Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
general, I recommend diluting to 5.5% so the vinegar can be
used with greater versatility. Always dilute with clean,
non-chlorinated water. I use bottled water for this purpose.
So … how much water do you add to your beer or wine to get
a certain percentage of alcohol? Start by dividing the current
concentration in percent by the desired concentration in
percent to get C. So if I have some 10% wine and I want
5.5%, I divide 10 by 5.5 to get 1.82. Next, multiply the
volume of your wine (say 500 ml in a standard wine bottle)
by C to get the total diluted volume: 500ml × 1.82 = 910.
Finally, subtract the volume of wine from the total volume to
get the volume of water you need to add. 910 ml - 500 ml =
410 ml.
This also works with beer. Say I have some beer that is 6%
alcohol and I want to dilute it to 5.5%. The standard beer
bottle is 12 ounces. So C = 6%/5.5% = 1.09. Multiply 12 oz ×
1.09 = 13. Finally, 13 - 12 = 1, so I would add one ounce of
water.
The quantity of diluted wine or beer that you use is important
because it takes a while for the vinegar mother to work, and
in the meantime the underlying beer or wine is vulnerable to
outside infection. You want to limit the amount you put in the
crock to no more than triple the volume of the vinegar
mother, which is eight ounces. So your initial ingredients of
the vinegar crock will be 24 ounces of beer or wine diluted as
needed and eight ounces of vinegar mother for a total of 32
ounces.
Making Vinegar, Step by Step
