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preservation Chilli vinegar

Jase4224

Jase4224

Hi guys,

I've been thinking about making a vinegar using chillies. I don't mean adding chillies to vinegar to flavour the vinegar or pickle the chillies I mean actually making vinegar from scratch with chillies (instead of, apples for example). So literally would be chilli vinegar.

I've never made vinegar before but from my basic understanding it is yeast that breaks down alcohol to create the acid, but apple cider vinegar seems to be made by putting chopped apples in water. So I don't see why this cannot be done with anything that has naturally occurring sugars.

Has anyone seen this done or have any knowledge that may help me out? Cheers
 
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Ive made Vinegar, not hard, just use the "Mother" thats on the bottom of natural Apple Cider Vinegar, Braggs is what I use. You can use cultured "Mother that they sell but I find it expensive, $40/jar or something like that. The main point you have to remember is it needs Oxygen or it wont form, so an opening with some sort of filter that allows oxygen to get in and not bacteria.
 
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dragonsfire said:
Ive made Vinegar, not hard, just use the "Mother" thats on the bottom of natural Apple Cider Vinegar, Braggs is what I use. You can use cultured "Mother that they sell but I find it expensive, $40/jar or something like that. The main point you have to remember is it needs Oxygen or it wont form, so an opening with some sort of filter that allows oxygen to get in and not bacteria.
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You have made vinegar from pure peppers?
 
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First you would need to convert the peppers to alcohol like you were making pepper wine. You would have to add sugars to get a higher alcohol content. Making vinegar is converting any alcohol into vinegar. It converts almost one for one, meaning 5% alcohol will convert to 5% acidity. The range you want is between 5-7 % acidity. Below 5% and it's not good for preserving and above 7% is too sharp for your palate. I am making a margarita vinegar for my hot sauces and for making pickles.
 
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You will likely need a couple specialty items to get the wine started.
 
Pectic enzyme to help break down the fruit
 
Yeast nutrients made for mead ferments such as FermaidK and diammonium phosphate aka DAP. These might need to be added in a couple stages.
 
I would also suggest a very strong yeast starter made in advance of adding to the pepper "must". Use a very aggressive yeast such as K1V-1116 or EC-1118.
 
You can use regular sugar, honey or dextrose. Yeast need something to eat and most peppers probably don't have nearly enough sugar to achieve 7% ABV. I would probably try dextrose since its very easy for the yeast to convert to alcohol and very neutral in flavor.
 
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