How To Make your own Vinegar (it's easier than you think)

The first week of December 2013 we were talking about things we do not store and Donna Hoaks shared: “Learn to make vinegar, etc. also. NO matter how much you store, if a bad situation lasted long enough, you will run out. True self reliance means having the ability to renew supply. Learn to make lye, compost tea, etc. Challenge yourself to use every ounce of every thing. 
PPG, vinegar was something I thought about for years, and this is the first year I have done it. Like everyone else, I am on a journey. Here is the info I used.“So, true to my word I am making my own ACV (apple cider vinegar) & sharing my results.
Here is the first day for “making vinegar”. Made with organic Fugi apples & raw honey. I started it on December 10th. Quart jar with an apple, 1/4 cup raw honey and the filled the jar with water. TIP: I figured out real quick, instead of a rubber band to hold the cheese cloth on, I simply used a canning ring.

Stored in a warm, dark place. The jar(s) were wrapped a thick dish towel with a rubber band and storing it on a shelf near my back door. Next batch will be placed on top of my fridge.
"Stir the jar every day or so and check to make sure the fruit is submerged. Don’t worry about yeasty white growth on top; scrape off any other colors of mold and toss that into your compost bin."

When it started to smell like booze (this would be hard cider), I strained out the fruit through cheese cloth & put that in my compost bucket. Then continued to allow the vinegar to ferment. Leave undisturbed if possible. Again; don’t worry about yeasty white growth on top; scrape off any other colors of mold and toss that into your compost bin.

It is taking longer than I anticipated.  Still cloudy. Note the Mother of Vinegar floating around near the bottom. 

Interesting note: While I was in the process of making the vinegar, I was talking to the mom of my 7th grandchild. They had been discussing acetic acid bacteria in home school that week. Which is exactly the ubiquitous bacterium in the air that enables this process of fermentation to occur. Pretty neat.

This is what it looks like today 02/22/14. At this point I removed all the yeasty stuff on top, strained it & poured it into another jar, placed a lid on it to see if it will clear up...

I took the Mother of Vinegar at the bottom and started another batch today.Here we go again.

     

For more simple DIY projects: Perky Gramma's DIY
What you see here, is what I actually do. If you liked this article, please feel free to like me (Perky Prepping Gramma) on Facebook & keep up to date on things I post. Simply sharing my journey of preparedness. Remember if you are prepared, it isn't an emergency. ~Perky Prepping Gramma~

Thank you Donna. I used the reference that Donna suggested from the Rock Farmer Blog

Top Three Picks (associates links)

When it comes to the items that I use the most, it would have to be my All American Pressure Canner, FoodSaver and Excalibur Dehydrator. I use at least one of these each week in my preparation for emergencies. I only recommend items that I use personally.