Red wine vinegar

[Worth1]

I've never had good wine vinegar.
Worth

[oakley]

Originally Posted by b54red

I love good wine vinegar and good balsamic vinegar in salad dressings but good wine vinegar is very expensive and hard to find around here. Does it matter the type wine used in making wine vinegar? Sounds like something good to try if it isn't too difficult.
I'm going to do some research on it right now.

Bill

I'd guess if you can swallow it, it would be good for making
vinegar. The only wine vinegar I stock is Banyuls. The cheaper
5yr is about 15$ for 750ml. It is worth it.

[loulac]

Buying good vinegar is not easy. One should avoid industrial vinegars that are made in 24 hours from ordinary wines. Balsamic vinegars can also be made industrially in a day when real balsamic vinegar is made in Modena, Italy and is more than 10 years old. Prices of course can be quite different.
.Making good vinegar at home is quite possible as long as you buy a good wine. Personnaly my vinegar costs me 20$ a liter but I only use a few drops at a time, so quality is not all that expensive.

[Worth1]

I wonder how Mad Dog 20/20 would work.
It's about all I can afford.

Worth

[Marko]

Originally Posted by pmcgrady

Got about 25 bottles of red wine (mostly Cabernet and Merlot) that is reaching the end of its shelf life a lot of them are from 2000. So I decided to try my hand making red wine vinegar. Read up on it a little and came up with a recipe that calls for 1 part raw unfiltered vinegar (with the mother) to 2 parts red wine. Let it sit for up to a month until the mother forms on top. Drain or syphon off leaving mother and enough wine to start another batch, kinda like making sourdough bread. Anyone here make red wine vinegar before?

I'm making red wine vinegar every year. I use 25 liter plastic barrel with tap 2 in off the bottom. Once a year I empty it and leave 2 in of old vinegar and sediment in an then add 15-20 liters of red wine. It takes up to 6 month to become a vinegar, depends on temperature, but I leave it there til next harvest. It won't spoil. It doesn't matter which wine you use, but I prefer dark wines with less alcohol. More alcohol means more acid, sometimes gets too strong.
I must say that I can't imagine life without my vinegar. Store brought tastes like sour water to me.

[loulac]

Originally Posted by oakley

The only wine vinegar I stock is Banyuls. The cheaper
5yr is about 15$ for 750ml. It is worth it.

How odd. So do I. No problem as I have a summer house in Banyuls and could shop around in the village.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by b54red

I love good wine vinegar and good balsamic vinegar in salad dressings but good wine vinegar is very expensive and hard to find around here. Does it matter the type wine used in making wine vinegar? Sounds like something good to try if it isn't too difficult.
I'm going to do some research on it right now.

Bill

It depends on the wine.
We know that the alcohol is converted into acetic acid. Then other characteristic of the wine should remain intact That is what makes wine vinegar distinct from distilled or apple cider vinegar.
actually I like cider vinegar for salad and cooking. for pickling and acidifying tomato sauce I just use inexpensive distilled vinegar.
Few times I have made wine vinegar from $3/bottle of red wine that I d to buy from Trader Joes. It takes long time for me to do it. So I don't do that anymore.

[oakley]

Originally Posted by loulac

How odd. So do I. No problem as I have a summer house in Banyuls and could shop around in the village.

What a beautiful location. Not far from Barcelona. Hope to travel
the area again. Last visit I was a kid with a backpack and a
5-dollar-a-day budget.

"... Banyuls vinegar is a more savory vinegar than most. Comprised of 50% grenache noir, 40% grenache gris, and 10% carignane, the vinegar starts it’s 5 year aging process in large tanks in a cool cellar, and is later transferred into smaller barrels and placed outside for the next 4 years. Here, it’s exposed to the hot sun and cool winds of the Pyrenees, which help accelerate the aging process. The result is a nutty, slightly briney vinegar that goes with just about everything."
http://rachelgoing.com/2010/01/30/the-last-vinaigrette/

[Worth1]

Got the bottle of vinegar with mother organic HEB brand and a gallon bottle of Carlo Rossi burgundy wine.
We shall see how it turns out.
Worth

[pmcgrady]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Got the bottle of vinegar with mother organic HEB brand and a gallon bottle of Carlo Rossi burgundy wine.
We shall see how it turns out.
Worth

My first batch is starting it's first mother (daughter) it's a bottle of Cabernet and a bottle of Merlot... pictures coming soon.

[pmcgrady]

If you can find a cheap Port wine, try that also!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by pmcgrady

If you can find a cheap Port wine, try that also!

I dumped almost the whole one liter bottle in a gallon jug and reserved a wee bit for tonight's salad dressing.
Then poured the burgundy wine up to the shoulder of the gallon jug and put it in the food pantry and forgetting about it.
Not quite the ratio you had but I dont really think it matters that much.
The rest of the wine I had to put honey in to drink it because I hate dry wine.

Making vinegar was one of the things on my bucket list.
I am trying to do everything I can to complete the bucket list which isn't going to happen.
Not that I am dying anytime soon (I hope) but I need to do this stuff or it wont get done.
Worth

[berryman]

A couple of things about wine vinegar.
Strictly speaking, a mother is not necessary as there are Acetobacter spores everywhere in the atmosphere. Much like making a sourdough starter, you just need to expose to air but keep the bugs out. Although, many times, leaving red wine out this way you will end up with badly oxidized wine before you get vinegar.
This is because the bacteria does not generally perform well in wine that has full alcohol. That is, in a 12% to 14% alcohol solution, the acetobacter will many times not be able to do the job.
The traditional way to make "wine vinegar" is to start with unfermented juice and let the alcohol fermentation start and at the same time encourage the acetification. This way, the alcohol does not build up to high levels and discourage the acetobacter.
The most sure fire way to home make wine vinegar is to get grape juice, put wine yeast in and after a day or two add a little vinegar mother.

[Worth1]

Whilst searching for a suitable wooden cask to store vinegar in I found this on line.
The drunkards cloak.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunkard%27s_cloak
Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn't bring back some of these old ways of punishment if not for the entertainment value alone.

Worth

[Worth1]

So I go to the store to get mushrooms and decide to pick up a bottle of port wine to make vinegar.
I am polity informed I cant buy it till after 12:00 noon on Sunday I forgot it was Sunday.

Worth