What to do with unfinished bottles of wine
My first recommendation is to finish the wine, but barring that outcome, here’s a simple, money-saving, fun, and delicious alternative to drinking fading bottles ex-fridge, or just dumping partial bottles down the sink: MAKE YOUR OWN VINEGAR!
It’s really easy. First, find the right container. The very best vessel will be fairly large (1 gallon/4 liters or so should suffice) opaque, made of either a non-reactive material like porcelain or glass, or of wood with a cover (preferably with a small hole in it’s top), and a spigot at the bottom (this allows you to easily draw off the finished vinegar). Finding this EXACT type of container can be difficult, so if you can’t, just be sure that the size and the material are squared away.
Here’s the procedure: Take a walnut-sized chunk of fresh, good quality crustless bread (no bread from plastic bags made in factories need apply!) and drop it in the (CLEAN!) container. Pour in wine. Cover the container with some type of material that will allow air to (slowly) pass through, but still reamain impermiable enough to prevent dust, etc. from falling into the container. The best material for this is a coarse muslin or a long length of cheesecloth tripled or quadrupled up. Tightly secure the cloth at the rim with a string or rubber band. Place the container in a dark, cool (NOT cold - this wil inhibit the formation of the vinegar, and NOT hot either - this could cause bacteria or mold to form) place like the bottom of a pantry or a basement closet. In about 2 to 3 weeks, a gelatinous mass called the “mother” will form (it looks very similar to an amorphous chunk of canned cranberry sauce, if the wine was red, of course).
This mother is essentially a live yeast culture. Some think that this looks (and feels!) quite nasty, but when you taste the vinegar, you wont care! Once the mother is formed, you can cut some small pieces off of the main culture, and just drop them into other containers, add fresh (or older) wine, and you will have DELICIOUS vinegar with 48-72 hours!
So what’s going on here? It’s very simple really. There are, within good quality breads, yeast cells that are still active. When these live yeast cells come into contact with the water+sugars in the wine, they are reactivated, and begin to feed on the bread and the sugars and the alcohol in the wine, eventually turning them into acetic acid.
Now trust me when I tell you, this will be THE BEST VINEGAR YOU’VE EVER TASTED: pleasantly acidic, FRUITY and COMPLEX. Let’s face it, the base wines used to make even expensive “gourmet” vinegars are far inferior to what most of us drink on a daily basis, so the results you will get will be far superior to nearly every commercially available vinegar. And while making your own vinegar isn’t “free”, it’s a hell of a lot better than drinking souring wine or worse yet, just throwing money down the drain.
A FEW OF TIPS:
- Be sure that, once the mother has formed, and you’ve got a container full of fully vinegarized (is that a word?!) wine, that you draw off into a cruet a quantity of vinegar that you may need before you add any more wine. While it will only take 2 or 3 days to acetify the fresh wine, during this time, there will be alcohol in the mix. Obviously, consuming this part vinegar/part wine mixture is harmless, but it just doesn’t taste very good.
- NEVER used “corked” wine to make vinegar! The vinegar will taste as “corky” as the wine!
- In making vinegar you can freely mix red and white wines in the same container with no ill effects, but with just one extra container, you can make separate red and white vinegars, and if you’re feeling more ambitious, and have the space, you can even make “varietal” vinegars: a Sangiovese, a Cabernet Franc, a Chardonnay, a Viura, etc. vinegar…
- In the first two to three week stage, peek into the container from time to time, and sniff and visually examine the surface of the vinegar - if it smells REALLY musty, you’ve gotten a mold infection. Toss this batch out, clean the container, and start again.
- At times, the surface of the liquid in the container may contain some whitish, powdery matter. To insure complete and successful acetification, skim this stuff off from time to time.
HAPPY VINEGARIZATION TO ONE AND ALL!
TOM CIOCCO
24 Comments »
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Thanks for a great post. I’ve read a few times about making vinegar and how great it is but it always involved buying a mother. Making a mother? Genius.
Comment by Steve — December 3, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
In the initial stage where I am adding wine to the clean container and the bread, how much wine do add? A couple of inches or do I fill the four liter container.
How do I store the Mother? How long will it last? Will it become moldy after a certain period of time?
Final product. Is there a ratio of wine to mother?
Can I keep one continous container of vinegar meaning just add left over wine to the same container with the mother and draw from the spigot on the bottom.
This is awesome. I want to try this..
Comment by Paul DelleRose — December 3, 2006 @ 6:18 pm
This is one of the most refreshing ideas I’ve heard for this common problem of surplus wine remaining in a bottle.
Nice blog!
-Nico
Comment by Nico — December 3, 2006 @ 8:26 pm
Thank you for this great Vinegar Lesson!
Sadly, it so happens that I am down to the last bottle of the amazing vinegar my late grandpa used to make (straight from his vineyard), which I have been enjoying my whole life…
I am scared to have to start using crap vinegar… Thankfully this lesson comes at a perfect time for me to start replenishing my own delicious vinegar stock myself. Looking forward to it!
Comment by jam — December 3, 2006 @ 10:36 pm
Fantastic article.
Comment by Francis S — December 3, 2006 @ 11:51 pm
I would have to assume that this will pretty much make what ever closet or basement you do this in have quite a vinegar smell to it, possibly the entire house?
Comment by TampaSteve — December 4, 2006 @ 9:53 am
Paul-
Here are the answers to your questions:
This whole process is pretty idiot-proof (not that you’re an idiot!)…it’s a case where if nothing goes wrong, everything is just fine. So many of the details will become clear once you’ve started the project…
- Initially, add as much or as little wine as you like, just make sure that the bread is completely covered.
- The mother, once it has formed, happily hangs out at the bottom of the jar. As far as a life span, not sure…I’ve never seen a “dead’ mother…as long as you keep adding fresh wine, I’d guess the mother is something close to immortal.
- The “ratio” of wine to mother is unimportant. Think of the mother as a catalyst for acetification - as long as there’s some mother in there, eventually, you’ll get vinegar.
- Yes you can just keep adding wine to the already acetified wine (finished vinegar), but as I say in my first TIP, make sure that you draw off the vinegar that you may need for the coming few days, because clearly if you’ve added fresh wine to the vinegar, what you’d draw off would be a mix of wine and vinegar for at least a couple of days.
Let me know how this all works out, and be patient, the acetification process timeline can vary depending on type of wine, type of bread used, ambient temperature, etc.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by admin — December 4, 2006 @ 11:34 am
TampaSteve-
Yes there is SOME odor, but not NEARLY as strong as you might imagine. Mine is on the floor of my large, cool pantry, and I’ve never felt the need to move it because of the smell…let’s put it this way, it is NOWHERE NEAR as smelly as the fermentation process, if you know anyone who does home winemaking - that is nearly impossible to carry out inside your house unless you’ve got a well-sealed basement room and a very tolerant family!
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by admin — December 4, 2006 @ 11:38 am
This was a great post. Much the same process as making sourdough breads. Homemade vinegars are incredible, and easy, and special. Thanks for sharing.
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Trackback by IeriWinner_14 — December 14, 2006 @ 8:53 am
Well it just didn’t work for some reason, no mother has formed, no mold no nothing? I used the inside of wegmans fresh baked french bread, a clear glass container and cheese cloth. Placed the jar in a dark room which is around 60 F. and nada..
Comment by Mark — January 4, 2007 @ 3:41 pm
Hey Mark-
How long did you let the thing go? The times for the mother formation can vary greatly due to a plethora of factors - wine age, temperature, bread used, etc…If I had to guess, it’s too cold where you’re storing the jar…try moving it to a warmer place…the bread could also be a problem…while Wegman’s bread must be decent (I’ve never actually been to one)here in northern New Jersey, we are blessed with a LOAD of old school, family owned brick oven bread bakeries…in any event, don’t give up - this is not just an urban legend or an old wives’tale - it can be done! Keep me posted.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — January 4, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
So after 2 1/2 weeks the bread just looks like a sponge. Doesn’t appear to be approaching the consistency in the picture you posted. I used La Brea bread from the grocery store and Pillar Box Red wine. It is in a ceramic mixing bowl and I’d guess the average temp is 73 or 74 degrees. Any thoughts? I don’t feel like I’m on the right track here.
Comment by Pete D — March 25, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
Pete-
Not sure…there are so many potential factors that could be playing in here…you mention a bowl - is this a big, open-faced bowl? Perhaps too many other “active” substances in the air inhibiting the formation of the mother(?) It could be too much bread(?)…the temperature sounds OK…again, I don’t know the bread brand - is this “real” bread? If you re-try, get THE VERY BEST bread you can find - from a good bakery if yoy’ve got one nearby…also, though the wine is probably the least of your problems, Pillar Box is a pretty highly manipulated wine, so maybe the combination of added sulfites, etc. might also be an inhibitor…I’d let it go another couple of weeks, and see what happens…keep me posted…If you don’t get something going on in another couple of weeks, pitch it and try again with different “software”…Believe me, it can be done! Good luck!
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — March 26, 2007 @ 9:40 am
So I did leave it for another week and a half while on vacation. What I came back to was pretty disgusting! The sponge got a little bigger, all of the wine got soaked up, and we had some SERIOUS mold growing on top.
The bowl was an open faced mixing bowl (ceramic). I’m going to give it another try…different bread, different wine, different place. Down but not out….
Comment by Pete D — April 11, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
Pete-
I think that part of the problem is that the wine has too much exposure to the air, which allows any king of spores that are floating around in the air to settle right in and get to work. The ceramic part is good, but you need to get a vessel that has a cover, but not one that seals air-tight. Also, you might have used too much bread - when you re-start, a piece of the white “flesh” (no crust) about the size of a walnut should do it…also remember, a warmish place is best - but not too warm either…I think this batch got off to bad start because it was initially too cold…Keep at it, and keep us posted as well.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — April 12, 2007 @ 10:15 am
Tom I have tried the bread in the wine, I used Balthazars bread, One white and one red, but for 5 weeks now all i have is a grey looking piece of bread in each container. The room is a constant 65 to 70 degree area, stainless container, topped with cheesecloth. Has anyone here actually got one started????
I will keep trying
Jeff
Comment by Jeff Heffner — April 30, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
Jeff-
Dude, I just don’t know…still too cold maybe..let it go…as long as it doesn’t get moldy, you’ve still got a chance…keep us posted.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — May 1, 2007 @ 9:31 am
OK but I am starting another batch with a different bread. Median temperature is about 70
I guess this is why I am not a scientist.
Cheers
Comment by Jeff — May 3, 2007 @ 6:21 am
I have a successful crock with mother and vinegar.
I transfered this vinegar to a 2.5 gal new french oak barrel for aging.
Within two months I had a thin floating mother edged with green mold.
I threw every thing outand scrubed barrel with hot water and again filled halfway with vinegar from glass crock.
Within one month there was a small thin powdery film on barrel side above the vinegar line.
What’s happening? Is this harmful mold So I need to dump and start over again.
Comment by Sharyn — July 8, 2007 @ 4:15 pm
Hi Sharyn-
It seems like the barrel is the problem…now clearly vinegar can and is aged in wooden barrels, but I think that keeping them topped up might be crucial, but honestly, I’m not sure. My advice is to just leave it in the glass if you haven’t had mold problems previously…good luck.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — July 9, 2007 @ 9:44 am
Great topic - rather then use bread and hope for the right bacteria to get into you container, add some purchased wine vinegar with active culture, or buy a starter culture. eBay has them as will stores that sell wine home winemaking supplies.
Sulfites in white wine and too high alcohol levels in any wine can inhibit bacteria, so it is not a bad idea to cut the wine by up to a third with bottled water (don’t want chlorine to get in) before adding to your vinegar mother.
No need to top up the container, but keep any openings plugged or you’ll get numerous fruit flies floating on your vinegar.
Comment by JimKay — August 17, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
“keep any openings plugged”
I should have said “lightly plugged” with cotton so that air can get in.
Comment by JimKay — August 17, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
Jim-
Seems like good advice - I’m going to start another batch based on these guidelines…
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by Tom C — August 20, 2007 @ 9:13 am