How to make apple cider vinegar at home? Buying organic apple cider vinegar from the store is fine. But making your apple cider vinegar at home is easy, fun, and excitingly satisfying. All you need is your interest and patience. I am sure other ingredients are already in your kitchen.
Hi. I am Azad from team MyOrganic Bd, a microbiologist with 4 years of experience. We craete most authentic content about organic food, lifestyle, and wellness. This home made apple cider reminds my old college days when we made fruit vinegar from grapes.
I hope all my fermentation knowledge and experience help me write a fantastic article. Here, I will explain the six easy steps of making organic apple cider vinegar at home. The exciting things that happen throughout the process. Everything you need to know.
Ingredients for Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar
The homemade vinegar-making process requires minimal ingredients. You can easily find from your nearby store. Check out the following list.
- Organic Apples
- Jar
- Clean Water
- Sugar
- Cheese Cloth / coffee filter
- Rubber band
Apples:
This one may seem very obvious, but there are spaces for confusion with apples. You can use green or any type of apples. But sweeter apples produce better-tasting vinegar. The variants of apple you use do not affect the vinegar-making process. The taste and smell may differ.
You can use organic apples. Also, use apple cubes, peels or fresh juice for the organic apple cider vinegar. Still, apple juice from stores can never an option. It may contain preservatives and other chemical components.
Jars
You will need a clear glass jar for the fermentation process. The jar size can be 1 quart, half a gallon, or one gallon, depending on how many apples you use. The jars must be clean and sterile. Just cleaning with soapy water and drying is enough.
Water
Unbleached, Clean normal safe water is enough for making apple cider vinegar.
Sugar
Do not worry, the sugar we use in the apple cider vinegar will be broken down by the microbes, and there will be no health issues related to sugar. Sugar will initiate a kick-start in the fermentation process, and the vinegar will taste better.
However, you can use no sugar in your homemade apple cider vinegar. But we recommend a bit of organic sugar cane sugar for a faster fermentation process and better taste.
Lids
We must ensure the air passes the jar, not other unwanted bacteria and fruit flies. A coffee filter and rubber band are an easy fix for that. You can also use a Muslin cheese cloth and rubber band to ensure a suitable environment.
6 Easy Steps : How to make Apple Cider Vinegar
Making apple cider vinegar at home is not hard, but it requires more attention. However, stages and changes in the fermentation of apples is a fascinating thing.
Step 1: Cleaning the apples
Clean the apple with fresh water and make apple cubes. If you have apple peels and wasted parts of the apple after making juice or pie, you can also use them to make vinegar. You may use fresh apple juice that also works similarly.
Step 2: Jar preparation
Put the cubed apples, filling 60-80% of the jar. Pour 2-4 tablespoons or 50-100 grams of sugar per liter. Then, add unchlorinated room temperature water, filling 90% of the jar. If you use fresh apple juice, you do not need to add water.
Mix the apples and sugar with a chopstick or spoon. Add the coffee filter or breathable cheese cloth over the jar and attach a rubber band to keep it in place. After preparing the jar, away from direct sunlight. Do not close the lid or make the jar airtight.
Expert Tips : You can add organic apple cider vinegar with mother as a starter culture. It will speed up the process.
Step 3: Stair the apples
Stair the mix every at least 2–3 times a week while stirring it daily will lead to faster fermentation and better taste. Mixing is crucial as it adds more oxygen to the fermentation process. It also kills the mold that can form at the top of the mix.
However, if you forget to stare for a week and observe mold growth at the top. You can easily use a spoon to remove the gel-like mold layer in one scoop.
Step 4: Observe bubbles
From day 3 to day 4, you should notice bubbles inside the jar. The bubbles indicate that the yeast started converting the sugar into alcohol. Release carbon dioxide bubbles. You will get a clear alcoholic smell at this stage of the fermentation.
Expert Tips : If you do not see the bubbles or very little bubbles after day 8, add some sugar to the jar. Keep it in a suitable temperature. 60 to 80 degrees F is great for apple cider vinegar fermentation.
Step 5: Formation of acetic acid
The bubbles will keep forming throughout the week. After the second to third week, the bubbles should stop forming. You will get a bit of a sour acetic smell when you open the jar. Keep staring, and by the 4th week, the formation of apple cider vinegar should be finished at normal temperature.
Step 6: Storing
Take a new jar and filter the apple cider vinegar with a strainer. Now, you can close the jar lid. This will make the acetobacter go into dormant form. It might take another 2 to 4 weeks. The apple cider vinegar is ready to use now.
Your homemade organic apple cider vinegar is done!
The Science behind Fermentation : making OACV
Fermentation of apples is the base of making apple cider vinegar. Fermentation is a process of the breakdown of substances by bacteria, yeast, or other microorganisms. The method of making organic apple cider vinegar is so easy that very few things can go wrong. So, even if you don’t have any experience of fermentation or bacteria, there is no need to step back.
More than 90% of bacteria are harmless, and many benefit humans too. Making apple cider vinegar includes all the beneficial bacteria. There is less to no risk.
The process of vinegar formation takes place in two steps of fermentation.
Step 1: Sugar fermentation by yeast
The apple contains different types of carbohydrates such as fructose, glucose, starch, etc. Those are suitable food for yeasts. Yeast consumes carbohydrates and produces alcohol in the process. When all the sugar is consumed, the growth of yeasts stops, and the second fermentation step starts.
This step can take weeks to months, depending on the temperature, humidity, and available sugar. The formation of carbon dioxide bubbles inside the vinegar proves that the first fermentation step is taking place.
Step 2: Alcohol fermentation by Acetobacter
After all the carbohydrates are converted into alcohol, the apples’ acetobacter bacteria start fermenting. This is a type of aerobic fermentation which requires oxygen. The acetobacter bacteria break down the alcohol and produce acetic acid.
This process can also run for weeks to months. When the apples stop forming bubbles, it’s a clear sign that the second fermentation stage is taking place. After converting all the alcohol to acetic acid, acetobacter enters a dormant stage and creates a mother. Mother is a gel-like formation of bacteria that will make the vinegar foggy or clot together.
Conclusion : How to make apple cider vinegar
Making Organic apple cider vinegar at home is not hard. It takes time & patience. Just follow the six easy steps with better ingredients. You will get fresh, organic homemade vinegar, and the probiotics are almost always guaranteed! Enjoy.
Mr. Shariful Alam Pavel believes in natural living. To live a healthy conscious living, we need to eat green, live green. MyOrganic Bd is a green wellbeing brand, educating millions to live a better life with mother nature.
A Microbiologist, full time Content writer in MyOrganic Bd relentlessly trying people aware green lifestyle. Apart from working MyOrganic, he is an Environmental activitist.