Pickled Olives

Pickled Olives

Harvest olives carefully to avoid bruising.
place olives in a container and cover with water, make sure there are no olives in contact with air.
Change the water daily for 10 to 20 days, rinse them before placing them in clean water.
Taste to see the bitterness every 2 days after the 10 th day.
Brine,10 %.
100 grams of plain salt to every litre of water.
or a salt acid combo
60 grams of plain salt, 200 mils of whites wine vinegar, 800 mils of water.
Bring to the boil and leave to cool
Rinse olives pack into sterilised jars
Poor the cooled brine on to 15 mm, fill to the top with olive oil
seal the jars and store in a cool dry place for 4 to 6 weeks before tasting.
Once opened store in the fridge.
 

Vinegar eels



vinegar eels.

I did a few years back buy raw vinegar from a Health food outlet, got a huge bunch of vinegar eels, cute and they leave as fast as they arrive, but , they were unwanted in my vinegars. I know they do come with unclean receptacles, in the outlets case they re-filled there shop containers without washing them. Not a big deal just a nuisance.

Your ''MOTHER''of vinegar

mother of vinegar

Well ''mother of vinegar'' is actually any raw vinegar. However not all raw vinegars are equal.
 The very first vinegar I made I used ''Brags'' it worked well. Of late it has not worked at all for me or others I have to say.  It is not the sediment, it is the vinegar. You may find ''mother' 'growing  in any vinegar you buy, it is slimy and stringy and will grow a thick leather like cover over the top of the vinegar you are making.



I now keep a bottle of raw vinegar of my own to start my vinegars.

Malt Vinegar. [using Malt]

mother of vinegar is laughing at us

Making my Malt Vinegar.  [using Malt]

 I put 10 litres of cold water into a 23 litre brewing vessel
 In a large pot  I poured 2 litres of water, 1.25 kg of malt and simmered the mixture for 20 minutes.

The start of the Malt Vinegar
 Do not leave unattended....
 I then dissolved 8 cups of white sugar in the hot malt. and left it to cool.
 I measured the malt / sugar mixture, added it to the brewing vessel.
 and added cold water to make the total brew up to 19 litres.
 I put the lid on and added an air lock.
 15th November
 I added 2 teaspoons of , Super 6, ultra-pure yeast/leuver. I got it from our local, Bin inn. I didn't add it until late afternoon, I then gave the mixture a big stir up to add oxygen.
 17th November
 Brew is starting to fizz
 18th November
 Brew is really fermenting well now. The airlock is working well. All is good.
 22nd November
 Brew is still fermenting. All is good.
 24th November
 Fermentation has stopped, that would be what I would have expected. I will leave it a few more days.

brewed and ready for "Mother" to take up home
 27th November
 Racked off the malt brew into the Black container where the Vinegar will be made.
 I then added two bottles of raw Lager Vinegar to the malt brew. The last two bottles I syphoned off the Lager Vinegar was murky, should be good to start Mother of Vinegar growing.
 I then started off another malt brew in the same container without washing it. I will post back on how long it takes to start to ferment.
 Wow, this only took 2 hours to start. I meant to get a hydrometer reading, but it is a bit late now.....next time....
 2nd December
 A skin has formed over the malt vinegar .It did not break when I touched it, it has to be "Vinegar Mother.
 10th December
 Mmmmm starting to smell like vinegar, tastes a bit insipid, but malt vinegar, is developing....
 30th December
 This is still developing well, has a bit to go yet....
 7th January
 The 1st mother has sunk, it is not ready, I may have to add alcohol to this yet. If I do it will be, gin.
 I have a few old bottles kicking around the house.
 12th Jan.
 Coming along well, it has grown another "mother of vinegar over the top. I have another lot to make vinegar, waiting for that barrel. I will just have to draw some off and start it in another barrel.
 15th Jan.
 I decided to syphon off the vinegar into another barrel. It added oxygen for a final mother to grow.
 It also gave me a barrel pour my other malt alcohol into, I did not wash it.

Malt Vinegar
 19th Jan.
 The new lot of vinegar has taken off, my husband is moaning it smells already, I am rapt. I am wanting to get both lots bottled up.
 25th Jan.
 The Vinegar Mother has grown over the top of the first lot again, once this has sunk I will be bottling it.
 The second lot has a Mother over the top as well.
 19th Feb.
 The first lot of malt vinegar is ready to bottle.
 The second lot is looking great.
 I did not need to add any gin to these vinegars.
 I went to bottle this brew the next day, only to find it had another "mother".
 27th Feb.
 I took another look at it today, had a taste test.....YUMMMM
 well pleased.
 Maybe will be repeating this after all.
 The vinegar lends itself to sauce, cost wise it is very good.
 Not a top class product, Top class vinegar will require the dark stout malt.
 The colour of this vinegar is not as good as the malt vinegar that was made using the dark stout malt.
 I will set about making a huge brew, using two lots of Bin Inn malt and one lot of dark stout malt next time. I will call it, Double malt vinegar.
 3rd April
 I bottled the second lot of vinegar today. Took forever to get this lot finished.
 I won't be brewing two separate lots again. I will seek out a larger food grade plastic container. Maybe look at making four lots at once, that would keep 2 families in vinegar for the year.
Posted 14th November  by jellybeans

Malt vinegar. [using a 40oz can dark or stout malt]

very thick mother of vinegar

I made this up once, it was really nice. I have everything I need to put another lot down but am busy making Apple cider vinegar right now.

Malt vinegar, 1st stage.
 Vinegar is made by two distinct biological processes, both the result of the action of harmless microorganisms (yeast and “Acetobacter”) that turn sugars (carbohydrates) into acetic acid. Many foods involve some type of bacteria in their production i.e. cheese, yogurt, wine, pickles and chocolate.
 Though one might suspect that malt vinegar is a simple process, no harder than winemaking, it is however an involved and complicated process. Though it is thought that vinegar was a chance discovery and is 1000, s of years old there are references to vinegar and its use in food and medicine that are over 5000 years old. Simply it is wine that had gone off what the French aptly call VIN aigre - meaning sour wine and one can make vinegar from any material that one can make wine from. Malt vinegar is made from malted barley. However, the modern-day product is a lot more complicated than simply letting a barrel of wine go off (though that would work). It is a two-fold fermentation of barley malt or other cereals where starch has been converted to maltose
 The first process is the alcoholic fermentation and occurs when yeasts change natural sugars to alcohol (beer wine making etc.)
 In the second process, a group of bacteria (called “Acetobacter”) converts the alcohol to acid. This is the acetic or acid fermentation that forms vinegar. Getting a bacteria culture to grow is important; timing is important; and fermentation needs to be carefully controlled.
 The Brew
 Ingredients
 Malt Extract. one 40oz can dark or stout malt (obtainable from most home brew shops and some health shops
 Yeast 2 tsp. brewer's yeast (or stout yeast if you can obtain it)
 Sugar 8 cups of unrefined white sugar,
 Method
• Pour 10 liters of fresh, cold water into a 10-gallon plastic bucket that has a lid (If the bucket is new, wash it out with baking soda and rinse well to remove the plastic smell)
• In a large pot, bring 7 liters of water to a boil.
 Add the malt extract. Stir and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
• Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
• As soon as the sugar is dissolved, pour contents into the bucket. Pour, or 'splash', the contents quickly, which adds air to the mixture the air allows the yeast to grow quickly
• Top up with bottled drinking water, distilled water or boiled tap water until so that your bucket is half full. Let it cool to blood temperature
• Sprinkle in the yeast, and stir well, loosely Cover with lid if too tight your malt could explode from the carbon dioxide gas that is produced.)
 Keep covered and avoid unnecessary opening. The malt will be ready in 6- 10 days, depending on ambient temperature of the room Ideally the room temperature should be 20-24 Celsius at the highest; you could get away with a slightly lower temperature of no less than16 Celsius, but it will take the malt a day or two longer to ferment.
 Test for readiness with a hydrometer. Set hydrometer into the malt and spin it once to release bubbles which cling to it and give a false reading. The ready reading should be about 1.008. If you don't have a hydrometer, you can judge readiness by tasting a sample - it should not be sweet tasting. There should be little or no bubbling action in the malt. At this point the malt is ready for the next stage
Malt vinegar, 2nd stage
 Aceto conversion
 Take about half a liter of your finished malt and place it in a large open jar it need to be left uncovered to allow the musty mold to develop (this is called the vinegar mother) Place the jar in a cool (but not cold) dark room A garage or shed or cellar would be ideal, in about a week the liquid will have a mold on or a misty residue in the body of the malt. This is your finished mother and all you have to do now is to strain the mother through some very fine muslin to remove the mold, mist and any bugs that happened to fall into the mother. Then you add the strained mother to the rest of your malt, leave it covered with some muslin held tightly over your bucket for a minimum of 2 months, though 3 or 4 would be better. You should now have really healthy and fantastic malt vinegar
 Part 3 pasteurization
 Now you could just use the vinegar as it is, but it will go misty and cloudy quickly because the Acetobacter is still alive and trying to make your whole batch of vinegar into a mother. To prevent this, you have to heat your vinegar to 170F and hold it at this temperature for 20 minutes. This will kill all the bacteria and give you really good, delicious and stable malt vinegar. Chill and bottle your vinegar will keep for years if kept in a cool dark place
 You can make smaller amounts (adjust the quantities of malt and sugar accordingly) but this is such an involved process that a larger amount means less work.
 Thank You, to the poster in River Cottage who answered my question. Name withheld for his privacy.
Posted 11th November 2011 by jellybeans

Dark Ale Vinegar.

 22nd of January 2015
 At long last I am starting this lot of vinegar. I have sat on the beer kit long enough.
 1 Dark Ale kit
 1. 25 kg of white sugar
 26 litres of water

To make BROWN SUGAR Vinegar....1850's recipes

To make BROWN SUGAR Vinegar....1850's recipes 

brown sugar vinegar brewing

Using brown sugar....A VERY NICE RECIPE
 To every gallon of water put in pound and a half of good brown sugar, let it boil for a quarter of an hour, then put into a tub and when lukewarm, add to a pint of new barmy home brew, let it work for 4 or 5 days, stirring it 3 or 4 times each day, then turn it into an iron-hooped cask, stand it full in the sun. If you make it in February it will be fit for use in the following August. Put a paper over the bung hole and push holes in it.
  I will be making this one of these days, along with this recipe , from the same book.

 I HAVE MADE THE BROWN SUGAR VINEGAR AND IT WAS VERY NICE .
I had to use a wine yeast to get it going as I don't make beer now.

 Using HONEY,  HONEY  HONEY

 In November, when we had plenty of honey, I made vinegar thus; Put broken honey-combs into a stone jar; to every pound allow one gallon of boiling water, which pour over the honey; cover with muslin, place it in a sunny window. In about six months you will, after straining, have sharp, clear vinegar, and need buy no more. Failing honey I used sugar, an excellent substitute.