Homemade Wine Vinegar Recipes

Steps:

• Pour the wine into a clean, wide-mouthed half-gallon glass jar. Put the lid on and shake it well to aerate the wine. Remove lid, and add drinking water until the jar is about three-quarters full, along with the live raw vinegar or mother. Cover the jar with cheesecloth and keep the cloth in place with a rubber band.
• Leave the jar undisturbed in a dark place at room temperature for 3 to 4 weeks, checking regularly to see that a vinegar mother (a translucent, gelatinous disk) is growing on the surface, and no mold is forming. (If you see green, black or white mold, scrape it off; if it grows back, throw out the mixture and start over.) You should begin to smell vinegar after a few weeks, and can taste it every week or so to monitor the fermentation.
• After about 2 months, when the alcohol has acidified, or when a taste of the vinegar makes your mouth pucker, it's ready to strain and bottle. (You can save the mother to begin a new batch.) The vinegar can be used as is, or aged in the bottle for up to a year to mellow its flavor.

Steps:

• Pour the wine into a sanitized widemouthed jar. If the wine contains sulfites, stir in the hydrogen peroxide to neutralize them. Let sit for a minute. Stir in the water with a wooden spoon.
• Pour in the raw vinegar. Stir well; a little oxygen is good for getting the process going.
• Cover the jar with a piece of unbleached cotton (butter muslin or tightly woven cheesecloth), or a basket-style paper coffee filter. Secure with a string, a rubber band, or a threaded metal canning band. This is to keep out fruit flies.
• Place on your counter or in another spot that is 75° to 86°F.
• Check the vinegar in a month, when you should have nice acidity. However, it may take another month or two for the acidity to fully develop. Test the pH: It should be 4.0 or below.
• Bottle half the vinegar and replace with the same amount of wine for another batch. Or bottle it all and store the mother for another batch or to share with a friend. Use immediately, or age to allow it to mellow and flavors to develop.

Steps:

• Place the vinegar and the wine in a crock or jar, such as a large canning jar. It should hold at least 1 gallon, with enough extra space to allow for plenty of air circulation. Cover the opening with a cotton towel or piece of muslin, secure it with a rubber band, and place it in a warm spot (68-70°F.) for 1 to 2 months. Check it occasionally, and sniff it. It will gradually assume a distinct vinegar aroma, and you will notice a slight film, or voile, appearing on the top. Don't move the jar, for it might disrupt the film, which is the beginning of the bacteria that will create a blanket on top of the vinegar and turn any wine you add to vinegar.
• When the mixture has a distinct smell of vinegar (after at least 1 month), transfer it to a crock with a spigot, or to a small barrel with spigot and a bunghole, by pouring as much of the vinegar as possible into the new container, then carefully transferring the mère by hand. Draw off one third of the vinegar and bottle it for use. Replace that with an equal amount of wine. From then on, add ends of bottles to the vinegar crock, making sure you never submerge the mère and that you don't add too much all at once, which could cause the mère to expire.
• After adding wine, wait at least 2 weeks to draw off any vinegar.

Steps:

• For each vinegar, place the flavor ingredients in a clean, dry glass bottle. Fill the bottles with the appropriate vinegar, and seal tightly. Steep in a cool, dark place for one week for flavors to develop. After that, keep vinegars for up to 2 weeks, refrigerated.