How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar In 6 Easy Steps

Have you been dreaming of making your own vinegar? Dream no longer, today we are going to teach you how to make apple cider vinegar. This is a super easy tutorial to get you started on your fermenting journey. I love to start a new batch of vinegar around the holidays after I’ve baked a new apple pie so that none of the scraps go to waste.

Apple cider vinegar is so easy to make, which isn’t going to require lots of maintenance while you make it. Scroll down and learn how to make your very own vinegar in just 6 easy steps!

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Why Make Your Own Apple Cider Vinegar?

Making your own vinegar is super easy, but more than that it is the perfect way to use up any apple scraps you have leftover from baking, or making apple sauce. Here at Rosevine Cottage, we hate anything to go to waste so we love this how to make apple cider vinegar recipe.

What’s The Difference Between Apple Cider Vinegar and Apple Scrap Vinegar?

This apple cider vinegar recipe is actually an apple scrap vinegar, which is a milder version of apple cider vinegar. To make true apple cider vinegar you have to start with apple cider and then convert that into vinegar. Apple scrap vinegar is still a great easy to make vinegar that you can use around the house, and in your meals. It just has less acidity than normal apple cider vinegar, so you have to be aware of that while deciding what to use it on and don’t use it for canning.

Wondering how to make real apple cider vinegar? This Tutorial from the National Center for Home Food Preservation on how to make apple cider if you scroll down to the very bottom it tells you how to convert it into vinegar.

How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar

How to make apple cider vinegar or apple scrap vinegar is a surprisingly easy process! I was really intimidated to try this until I started doing research on how to make it and found out just how easy it is. I put a batch in on Thanksgiving last year after I had finished peeling the apples for the apple pie (love a good apple pie? Try our Grandma’s Country Apple Pie Recipe). Apple cider vinegar is a great way to use something that would normally get thrown out.

Homemade vinegar is the result of fermentation, fermenting foods at home is really easy to do and fun! One of our favorites is Kombucha (check out our Kombucha recipe).

Tips On How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar

Some of our best tips on how to make vinegar:

1.  Make sure all of the jars, utensils, and work surfaces you plan to use are clean.
   You want to prevent bacteria from ruining your batch of homemade apple cider vinegar.
2. Don’t Use Metal Containers When Making Apple Cider Vinegars
   The metal reacts badly to vinegar and the fermentation process and will turn your apple cider vinegar into an unusable mess.
3. Avoid using chlorinate water.
   Chlorinated water can kill naturally occurring microns that allow fermentation. Use filter watered for your apple cider vinegar, or use the water from your tap and leave it on the counter overnight. By the morning the chlorine will have evaporated enough that you can use it without ruining your vinegar.
4. Don’t Forget The Sugar In Your Apple Cider Vinegar
   Sugar is really important when it comes to fermentation, it feeds the bacteria which will eventually turn into vinegar.

What You Need To Make Apple Cider Vinegar

How to make apple cider vinegar begins with the supplies, here is what you need to make vinegar:

• 1/2 Gallon Jar
• Plastic Lid (do not use a metal lid)
• Peeler & Knife

Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe

Ingredients:

8 Tablespoons Raw Sugar (1 for every cup of water)q

8 Cups Filter/Non-Chlorinated Water

Apple Peelings and Cores (enough to fill a jar 3/4 full)

1-2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother in it)

Directions:

Wash the apples, then peel and slice the apples. Fill the 1/2 gallon jar with apple scraps.

Mix the water, sugar, and vinegar until the sugar is mostly dissolved.

Fill the jar the rest of the way with a water mixture until the apple scraps are completely covered.

Cover loosely and secure with a rubber band, and place the jar in a warm dark place for around two weeks.

You can stir it every few days, or simply leave it be. If any brownish/grey scum appears on the top skim it off.

When the two weeks are up, strain the apple scrapes out of your apple cider vinegar and place a lid on it.

Discard the scraps (we feed them to the chickens, or toss them in the compost bin), and set the jar back in the cabinet for 2-4 weeks.

Your apple cider vinegar will be done when it distinctly smells like vinegar and tastes like it.

** if a gelatinous mass appears on the top of your homemade apple cider vinegar, don’t freak out you’ve simply grown a “mother”. Drop this in future batches of vinegar to jump-start it. **

What Is Apple Cider Vinegar Good For?

Homemade apple cider vinegar can be used for anything that you use store-bought vinegar for (avoid using it for food preservation, it’s really important to use vinegar with a 5% acid level.

• Use it in salad dressings, vinaigrettes, and sauces.
• Use homemade apple cider vinegar in marinades.
• A substitute for storebought vinegar in most recipes.
• Use apple cider vinegar in place of lemon juice in mayonnaise.
• Use it in homemade ketchup.
• Use homemade apple cider vinegar when you are making bone broth or stock.
• Use it in homemade hair rinses.
• Use it in homemade facial toners.
• Use it in baths and foot soaks.
• Use in fruit fly traps.
• Use it to make DIY cleaners, sprays, and even when you are doing laundry.
• Use it in your chicken coops and water troughs.

Notes For Making Vinegar

• It’s ok to use scraps to make this vinegar from slightly bruised or browned apples but don’t use spoiled or moldy fruit.
• Because you are using apple peels to make homemade vinegar we suggest you start with organic apples to avoid having pesticides on your fruit.
• If you don’t have enough apple peels to make a batch put them in a ziplock bag in the freezer and keep collecting until you have enough to make a batch.
• It’s really important that your apple scraps stay under the liquid if they continue to float to the top consider using fermenting weights.
• You could use honey instead of sugar in your homemade vinegar, but it will slow down your fermentation process.
• You can use as much vinegar as you want, just adjust this recipe to fit the size of your jar.

Making Apple Cider Vinegar

How to make apple cider vinegar is a fun project to get you started fermenting. Stop throwing away your apple scraps and make your own vinegar.

Have a question about making apple cider vinegar? Drop them in the comments and we will try to answer them!

Print This Recipe

Apple Cider Vinegar Recipe

Ingredients:

• 8 Tablespoons Raw Sugar
• 8 Cups Filter/Non-Chlorinated Water
• Apple Peelings and Cores (enough to fill a jar 3/4 full)
• 1-2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar (with the mother in it)

Directions:

1. Wash the apples, then peel and slice the apples. Fill the 1/2 gallon jar with apple scraps.
2. Mix the water, sugar, and vinegar until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
3. Fill the jar the rest of the way with water mixture until the apple scraps are completely covered.
4. Cover loosely and secure with a rubber band, and place the jar in a warm dark place for around two weeks.
5. You can stir it every few days, or simply leave it be. If any brownish/grey scum appears on the top skim it off.
6. When the two weeks are up, strain the apple scrapes out of your apple cider vinegar and place a lid on it.
7. Discard the scraps (we feed them to the chickens, or toss them in the compost bin), and set the jar back in the cabinet for 2-4 weeks.
8. Your apple cider vinegar will be done when in distinctly smells like vinegar and tastes like it.
9. ** if a gelatinous mass appears on the top of your homemade apple cider vinegar, don’t freak out you’ve simply grown a “mother”. Drop this in future batches of vinegar to jump-start it. **

 

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