Re: Brown Powder on my Vinegar

[Guest guest]

>I made some vinegar from wine with an apple cider starter. Seemed like

>kindof an NT sort of thing to do. It has developed a brown powdery substance

>on the top that looks like cocoa. Anyone know what this might be and if it

>could be fatal (to me or the mother)?

>

>Kathy

Is it on top of the mother? Mine has never developed anything ... does the

vinegar have access to the air? (vinegar bacteria require air, they die if they

don't get oxygen). Also if you pour new wine on top it sinks the mother and

kills it. I " floated " my mother on top of wine corks (they use wood shavings in

the old days, I read) which helps.

I've never heard of anything that kills you that grows in vinegar though. If the

wine has not developed a mother yet, the powder might be the beginnings of one?

They look kind of weird when they start out -- I'm guessing that since you used

a cider starter you don't have a solid " mother " yet?

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

Heidi,

OK, now I'm forced to admit that I don't really know what I am doing! The

mother is actually on the bottom. I remember an old post from you saying

something about that yours drowned. I just stubbornly hoped that mine would

still turn out alright. I have the wine/vinegar solution in a glass pitcher with

cheesecloth on top and I keep it inside a cabinet in the kitchen. A few vinegar

flies still managed to get to it somehow. I even wondered if their little bodies

inocculated it with something. I think I'll just continue to observe it and see

what happens-hopefully it is just another mother developing. Or maybe I'm

growing cocoa

Thanks for your interest and support.

Kathy

--- In , Heidi Schuppenhauer <heidis@t...>

wrote:

>

> >I made some vinegar from wine with an apple cider starter. Seemed like

> >kindof an NT sort of thing to do. It has developed a brown powdery

substance

> >on the top that looks like cocoa. Anyone know what this might be and if it

> >could be fatal (to me or the mother)?

> >

> >Kathy

>

> Is it on top of the mother? Mine has never developed anything ... does the

vinegar have access to the air? (vinegar bacteria require air, they die if they

don't get oxygen). Also if you pour new wine on top it sinks the mother and

kills it. I " floated " my mother on top of wine corks (they use wood shavings in

the old days, I read) which helps.

>

> I've never heard of anything that kills you that grows in vinegar though. If

the

wine has not developed a mother yet, the powder might be the beginnings of

one? They look kind of weird when they start out -- I'm guessing that since you

used a cider starter you don't have a solid " mother " yet?

>

> -- Heidi

[Guest guest]

>Heidi,

>

>OK, now I'm forced to admit that I don't really know what I am doing! The

>mother is actually on the bottom. I remember an old post from you saying

>something about that yours drowned.

It's ok, I don't know what I'm doing either. If I did I'd get bored!

I did find out that sun tea jars work good -- you can get the vinegar out

without disturbing the mother. I laid the mother on a few floating corks, which

seems to have " lifted her spirits " so to speak. There is a little lid on the sun

tea jar -- I glued a piece of cloth over that, and that keeps

the flies out.

In the old days, the flies got in, laid eggs, and I guess the larvae could LIVE

in the vinegar, swimming around. They were called " vinegar eels " and were

considered to be what made it vinegar.

It is possible to make bad vinegar --- we had many bottles of wine turn into

vinegar, but not the good tasting kind. It didn't make anyone sick though. If

you start with a good starter it seems to stay good though. I'm trying to get

hold of an oak barrel to make " the real stuff " though.

-- Heidi

>

[Guest guest]

Heidi,

Funny, my 5th grade daughter came home from school one day talking about

vinegar eels. She said they would only be found (alive) in raw vinegar and

had not realized that's was we use! I wondered when I saw that some gnats

had gotten thru if that is how they start. Oh well, from food to science

experiment!

Kathy

P.S. I'm sure a sun tea jar works great and an oak barrel would be ideal.

--- In , Heidi Schuppenhauer <heidis@t...>

wrote:

>

> >Heidi,

> >

> >OK, now I'm forced to admit that I don't really know what I am doing! The

> >mother is actually on the bottom. I remember an old post from you saying

> >something about that yours drowned.

>

> It's ok, I don't know what I'm doing either. If I did I'd get bored!

> I did find out that sun tea jars work good -- you can get the vinegar out

without disturbing the mother. I laid the mother on a few floating corks, which

seems to have " lifted her spirits " so to speak. There is a little lid on the sun

tea

jar -- I glued a piece of cloth over that, and that keeps

> the flies out.

>

> In the old days, the flies got in, laid eggs, and I guess the larvae could

LIVE

in the vinegar, swimming around. They were called " vinegar eels " and were

considered to be what made it vinegar.

>

> It is possible to make bad vinegar --- we had many bottles of wine turn into

vinegar, but not the good tasting kind. It didn't make anyone sick though. If

you

start with a good starter it seems to stay good though. I'm trying to get hold

of

an oak barrel to make " the real stuff " though.

>

> -- Heidi

>

> >