Yes buzzy - it is called a hydrometer and you can buy them from a brew shop or from Trademe.
Just make sure you know how to make the cider, the rest is just air - you do NOT need a mother of vinegar - and you certainly do NOT want vinegar "eels" in the stuff either.
Some people seem not to realise that they are actually nematodes - and I personally wouldn't like to ingest millions of them .
It is a bit like sourdough and turbo bread - you can do it slow or fast. I do the slow method and the mother actually forms itself and covers the top of the container.
Some fruit flies are ok too, they can be filtered out. As to the "interesting" theory that they bring in "new" yeasts which are unwelcome - welcome to realty where yeasts abound on the apples you are using and in the air in such quantities that you can use them to even make a sourdough from scratch LOL
Pickles - Vinegar "eels" are not permitted in vinegar to be sold - according to health regulations. Why do you insist on promoting such a stupid website!
I am not sure what your scientific background is, but it seems not very well researched at all what you bring into this thread.
To "buy something" to sterilize the juice with . is utter crap. I am making wine and vinegar since decades and have yet to sterilize anything. Why would you! Before commercial yeasts one used the yeasts present on the fruit - I still do it this way every year - I just apples and nothing else - and it works very well.
uli,
Oct 20, 3:52am
Last time i looked I was just myself - however I don't think I am dumb. Not quite sure what mwood refers to.
uli,
Oct 23, 8:03pm
pickles I am glad you are the only one here who knows how to do things and let us all in what is foolish and what not. Seems that your way is the only one available on earth.
buzzy - you'll get these barrels in the home brew shops or plastic shops. They have a bung and you can unscrew the bung and screw a tap in. They come in different sizes. The shops also have the hydrometers in case you want to do it scientifically and measure the density/gravity. You can then fine tune the apple juice if you want to and add some sugar, which will give you a stronger wine and later a stronger vinegar.
Just copy and paste the whole link it will sort itself out :)
uli,
Oct 23, 8:03pm
pickles I am glad you are the only one here who knows how to do things and let us all in what is foolish and what not. Seems that your way is the only one available on earth.
buzzy - you'll get these barrels in the home brew shops or plastic shops. They have a bung and you can unscrew the bung and screw a tap in. They come in different sizes. The shops also have the hydrometers in case you want to do it scientifically and measure the density/gravity. You can then fine tune the apple juice if you want to and add some sugar, which will give you a stronger wine and later a stronger vinegar.
Just copy and paste the whole link it will sort itself out :)
uli,
Oct 24, 3:10am
buzzy - sorry to say - I AM talking of plastic barrels :( There are no other ones in this country unfortunately. Maybe time to re-learn how to make barrels again.
davidt4 - what can I say - pickles is really saying enough to discredit herself, so now worries there. However I will keep out of HER threads from now on, so she has free reign LOL
uli,
Nov 16, 1:16am
Malt vinegar is made by the two-fold fermentation of barley malt or other cereals where starch has been converted to maltose (so best avoided). In the UK, 'distilled vinegar' was made from malt in the past and distilled, so it turns into white vinegar.
White (distilled) vinegar is nowadays not distilled, but the ethyl alcohol from which it is made is distilled from a yeast fermentation mixture.
In most of the world, molasses, which can be fermented directly by yeast, is the major source of alcohol.
However alcohol is also made synthetically from petroleum products which can be much cheaper.
Wikipedia says: The global demand of acetic acid is around 6.5 million tonnes per year (Mt/a), of which approximately 1.5 Mt/a is met by recycling; the remainder is manufactured from petrochemical feedstocks or from biological sources. Acetic acid is produced both synthetically and by bacterial fermentation. Today, the biological route accounts for only about 10% of world production, but it remains important for vinegar production, as the world food purity laws stipulate that vinegar used in foods must be of biological origin. About 75% of acetic acid made for use in the chemical industry is made by methanol carbonylation.
The American FDA says: ".Questions have been raised as to whether we can or should continue to consider synthetic alcohol unsuitable for food use. In order to secure more information, we wrote to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division, Internal Revenue Service. Their reply included the following paragraphs: “Presently, we authorize the manufacture of vinegar from ethyl alcohol synthesized from natural gas or petroleum derivatives. It is our opinion that most of the distilled spirits used in the production of vinegar are derived from natural gas and petroleum…
“When alcohol is used in the production of beverage products, our regulations require that the source of the alcohol be shown on the label except for cordials and liqueurs. Incidentally, I might add that most of the alcohol used in the production of medicinal preparations and flavors is synthetic.”
and concludes with
POLICY: Synthetic ethyl alcohol may be used as a food ingredient or in the manufacturing of vinegar or other chemicals for food use, within limitations imposed by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Alcohol Administration Act, and regulations promulgated under these acts."
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.