Help regarding white vinegar going off

I keep buying white vinegar and keeping it in pantry and within months it goes off.

It develops white whispy bits and loses the vinegar smell

Any ideas as to why? (have tried different brands)

I just use mine, and have never noticed it losing it's taste :-)
Maybe you could keep it in a cool place somewhere

I would think it is in fact a sign that the vinegar is still alive and kicking. Vinegar is made in a similar process to making wine, with live yeast. It occasionally happens to white vinegar at my house and I just use it the same as ever. It doesn't appear to have any different qualities than before - still sours the milk for banana cake, still makes vinaigrette.

That is what the advertising would make you believe, White vinegar is the cheapest form of industrial byproduct there is - acetic acid. It is then thinned down with water and sold to the unsuspecting public as a food ingredient.

If you want to have real "life" vinegar then buy organic cider vinegar - that is indeed made by making cider from apple juice then the cider gets turned into vinegar.

However most people on this board go "ewww" and "yuck" as soon as they find some stringy bits of the mother of vinegar in their bottles (which forms once the vinegar stands around for a bit - I even get it in my bucket of balsamic) ... so you can't win :)

Search for "vinegar" on the sidebar and you will come up with lots of threads on here from the "ewww" and "yuck" brigade LOL :)

Store in a cool, dark place.

Here is information for you from "How stuff works" which may give you some info and answers.

How to Store Vinegar

Q. Does vinegar go bad? If so, how can you tell? Isn't vinegar just wine that's gone bad?

A. Vinegar is indeed a product of wine that has gone bad. In fact the word "vinegar" is from the French words vin aigre which translates to "sour wine. "

Just as yeast consuming the sugars in grape juice creates alcohol as a by-product, bacteria known as "acetobacteria" consume the alcohol in wine and create acid. This acetic acid is what gives vinegar its characteristic sharp, bright flavors.

Bottles of balsamic vinegar
Abigael Tay
Vinegar should be stored in a cool, dark place.

Since the acetobacteria live off the alcohol they consume, any number of different alcoholic products can be turned into vinegar. And the type of alcoholic liquid used as the initial ingredient of an alcohol has a pronounced effect on the flavor of the vinegar. That's why red wine vinegar tastes different from champagne vinegar.

Vinegars are often further flavored with additional ingredients such as herbs, or -- like balsamic vinegar -- through aging in wooden barrels.

When purchasing vinegar, keep in mind that you often get what you pay for. Some "cider flavored" vinegars are really just cheap distilled white vinegar to which coloring and additional flavors have been added.

Much of what is sold as balsamic vinegar here is simply red wine vinegar with caramel or caramel coloring added to make it syrupy and sweet like true balsamic.

The surprising news is that vinegar does indeed go bad. Since it is created from alcohol, many of the essential elements that give vinegar its flavor are prone to evaporation.

A significant amount of these components typically are gone by about six months after a bottle of vinegar is opened, and most vinegars are tasteless after a year of sitting opened. Vinegar's flavor can be preserved if it is stored in a cool dark place or in a refrigerator.

Some vinegars, if stored improperly or too long, will develop a cloudy look. This cloudy substance (called "mother of vinegar" since it can be used to make more vinegar) can be filtered out with a paper coffee filter in order to salvage the vinegar. However, if either the mother or the vinegar smells bad or rotten, discard both immediately

Thanks guys, been keeping in closed pantry. . have to re think storage... maybe fridge?