# apple cider vinegar made from apple peels and cores?



## StormySar (Oct 2, 2007)

Last fall I set aside a couple 5 gallon buckets filled with apple peels and cores. I filled the buckets with purified water, set a plate on top of it all to keep the apples under the water, put cheesecloth over them, and set them in my basement. 6 months later I pulled them out. They look and smell like apple cider vinegar, and even grew a nice 'mother'.

Everything I read now says to use sugar with the water and peels. I did not. Did I screw up? Or does the sugar make the process go quicker so you dont' have to wait 6 months?

There was no mold or anything bad growing - is it still edible? Can I count on this method as a good one, or should I start adding sugar?


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## hickbynature (Aug 3, 2005)

Bump. 
I am interested in this idea as well. Making without sugar is a good question, as is the idea of making vinegar in plastic--glass seems the standard. A 5G bucket of vinegar is a nice proposition!
Thoughts on plastic: it's not heated--so no bpa's or lead leaching, but what about the chemical interaction of the acid? Is only pasteurized vinegar sold in plastic jugs, and unpasturized in glass? 

[email protected]


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## bhawkwind (Jul 29, 2009)

The sugar for vinegar is what feeds the mother - if the apples had enough food leftover, the mother used that - perhaps slower growing, and perhaps not as strong.
I know there are tests for acidity levels that home vinegar makers use to determine the strength, but I don't know where you'd get them. 
Personally I'd do an experiment if you're willing to take the risk - do it again - put sugar in one and not in the other. My bet would be that the sugar would encourage mold. Then again, anything organic will grow in my basement! LOL

H - that's a good question! No theories for that one.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Would these work to test the acidity?
http://www.phionbalance.com/ph-balancing-products/ph-test-strips/pHion-Diagnostic-pH-Test-Strips/


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

_*StormySar*_: I'm impressed! I have wanted to learn how to do this for years - and there you go and just do it. You have given me encouragement to go ahead and try it - maybe next year unless I come across some late apples soon.

Do you think that it might have been the purified water that helped to prevent mold growth?


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## hickbynature (Aug 3, 2005)

An attempt at ACV: used glass 1/2G Masons, 2C well chopped apples per jar, 1/4C sugar in two jars, and no sugar in two jars. Covered with flannel cloth and screw top rings. 

I used the whole apples (tree outside) for the sugar content, well chopped--for surface area, and oops, city tap water. The jars are filled to where the apple pieces squished together at the top. I did not put anything in there to hold them down. I'll locate some PH test strips, and check them perhaps weekly. The video online I liked best said to leave them in a cool dark place 6-8 weeks. I rinsed the jars w/hot water, but did not sterilize (jars I've used before, not new) them. I rinsed but didn't sterilize the apples either . . . . 

Guess we'll see!

HBN


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

Would the apples have enough sugar to make the process work?

I'm going to have to locate a source of apples next fall.


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## Blackmoriah (Aug 6, 2013)

I've been trying my hand in making ACV. I just had my very first batch sitting in the kitchen cabinet. The sugar is supposed to speed up the process. 

You can save some of the mother and use it to your next batch of ACV then you don't need to use sugar.


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## bobc (Oct 6, 2013)

i am trying this now with sugar in a gallon jar going on 2 weeks looks like alachol is starting getting some bubbles will keep posted.


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## IowaLez (Mar 6, 2006)

You need to use an alcoholic beverage to make vinegar, not juice and sugar. The vinegar bacteria convert the alcohol to acetic acid. You need to use hard cider, and one that doesn't contain preservatives.


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