I want to make Red wine vinegar from leftovers

Does anyone know the process of how to make Red Wine Vinegar? I’d really love to have some made from some good wines…and not the junk that’s available here in Maine at Shaw’s Market or Hannaford Supermarkets. Is there a Chef here that can lead me in the right direction?

A) What’s the process?
B) What do I need to have?
C) Do I need to treat different varietals differently (ie. light bodied wines are different than fuller bodied wines)?


Thanks to any and all that can help.

I’d be interested in this as well.

I do that. It works pretty well. The simple shortcut I took was to put leftover red wines into an open bottle, pour in a little red wine vinegar, and add a uncooked spaghetti noodle (for nutrients, leave it in until you have vinegar, then discard). That way, you don’t have to get a starter or add any bacteria or anything.

The whole thing turned nicely to vinegar without any further effort. I periodically would add some dregs of bottles as I use up vinegar, and it seems to be quite nice.

Thank you Chris!!

how do you adjust to the proper percentage of acetic acid?

Please beware that the vinegar you make in this process is highly acidic and should be carefuly diluted before use.

Read this…

I do this too. You need to be sure that the vinegar you use has a “mother” in it. This is basically the live culture that will convert your wine to vinegar. I use Bragg’s cider vinegar as a starter. You can see the gloopy mother (gelatinous substance) in bragg bottles. I’ve never used anything like a noodle – to begin, I just add a cup of wine to about a quarter cup vinegar. I use a big glass carboy and secure the top with a double layer of cheesecloth (allows ventilation but keeps out pesky fruit flies). Once this mixture has grown a mother of its own (gelatinous film on top of mixture) you can start adding a pint or two of wine at a time until your carboy is full. You should store your developing vinegar in a dark, warm place.

I’m going to try this as I have Bragg’s at home. Do you feel the need to dilute before consumption? And how long before it’s “ready to go”?

I’ve made it for 30 years or so. The most reliable method for me to get it going has been Katrina’s – starting with a vinegar that appears to be unpasteurized. I’ve never seen one in a store that has a gloppy mother as Katrina says. I looked instead for sediment. That suggested to me that there were some live aceto bacteria in the bottle on the shelf.

I’ve also made batches just leaving wine out, but I’ve also had some odd liquids develop sometimes – not vinegar, but with strange films and weird smells.

I’ve never tried the pasta method, but that was the advice of the barrel maker who sold me my small oak vinegar barrel. (He made vinegar in 255 liter barriques.)

A few tips:
–Avoid really cheap wines, which are likely to have a lot of sulfites (or who knows what) to preserve them when they’re left out, opened, on a countertop. I tried to make wine from a batch of leftover California chardonnays once and it just wouldn’t turn.
–Don’t use corked wines. The vinegar transition can actually be quite “transparent” in terms of original flavors. I’ve had clear varietal flavors show through in the vinegar where I made a single-grape batch.
–Once it has fully turned to vinegar, which can take weeks, it’s best to keep feeding it new wine, to keep the bacteria population healthy.
–Glass vessels are nice because you can see what’s going on. They’re also easy to clean, which you will want to do from time to time as the vinegar with throw a thick sludge of sediment.
–You’ll want to run the vinegar through a coffee filter at the end, because it throws a lot of very fine sediment.
–Some lots will go off. Sometimes I’ve had a lot of ethyl acetate. When that happens, I usually start over and wash my barrel several times with very hot water.
–See below re dilution.

Here’s another recent vinegar thread:

There was another one recently but, as usual, the search engine doesn’t pull it up.

You can dilute it with water or wine, or use less and add a little sugar. Commercial vinegars are typically diluted to about 5%, but before that the acidity is roughly equal to the alcohol. Hence I put a warning label on my (undiluted) vinegar when I give it to friends recommending they dilute it roughly 1:1 with water. (A boss I gave a bottle to many years ago said nothing for about six months. Then one day he said, "We finally figured out how to diluted your vinegar and it’s really good. But when we first tried it, we thought it would take the lacquer off our salad bowl.)

Agree with all John writes above. My batches take around 3 months I think. And I’ve had a few batches spoil…I think keeping everything nice and sterile is a good idea to help prevent that. I had a lovely white vinegar batch spoiled by fruit flies which somehow got through the cheesecloth (little larvae wriggling around on top not a pleasant sight!). Also if you do a white batch, be careful about adding wines with much RS. I spoiled another batch by dumping in some spatlese which it didn’t like for some reason.

Gorgeous when it turns out well though (which is actually most of the time.). I also dilute the red with water on a 1:1 basis but white doesn’t seem to need it.

Yes, I made the mistake of including some wine with residual sugar once. I don’t remember quite what went wrong, but I remember making a note not to do that again!

I make red wine vinegar pretty much as described above. I don’t know what the acidity is but it’s pretty high & needs to be
diluted down…or used sparingly. Most all commercial vinegars are cut w/ water to reduce the acidity.

I got my mother from EmilioCastelli (CastelliVnyds…maker of very good Nebbiolo). His comes from his great-grandfather’s
vinegar up in the LakeComo (Emilio’s home) area and dates back to the late 1800’s. I did, of course, follow his
great-grandfather’s vinegar from the very start.
Tom

And, BTW…what be this thing called “leftovers”???

At one time (late-'60’s/early-'70’s), one of the best Calif vinegars, made by the Orleans process, was made by BobTrinchero
at SutterHome in a little shed out behind the wnry (to keep the acetobacter out of the wnry). He would btl up some from time to time
for DarrellCorti.
Tom

Funny you mentioned that, Tom. Darrell’s current “house” red wine vinegar is really excellent, and they bottle it at “cask” strength, around 7% acidity, as compared to 4 or 5% for mosst commercial brands. I love it, and I just use it sparingly, no need for dilution.

Yup, Nate…I almost always have a btl of Darrell’s vinegar on my sideboard. Like you, I don’t bother to dilute,
just use sparingly.
Tom

I’ve wanted to do this, and considered using Braggs because of the live cultures, but wasn’t sure if you could make red wine vinegar from an apple cider starter. I guess the answer to that question is “yes” so thanks!

I also used Bragg’s cider vinegar to start a red wine vinegar. I then used the mother from that vinegar to start a rose vinegar, and the rose vinegar to start a white wine vinegar. I dilute the wine a bit, maybe 30%, when I add it. The bacteria like it better. When it’s done, if you want to keep it for long you should pasteurize it. The same bacteria will continue to break down the vinegar into ethyl acetate.

-Al

That’s very interesting. I’ve noticed that if I don’t top up the barrel regularly, I get more ethyl acetate, and that would explain it. Thanks.

I forgot to mention above that, undiluted, the vinegar is excellent for cleaning copper pots and pans.

Loads of good advice here, with the only other advice I’ve seen elsewhere, is keep the vinegar away from the cellar… just in case.