Malt vinegar is made from malted barley.
Rather than malt my own barley, which I do not know how to do, I decided to use a bottle of Guinness and 1 cup of Braggs Apple cider vinegar.
Braggs is a living vinegar and as the starter should do the trick fairly quick and easy.
I began my vinegar on February 18th by pouring the Guinness and Braggs into a small crock and placing it in the pantry. I covered the crock with a cotton fabric to keep dust and such out and let air, wild yeast and such in.
By February 24 a short 5 days later I checked my concoction and found a mother was forming! The vinegar mother was not a solid layer, but a bunch of small globules floating on the top... so I guess I didn't have a mother, I had a litter *L*
It was only a couple more days before I had a healthy mother completely covering the top of my Malt Vinegar.
Now some people say when the mother sinks the vinegar is finished. When brewing other vinegars I never went by the "sink theory", I go by taste.
I insert a straw into the liquid beneath the mother and place my finger on top to trap some of the vinegar, if it tasted right I bottled it up.
Using a straw lets you get beneath the mother without disturbing it and allows you to taste the brew without contaminating it.
I did a taste test and decided the vinegar was ready. (maybe 10 days total, start to finish)
So I strained it though a piece of cotton. I use a man's white cotton hanky. I rinse the hanky in white vinegar and wring it out. The white vinegar is antibacterial, but will not harm the healthy living bacteria your the vinegar, it just keeps you from introducing some unknown bacteria to your brew.
I never cook or heat the vinegar before bottling because heat will kill of all the healthy bacteria and yeast. In essence you don't want to stop the process, but slowing it down is good.
I filter, cap and store it, store it in a dark jar (or dark place) for up to three months. After 3 months it's likely to get pretty strong and you may need to dilute it with filtered water before using.
Storing it in the frig will slow down the culturing process and keep it for getting too tart as fast.
Malt vinegar is not something we use all the time, so I didn't make a big batch, obviously way too small to age in an oak barrel.
I have been told when aging your vinegar add a few white oak wood chips to the bottle, it will give the vinegar that aged in an oak barrel flavor.
If you have a beer or wine making supply store near by you can pick up a small bag of chips for about $2.00.
You can also toast the oak chips in the oven first to give it a slight smokey oak barrel flavor.
I'm going to give this method a try and I'll let you know how it turns out.
© Dove
Rather than malt my own barley, which I do not know how to do, I decided to use a bottle of Guinness and 1 cup of Braggs Apple cider vinegar.
Braggs is a living vinegar and as the starter should do the trick fairly quick and easy.
I began my vinegar on February 18th by pouring the Guinness and Braggs into a small crock and placing it in the pantry. I covered the crock with a cotton fabric to keep dust and such out and let air, wild yeast and such in.
By February 24 a short 5 days later I checked my concoction and found a mother was forming! The vinegar mother was not a solid layer, but a bunch of small globules floating on the top... so I guess I didn't have a mother, I had a litter *L*
It was only a couple more days before I had a healthy mother completely covering the top of my Malt Vinegar.
Now some people say when the mother sinks the vinegar is finished. When brewing other vinegars I never went by the "sink theory", I go by taste.
I insert a straw into the liquid beneath the mother and place my finger on top to trap some of the vinegar, if it tasted right I bottled it up.
Using a straw lets you get beneath the mother without disturbing it and allows you to taste the brew without contaminating it.
I did a taste test and decided the vinegar was ready. (maybe 10 days total, start to finish)
So I strained it though a piece of cotton. I use a man's white cotton hanky. I rinse the hanky in white vinegar and wring it out. The white vinegar is antibacterial, but will not harm the healthy living bacteria your the vinegar, it just keeps you from introducing some unknown bacteria to your brew.
I never cook or heat the vinegar before bottling because heat will kill of all the healthy bacteria and yeast. In essence you don't want to stop the process, but slowing it down is good.
I filter, cap and store it, store it in a dark jar (or dark place) for up to three months. After 3 months it's likely to get pretty strong and you may need to dilute it with filtered water before using.
Storing it in the frig will slow down the culturing process and keep it for getting too tart as fast.
Malt vinegar is not something we use all the time, so I didn't make a big batch, obviously way too small to age in an oak barrel.
I have been told when aging your vinegar add a few white oak wood chips to the bottle, it will give the vinegar that aged in an oak barrel flavor.
If you have a beer or wine making supply store near by you can pick up a small bag of chips for about $2.00.
You can also toast the oak chips in the oven first to give it a slight smokey oak barrel flavor.
I'm going to give this method a try and I'll let you know how it turns out.
© Dove
Comments
I tasted the vinegar recently and thought it needed to brew a little longer.
So I uncorked the wine bottle it was stored in for about 1 week, I covered the opening with a tiny piece of cotton fabric secured with a rubber band.
The vinegar developed a tiny round mother at the bottle neck.
Today hubby and I tasted it and felt it was really good.
We went out for fish and chips last night so it was nice to have something to compare it too. Let me tell you my brew is so much more flavorful.
I strained it once more, tossed the chips back in and corked it.
It's back to aging and I suspect it will need about 1 month.
Pour the champagne to an open crock, (or jar) add about 1 cup of Braggs vinegar and cover with a cotton cloth secured with a rubber band. You should have a mother floating on top in about 1 week, champagne vinegar in about 2 weeks.