Fruit vinegar
Practical Action
To start the acetic fermentation, the alcohol content and the acidity of the siphoned must needs to
be corrected. Also, it is recommended that containers used should have plenty of free space in
them to give better oxygenation during the acetic fermentation.
In this case we use a 250 litre container but will only fill
it with 140 litres of alcoholic must.
Preparing alcohol must
A. Correcting alcohol level
Once the siphoned alcoholic must is obtained we separate a quantity (20 lt.) and dilute it with
60 lt. of cold boiled water, i.e. 3 litres of cold boiled water per 1 litre of must. By doing this we
lower the alcohol content.
alcohol must (20lts.)
14°alcohol
+ cooled boiled water (60 lit) =
diluted alcohol must (80 lit)
10°alcohol
B. Correcting acidity
The vinegar starter is next added to the diluted alcoholic must and the conversion of the alcohol into
acetic acid. Unpasteurised vinegar (the starter) is added in the following proportions: 7 litres of
starter vinegar per 10 litres of diluted alcohol must. This increases the acidity of the must.
alcohol must
diluted (10 degrees)
(0.04% acidity)
vinegar starter
(5% acidity)
(0° alcohol degrees)
prepared
alcohol must
(3% acidity
(9 alcohol degrees)
7.0 litres of vinegar starter are needed for every 10 litres of alcohol must
So, for 80 litres of alcohol must 56 litres of starter vinegar should be used.
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