. This may be an unfounded fear, I don't think I have ever actually researched the likleyhood of this happening.

This was on my mind, too! I processed my vinegar-to-be in a completely separate room in the house, and wash my hands carefully if I'm working with either in proximity (as I did this weekend, when jumping between the smoking application of my vinegar and the brewhouse where I was boiling my latest batch).

[narvin]

I wouldn't worry too much.  Acetobacter is absolutely everywhere.  Don't reuse the same tubing, of course, but it's already in the air waiting to sour your beer if you left it out for a month.