Have you every wondered how you could make your own red wine vinegar? If you learn how to make red wine vinegar, you will be able to make an artisan product that can taste much better than what you can buy in the store. Many of the commercial vinegars have sulfites and are chemically produced. When you make your own natural vinegar, it is fermented by a starter culture, also called the "mother of vinegar," which has the bacterium Acetobacter in it. This bacterium converts the alcohol in wine (or you can use beer or mead) into acetic acid, which is the acid that makes vinegar have its sharp taste. http://www.msstate.edu/org/silvalab/vinegar_lactic.pdf Instructions are given here for starting the vinegar making process and further steps are given on how to make an aged vinegar that will smooth and improve the vinegar taste.

With proper attention to the details in these instructions, you will soon know enough about the process of making homemade red wine vinegar which you will soon enjoy in your salads and other recipes. The process of putting together the ingredients takes only a few minutes, but the fermentation takes from 6-8 weeks. Aging is recommended for at least 6 months to develop optimal flavor. So if you are planning on making some for Christmas presents, plan ahead for making this at least 6 months before Christmas time.

The first step in the journey of making your own vinegar is to acquire a "mother of vinegar" culture to start the process. If you can find unpasteurized vinegar, of any type, you can make your own starter culture using the instructions below. Commercially available mother of vinegar is also an option, as given in the link for step 1. Once you have this, then you need to gather some easily available materials and then, in step 2, you need to sanitize all of the glassware and utensils that will come in contact with the mother of vinegar and the wine.

Here are the specific things you will need:

1. 1 cup of starter (obtain either "mother of vinegar" from a commercial source or from the residue from the bottom of an unpasteurized bottle of vinegar.)
2. 2 cups of red wine
3. 1 cup of bottled water
4. measuring cup
5. Mason or other suitable wide-mouth jar, with lid
6. cheesecloth for covering the top of the glass jar
7. rubber band
8. tablespoon for measuring sanitizer
9. liquid chlorine (household) bleach or iodine tablets
10. bucket for sanitizing utensils
11. Campden tablets (optional)
12. 80-proof Vodka, 1 tablespoon per gallon of finished product

All utensils that come in contact with the wine and the water should be sanitized first to assure that there is no contamination. Making the sanitizer is easy, but wear gloves and clothes that you don't mind getting bleach on if you accidentally splash some of the solution on them. (Optionally, you can use iodine tablets.) For every gallon of sanitizer, add 2 tablespoons of household bleach. Place the sanitizer in the bucket and soak all utensils and cheesecloth for 20 minutes, and then rinse everything with hot tap water.

1. Mix the water with the wine so that it has between 5 and 7% total alcohol content.
2. Add the starter. They will mix naturally. You don't have to agitate.
3. Place the cheesecloth over the opening, use the rubber band to hold down the sides and loosely fit the lid, make sure that there is some air access to the mixture. The lid helps reduce evaporation.
4. Store in a dark place. Temperatures that are best are from 80-85 degrees F. At 75-85 degrees F, it will take 6-8 weeks for the conversion.
5. You will notice that a grayish, leathery film will probably develop on the top. Do not disturb this. This is normal. If the film falls, remove it. Another film will form.
6. When the vinegar conversion is complete, remove it and place it into sanitized containers. Preserve it by either pasteurizing at 155 degrees F for 30 minutes or by adding campden tablets (potassium metabisulfite) at the rate of 3 per gallon.
7. If you pasteurize, add 1 tablespoon of 80-proof vodka to each gallon before you age it.
8. Add more alcohol to what remains of the "mother of vinegar" and continue the process if you want to make more and keep the culture of Acetobacter alive.
9. Age the vinegar in the dark for at least 6 months at 50-60 degrees F for it to develop more flavor. The flavors improve in storage for up to 2 years. If you do re-bottle after the aging process, place it in sanitized containers.