How does cider turn to vinegar

How can I stop my hard cider from turning to vinegar? October 3, AM Subscribe I'd like to hang on to some hard cider though the winter — without it turning to vinegar. I have a lot of fresh-pressed, non-alcoholic cider on my hands, both apple and pear. It's pasteurized, but it's pasteurized with UV light, not heat — which means there are still some yeast in there and it will eventually go hard. In past years, I haven't added anything to it or messed with it at all. I've just let it sit and turn alcoholic.

I was pleased with the results. The only problem is that after a while, it turns to vinegar. I would like to find the easiest way possible to stop it from getting to that stage. I'm handy in the kitchen and have friends who make wine and mead and such, so I'm totally willing to make a project out of it and I've got people to help out. I just want to know where to start, what the easiest method is, etc. You need to keep it anaerobic. If the yeast have oxygen, they'll switch from anaerobic fermentation to aerobic respiration, resulting in the vinegar.

The way my highschool biology teacher thanks Mr. I found a picture posted in a brewing forum through a google image search.

You can use the trick that we use for ginger beer. Seal the bottles with champagne corks the sort with bulbous tops , that are tied on with thin string. This means that if fermentation continues in the bottle, the cork will come off rather than having the bottle explode. Then add sugar every few weeks and reseal.

This will lead to more fermentation so you'll get really alcoholic cider. But it also stops the sour effect which happens when the yeast uses up all of the sugar in the last. Does pasteurizing it after it's fermented destroy the alcohol or the taste? I've only pasteurized apple juice then put it in fridge and pickles canned before. If you ferment it correctly under a bubbler, then the end product would be like wine. When making wine, patience is a virtue.

You must allow the full fermentation, otherwise you'll get a foul tasting product. When growing up here on the farm in the s we made about 5 gallons of apple cider every year. We had our own crusher and press and poured the apple juice into a five gallon jug like they use for bottled water. We kept the jug corked under the sink drainboard not enclosed in those days.

Every few days the cork would blow out, We were drinking it of course so the quantity was being reduced as it was getting more of a tang to it. When it got so we no longer enjoyed drinking it, we added it to our vinegar barrel. We had an old oak barrel like they use for wine, out in the storage shed supported about two feet off the floor. It had a wooden faucet to drain off the vinegar as we needed it. During the time needed for my growing up, we never filled the barrel or ran out of vinegar.

Dad said the barrel contained a "mother of vinegar". I've been reading about making "cider" at Uof Ga site, they mention hard cider but not how long it takes or what to do with it when it's done. They also mentioned pastuerization, but that must be for "sweet cider" aka juice. Any idea how long that should take, given that it was pressed mid-Oct, started fermenting by late Oct, but is still fermenting now due to addition of juice and sugar yesterday?

I haven't noticed one forming in my jug yet so maybe I'll get some good "wine" instead of vinegar. Can you make it from pasteurized cider if you add wine yeast? When the bubbles slow significantly, you can siphon the cider off into another sterilized vessel secondary fermenter. The cider under air lock again can age in this jug for days to weeks to months. The first batch this year went clear two weeks into secondary. Sit out in a warm area for a day or two to get the fermentation started up again, stick in the fridge, then enjoy.

For what its worth, Youtube videos on the subject are numerous. Take them with several grains of salt, but some are quite informative. Beeman is dead on, the end product will be just like apple wine, flat if you like it that way, carbonated if you like it that way. Al: The idea of a perpetual barrel of apple vinegar is totally fascinating. I havent goofed up a batch of cider yet, and I just cant bring myself to let a perfectly good jug of booze to turn to vinegar.

That said, homemade vinegar would be a wonderful culinary treat for the winter. Ajmama, I was typing when your last post came up. I think your primary may take a few days yet, due to the extra sugar you added. Pasteurizing after fermentation will cook off all the alcohol and I'm not even sure what to call whats left over. My first few batches were made with pasteurized sweet cider. I added a dry white wine yeast from the local homebrew store. The end product did have a white wine-like quality to it.

The cider has quite a kick, but the bottle ageing seems to have mellowed the 'bite'. The only real equipment i bought included glass jugs, a siphon, corks and airlocks.

I found an antique bottle press during a basement cleanup a few years back Screwtop plastic bottles work just fine too. Again, for what its worth, the oldtimer at the orchard insured me that "it wouldnt work" if you used plastic, or neglected to add raisins.

Both not true in my experience, but food for thought none the less. Oh yea An oxiclean type product called "One Step no rinse cleanser" is a good one. Also, one of my homebrew nut buddies makes a cider every year with apple juice from Costco that always a hit at his yearly fall festival.

He barrels and carbonates it as with the rest of his beers. It has come to go by the name "Karl's Panty-dropper"! Lager yeast is better and ale yeast is best broadly speaking, there are many of them. Wine yeast will make it too dry, ale leaves a little fruit flavor in there. It is unlikely that your cider will stay drinkable for long, the juice is made with table apples which are inferior for cider.

The best table apples for cider are Russet types, but also Northern Spy makes good cider. It was because of the inferior juice that I moved to wine. If it turns into vinegar, it will be good vinegar worth using in the kitchen. From your description, you must have had fermentation with a kombucha-like bacterial mix, so it may in fact turn into vinegar eventually. As said before, enjoy it while it tastes good, it may not age.

Chill it, it will go well with a number of fall dishes. I was just starting to get a taste for it, when good old PA pulled it off the shelves in the health food stores due to the 'alcohol content'. Pretty sure the "State Stores" wont carry it, and the six pack shops wont for sure. Guess I gotta figure out how to make my own, no place left to buy it. Just wondering - how do you know what kind of apples my cider was made from?

Are you assuming all sweet cider is made from "table apples"? I bought this from Ag students at local fair, not grocery store have to pasteurize all grocery store "cider" anyway.

I'd have to call and ask what type s of apples they use. The cup of juice I made myself and added the other day was made from my dad's apples, which I think are crab apples he doesn't maintain the tree, so they could be table apples, just small, they were green but starting to turn red late Oct. Everybody - Still lots of tiny bubbles in the jug, though not in the glass I poured to taste.

DH says it's pretty good but I'm looking for more kick. May add more sugar today - what do you think? I want to plant Northern Spy had another thread on here about planting from seed - was told not good idea. I consider Spies the perfect all-round apple - for baking and eating out of hand, and now I learn for cider too! I have to see if any of the trees on my uncle's land are still bearing - they've been neglected for decades. I was just assuming that you bought commercial juice.

That is generally full of Red Delicious. The one I buy has clearly some Russet, at least until January when they probably run out. And your post reminded me of the most important addition to cider from commercial apples: crabapples. Too sour alone, but they add tannins and acids. You can blend them, dump them in the carboy with the juice, then rack move liquid to clean carboy, leaving residue behind after it has cleared substantially. Another racking just before bottling in April, and you are on your way.

Cider is the easiest to make of alcoholic beverages. But I take that back: if you have enough of the cider apples in there, the cider will age. I too am a big fan of Northern Spy. November to May, it is the only fruit I eat, and my family too eats mostly Northerns during that period. But this year, while warm, had a late freeze, and Northerns will run out around Xmas time.

I don't know what I will do next. Get scurvy probably not really, my hoop houses are full of greens, but still. Just checking back - I've got the secondaries 3 quart canning jars sterilizing now, tubing is washed didn't wantg to boil it and have it melt and ready to siphon. Do I add sugar to the secondaries? The orchard said they only got 5 boxes, and no Baldwins. Don't know anybody around here who grows Russets. We're going to have to grow our own Winesap sounds good too.

Apples have a high Brix, comparable to grapes, but less. Do you want cider like wine or like beer alcohol wise? Don't worry -- a cheesecloth or other mesh covering will let sufficient air through for the vinegar to breathe just fine. Secure the cloth with a rubber band. How to Know When It's Done Although it could take several weeks to a month for your vinegar to be finished, you should start tasting it after just a few days, and every few days after that.

Each batch of vinegar will take a slightly different length of time to reach its desired flavor, even if you perform every step identically each time. Tasting it is how you ensure quality and keep from fermenting it too long or not long enough before bottling.

Taste should, in fact, be the prime determining factor on when your vinegar is done. As the wild yeast in the air continues to feed on the sugars in the cider, it will go through a variety of stages.

First it will taste carbonated. Then, as both the sweetness and bubbling flatten out more, it will start to take on an alcoholic taste with a dry texture.

And finally, as more of the acids develop, a vinegary sourness will start to take over.