How do You Make Vinegar?
Vinegar is made via a two-part fermentation process. First, yeast consuming sugars within fruits and grains and produce alcohol; this is known as alcoholic fermentation.
Second, acetic acid bacteria consume the alcohol from step one and convert it into acetic acid. Once all the alcohol is metabolized by bacteria and converted into acetic acid, you have vinegar.
To make vinegar at home, you first essentially make wild fermented fruit wine, and then that wine turns to vinegar!
How to Make Vinegar from Fruit
It is so easy to make vinegar from fruit. You only need three ingredients: fruit, sugar, and water. It helps if you have some raw apple cider vinegar with the mother as a starter, but it is not necessary.
You can use pretty much any type of fruit to make vinegar. I suggest sticking to high fructose fruits and staying away from high-sorbitol fruits. These are two types of fermentable sugars found in fruits, and high sorbitol fruits tend to cause kahm yeast.
These are my favorite fruits to use:
- apples
- pears
- mango
- strawberry
- grape
- figs
- watermelon
- Another favorite of mine is pineapple vinegar, and I have a specific recipe for that kind, click here
To make vinegar from fruit, you just need a good bit of whatever fruit you want to use, water, and some organic cane sugar. You also need a large glass jar. For this recipe, I suggest a gallon glass jar and a cloth cover with a rubber band. You have to use a cloth lid when making vinegar because acetic acid bacteria require oxygen to convert alcohol into acetic acid. I usually make cloth lids for fermentation by cutting up old t-shirts.
How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar
There is a slight difference between apple cider vinegar and apple scrap vinegar. The recipe in this blog post is more similar to an apple scrap vinegar, even though I use the whole fruit and not just scraps.
In order to make “true” apple cider vinegar, you need to first make apple cider, and then change that apple cider into vinegar.
Here’s my blog recipe for making apple cider at home. Once you make apple cider, you can turn it into vinegar by adding a vinegar mother and covering with a cloth lid. It should take about 4 to 6 weeks to turn the apple cider into vinegar.
I think my recipe (below) is easier and more functional for making vinegar at home. It’s definitely easier than going through the whole process of making cider first.
It is slightly less acidic than apple cider vinegar, but still delicious. Plus, this method is applicable to many types of fruit or mixes of fruits.
What is a Homemade Vinegar Mother?
Vinegar “with the mother” is another name for raw vinegar containing all the microbes from the brewing process. So, think of the mother as microbial cultures. Vinegar mothers form cloudy floating pieces within the vinegar and a SCOBY on the surface.
A vinegar mother SCOBY looks similar to a kombucha SCOBY but is often lighter with varying textures. Vinegar mothers in homemade vinegar are always unique. No two will look exactly the same because the wild microbes from fruit scraps will be slightly different across batches.
You can use the vinegar mother SCOBY from your first batch of vinegar to culture the next batch of vinegar.
Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
I still call the vinegar I make using this recipe “apple cider vinegar” when I make it with apples. It tastes almost exactly like the ACV I buy at trader Joe’s, and I bottle it in recycled apple cider vinegar bottles from the store.
The keys to remember when making ACV or any fruit vinegar at home:
- Stir the vinegar once daily. Remove the cloth lid, give it a good stir, replace the lid and repeat daily until you strain the vinegar.
- You must use a breathable cloth lid. The microbes involved in vinegar production require oxygen to convert alcohol to acetic acid.
- Use a clean glass container. It is best to use glass when fermenting acidic vinegar. Clean your equipment well before getting started.
What do you use fruit vinegar for?
I use my homemade fruit vinegar in any recipe where I would use store-bought vinegar. Since fruit varies in sugar content depending on ripeness, the acidity of each person’s vinegar will vary a bit depending on the fruit used.
It may or may not be adequate for pickling and canning pickles. To make a strongly acidic vinegar, you can use more sugar and use fruits high in fructose, like mangoes. You can also add in some sulfite-free wine, tequila, or vodka in place of some of the water.
You can also test the pH with a pH strip to see if it is good for pickling/canning. Vinegar that is safe to use in pickling recipes should be approximately 2.4 pH (about 5% acidity).
Here are my favorite ways to use homemade vinegar:
- for homemade salad dressing
- with homemade bone broth
- in heirloom culturing recipes like this fermented cherry tomatoes recipe
- in mineral-rich hydrating drinks (I like to mix a tablespoon of fruit vinegar into a quart of water with a splash of coconut water, orange juice and a pinch of sea salt for a homemade hydrating “gatorade”)
- I love using my fruit vinegar to make Fermented Pickle de Gallo.
- You can also use homemade vinegar in Oxymel and Fire Cider recipes.
Things You May Need:
How to Make Vinegar from Scratch
My easy fermented fruit vinegar recipe requires only four ingredients: fruit, sugar, water and starter. This is the perfect recipe to use up fruit scraps and overripe fruit. You can use this recipe to make homemade apple cider vinegar, apple scrap vinegar, berry vinegar, and more!
- Prep: 10 minutes
- Ferment: 9 weeks
Ingredients
- 6 cups of fruit*
- 255 grams of organic cane sugar
- Water
- 3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar with the mother (as starter culture)
- 1 gallon glass jar
- tight-weave cloth covering
- rubber band
Instructions
- Please read the recipe notes.
- Chop the fruit into small chunks.
- Add the sugar and apples (or other fruit) to a 1-gallon glass jar.
- Add water to the jar until full.
- Add in a few tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar with the mother. This helps establish a good microbial community, and while it isn’t absolutely necessary to add I highly recommend it. If you’ve made vinegar before and have a vinegar mother, you can add it.
- Stir the mixture until all the sugar is dissolved.
- Place a cloth lid (tight-weave is best, like t-shirt material) on the jar and secure with a rubber band.
- Stir the mixture once or twice a day and allow to ferment at room temperature for three weeks. Don’t forget to stir it. I like to just do it first thing in the morning each day.
- You should notice the mixture bubble within one week.
- After three weeks of fermentation, strain out all the fruit pieces, replace the cloth lid and allow the mixture to ferment for 6 more weeks.
- You will notice a vinegar mother form on the surface (it looks like a kombucha SCOBY but is very light in color). You can keep this to start your next batch of fruit vinegar.
- After fermentation, bottle the vinegar and seal it with a solid lid. Store at room temperature in your pantry.
Notes
- you can use any of your favorite fruits in this recipe. High fructose and fructan fruits tend to make the best vinegar. See a list of my favorite fruits above the recipe card. Use organic and homegrown fruit whenever possible. Conventional fruits sprayed with pesticides may not work well and may lead to kahm yeast.
- Vinegar works best with a starter culture. While it is possible to make vinegar without it, adding a vinegar mother or raw apple cider vinegar with the mother to the mixture ensures success. If you have a kombucha SCOBY or raw kombucha, you can sub for that with good results.
- For very strong vinegar, you can also add in some sulfite-free wine, tequila, or vodka in place of some of the water.
Hi there! This was great! I have a huge mother now. Can you share a little more about how I can use the vinegar mother SCOBY from my first batch of vinegar to culture the next batch of vinegar? Can I just use unpasteurized apple juice and the mother together and let it sit the same way for 6 weeks? Thank you!
You can use it in place of the raw vinegar in this recipe! and yes, you can also just add the mother to apple juice and let it ferment to make vinegar.
Question
I’ve done three pear, apple and Concord grape but none have developed a scooby? The pear tastes good but the Concord grape did taste good and then a week later does not. No mold that I can see. Is it okay?
It’s hard to say when I cannot smell it or taste it myself. Did you use store-bought, raw ACV with the mother as a starter culture?
I’m curious about the fruit floating on top. In almost all of my fermentation efforts, we weight the veggies or fruit to ensure there is a layer of water preventing mold growth. I read your comment about the need for stirring daily to prevent the mold growth. Does the browning of the fruit as it is exposed to air, not harm the vinegar?
Vinegar is an aerobic (requires oxygen) fermentation process! Some fruit turning brown is just oxidation and it’s totally normal.
I recently made an apple vinegar and a muscadine vinegar, and they have both turned out really well! Thanks so much for your directions and tips!
oh I bet muscadine vinegar is delicious! Glad to hear they turned out great!
The muscadine vinegar smells delicious! I have a couple of questions though. For some reason, I have never had a scoby form when I make vinegar from apples. Is that something I should be concerned about? Is there a reason a scoby wouldn’t form? Also, my muscadine vinegar has now formed 2 scobys, go figure lol Can these 2 muscadine scobys to be used in any vinegar recipe that I make in the future, or should I stick with only muscadine vinegar for these?
Hi! I’m so excited for trying this! I happened to find a bottle of raw organic apple cider vinegar with mother at the local grocery store to help me get started! I’m using some home-grown apples. How should the SCOBY of the vinegar be stored? Should I keep feeding it with some sugar and fresh water like kombucha?
I usually store them in a jar with some vinegar (regular lid) until I want to use them to culture a new batch.
I have a question about the mixture fermenting for 6 more weeks, at week 4 I don’t see a scoby. Also see some really small microbes or something swimming and a lot of them. Is this normal?
That sounds like fruit fly larvae. We cannot see microbes with just our eyes. I think some fruit flies got in your vinegar.
Thanks for the feedback. I am guessing there is no fixing this at this stage?
Unfortunately no, I wouldn’t recommend consuming anything that had fly larvae in it. Next time you try vinegar, make sure you use a tight weave cloth covering and a tight rubber band to secure it to the jar.
Can you mix fruits ie add oranges and apples to make vinegar ?
yes! you can use a mix of fruits!
I’d love to make guava vinegar but I’m looking for something fruity but strong… I live in the Caribbean and I’m wondering if I should add some locally made (commercial) hard cider to help with the fermentation. I’ve also got braggs ACV available and homemade kombucha too if either one of those is better to add?
I think you can totally use hard cider in place of water and sugar in this recipe! and then use guava as the fruit.
Thank you very much! I’ll give that a try.
Have you tried using fresh pressed apple cider? I’m wondering about the sugar level.
Thank you, love your information and recipes
As long as it hasn’t been pasteurized it should work
Thank you for the recipes
Can I use apple cores that I have been saving?
totally!
Sugar substitute options?
Th sugar gets fermented by the microbes to create acid! So there needs to be sugar. Honey is a great option.
Hi! Should we stir everyday even after taking out the fruit?
no, once the fruit is strained, you don’t need to stir anymore.
Thank you! It is exciting watching the mother form on top.
Hello- I made this vintager and kinda forgot about it. It has a scoby and has been sitting with a cheesecloth for 8-12 weeks. It’s smells like vinegar. Is it still okay to bottle? How do I manage the scoby after draining the liquid?