It took many attempts, but I managed at long last to grow a vinegar mother.
Since it grew in a beer trial, I am starting with malt vinegar. The old mother is sunk and there is a new mother floating on top. Is this normal? What does it mean? Not sure what to do, I just fed it more beer. The internet is full of conflicting advice, so I thought I'd come here for more of it.
I'm feeling pretty secure about continuing to feed this one, but I will probably pour it off when this mother sinks or maybe feed it once more. No matter.
I want to start a red wine vinegar... I know it's best to use a red wine mother but I have still not found a source for either unpasteurized red wine vinegar or red wine vinegar mothers without have to ship across the border at great expense. So I'm going to try using the malt vinegar mother (which stared from cider vinegar anyway) for red wine. Don't try to talk me out of it (though you are welcome to be skeptical).
Can I use some of the sunken mother, or is it completely dead? My instinct is to harvest some mother and wash it off to reduce the likelihood of malt taste in the wine vinegar but I'm concerned that washing might remove the active bacteria layer (is that how it works?). If I do wash it, I should probably use distilled water, right? (Our tap water is chlorinated, I can let the chlorine evaporate but is that enough?)
Thoughts?
