Mother of Vinegar

Fermented food and beverages are natural, healthy, and full of Vitamin B and other probiotic nutrients. They are good for those on a strict diet especially a ketogenic diet or digestive problems. Fermented food help restore the gut bacteria and natural fauna of the digestive system making us healthier, stronger, and with a stronger immune system.

Unlike packaged food, fermentation adds to the taste without any oil, sugar, food colors, preservatives, or chemical essence or any unhealthy additives. This makes homebrew healthier than its commercial equivalent.

During fermentation, the yeast eats away the sugar and adds to the taste. Hence reducing calorie intake and tackling hunger pangs. India is the Diabetic country of the world, and a lot of diabetics are switching over to homemade apple cider vinegar and kombucha as an alternative to soft drinks.

If you have a pre-existing condition or allergies, it is best to consult with your doctor. Fermentation often results in drastically altering the food properties. You can also read about how 8 different types of ayurvedic preparations can be made at home.

So many products around you are fermented: curd, cheese, black tea, coffee, olives, bread, and pickle. Not all fermentation is alcohol.

For centuries, fermentation was the method of choice for the preservation of food, purification of water, and enhancing the taste & nutritional value of the food ingredients. Making alcohol and getting drunk was never the central obsession of society. It had more benign purposes like food preservation in the absence of refrigerator and preservatives.

You can make several probiotic food recipes like pickles, cheese, curd, vinegar, kombucha, kefir, sauerkraut, idli/ dosa batter, or even bread at home which are fermented foods and do not contain any alcohol.

Refer to this link for further details on FSSAI compliance on 0.3% ethyl alcohol permissible limits in your probiotics that you are marketing.

This is one of the most common faults in amateur home brew. It could be because of process issues or improper bottling and storage. It is discussed in detail in the links.

Sour/ Acidic: Excessive tartness in aroma and flavor. It can be clean (lactic acid) or sharp vinegar-like (acetic acid). PH below 3.0 is a sign that ethanol was oxidized to acetic acid and there is probably no recourse. At mild levels, pH (especially in wine) can be altered by the addition of some Calcium Carbonate (food grade chalk powder CaCO3). Vinegar CH3COOH in Latin means sour wine, which can be a reflection of how common this problem is.

If too much acetic acid is there, we will get a burning sensation in the nose, which is not desirable. In some beers like Gose, Wild Ales, Weise, and Sour Beers, a slight amount of tartness is desirable. However, do check the mashing process if the wort is getting sour. At low levels, it is often hard to distinguish between acetic acid and lactic acid sourness. Here, the smell comes handy. Lactic acid has no smell but vinegar has a distinct smell of nostrils burning.

Traditional pickles are very good for health. They are made by lacto fermenting vegetables are are full of enzymes and good bacteria that improve the gut health.

Vinegar pickles are instant pickles made in factory. The company will chop and steam the vegetables so that they become soft. Then they will add salt oil and vinegar to it. To preserve they will add a lot of preservatives also. Since no microbes can survive the steaming and preservatives… vinegar pickles are no longer good for you. They are just instant food that adds spices, sourness, and taste without any associated health benefits

It’s the same as saying ethanol is the same as an alcoholic Whiskey. No, even though they are chemically the same, distilled acetic acid (white vinegar) is not the same as unfiltered vinegar.

Vinegar is a good cleaning agent:

1. It is used along with iodophor to reduce the ph and improve the efficacy of acid-based brewing sanitizers.
2. Vinegar dissolves calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate readily. It can also be used to cure sulphate water strains on vessels. Hence it is a great cleaning agent to clean off white water strains from chrome and stainless steel. Boil some vinegar in your coffee kettle to get rid of the hard water salt deposits from it.

Vinegar as a preservative

• Vinegar lowers the pH which inhibits mold and other harmful fungi from propagating. Acetobactor, Lactobaccilus, and Yeast are three organisms that produce acetic acid to fend off infection.
• Hence vinegar is a great preservative. Acetic acid in brine (salt solution) is used to preserve vegetables and pickles for 2-5 years.

Vinegar in Cooking

• Rice Vinegar is preferred in almost all Asian cuisines preparations.
• European Continental Salads need a dash of vinegar and olive oil to get the authentic flavors.
• Pickles gets it taste from Vinegar
• Meat marinated with unfiltered vinegar becomes tender. The acid breaks down proteins. Also, the bacteria in vinegar start lacto fermentation which makes the meat soft and easy to chew. I cannot think of any red meat marination that does not need curd or vinegar for 4-8 hours.

Physical properties of Vinegar:

1. Vinegar is readily soluble in water.
2. You can distill vinegar. However since the distillation temperature of water is 100°C and that of acetic acid is 117.9 °C, most people boil off water to concentrate vinegar.
3. Vinegar fumes irritate the nose and cause a burning sensation. However, in moderate quantities, it does not cause any harm to humans.
4. Vinegar is formed by oxidation of ethanol. Hence it is no longer flammable.
5. Vinegar does not expire. In fact, it becomes thicker and more pungent with age. Aged vinegar is called Balsamic Vinegar and sold at a premium.
6. Vinegar like any acid is harmful to the eyes. So don’t allow it to splash inside.
7. Vinegar is acidic. So it creates H+ ions that conduct electricity.
8. When vinegar is added to baking dosa it creates CO2 gas.
9. Although vinegar is an acid, it is a very weak acid. hence it does not damage gold plating, silverware, or chrome plating. It is used extensively to clean grime (oil) and water stains in the kitchen.

Here is the Safety Data sheet for Vinegar or Acetic Acid

Freeze Distillation is a misnomer. There is no boiling, formation of methanol, flammable (explosive) fumes production. Hence there is not much concern for authorities. There is also no law that explicitly bans keeping alcoholic beverages in freezer. However do check with local laws before distillation.

Freeze distillation is essentially keeping the cider, sugar-wash, beer or wine in the freezer. At about -10 Degree Celsius, the beverage becomes a slush. Alcohol acts as an anti-freeze so the freezing point is lower than water. As the temperature is further reduced, more and more water crystalizes into ice and residual liquid turns into higher concentration ethanol. We repeat although this technology is called Freeze Distillation, it actually means Fractional Freezing. The freezing point of ethanol is -115 ^oC. However if you are able to achieve -30degree Celsius, then only one can remove substantial water from your beverage.

Glacial Acetic Acid

For school projects a similar and much easier experiment to follow is making distilled acetic acid at home from vinegar. It is called Eisessig or ice vinegar. Vinegar forms ice like crystals when kept at 4 Degree Celsius. Although the water and ethanol gets left behind, the tartness of your cider and vinegar reduces as the oxidized ethanol gets separated in form of white crystals of acetic acid. One of the reason why ethanol always recommend cold crashing of home brew is improvement in clarity and taste (less sour) due to this simple inexpensive process.