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Do you have left over apple scraps from making an apple pie or apple sauce? Don't toss them! Use them to make apple cider vinegar.
I will just call out the haters right now. Technically apple cider vinegar is made from apple cider (pressed apples), this is Apple Scrap Vinegar since it is made from apple scraps. However, the end product is very much the same so I will continue to call it Apple Cider Vinegar because that is the common name people use and know.
Ingredients/Tools
- Quart mason jar (wide mouth)
- 3-4 regular mouth lids
- cheese cloth
- metal wide mouth ring
- apple scraps to fill jar 3/4
- white sugar (1 tbsp per cup of water)
- water
Steps to Make Apple Cider Vinegar
Step #1: Add apples.
Fill the jar with apple scraps. In general 1/2-3/3 of the jar should be filled with apple scraps.
Apple Scraps for Vinegar
Step #2: Add water and sugar.
Fill the jar with water (count the cups). Add 1 tbsp of sugar for each cup of water added.
Step #3: Add a weight.
Place a weight on top to keep the apple below the water. This will prevent them from getting moldy and spoiling the apple cider vinegar process. Add your cheese cloth to the top and secure with a rubber band or the metal band used for canning. This allows your jar to breathe as it will produce fermentation gases. The cheese cloth prevents flies or dust from getting in. Set you cider in a dark closet.
Apple Scraps with Cheesecloth lid
Step #4: Wait 3-4 weeks.
Wait 3-4 weeks while the sugar water ferments into hard apple cider. Strain off the apple scraps and return to dark place.
Step #5: Strain + wait.
Wait 3-4 more weeks for the alcohol to turn into vinegar. When your vinegar smells as strong as you would like, it is ready to use or place a lid on it to keep longer.
Straining the apple cider vinegar
Step #6: Enjoy
Enjoy your homemade apple cider vinegar.
Common Apple Cider Vinegar Questions:
- Can I make this with other fruits?
- Yes you can use other fruits like pears or peaches.
- Can I add a little ACV with the mothers to my apple scraps to help it ferment faster?
- Of course!
- Do I need to store it in the fridge?
- If you pasteurize it, then ACV can sit out just like the kind you buy at the store.
- However, if you leave it too long open and it is exposed to the air it will ferment past a use-able state and develop bad molds. Cover with an air tight lid at the very least if you plan to store at room temperature.
- What is the white stuff at the top of my ACV?
- That is called the Scoby and should not be disturbed, it is the yeast and bacteria turning the sugar to alcohol to vinegar.
- What is the black/red/pink stuff at the top of my ACV?
- This is bad mold, and the ACV can't be saved.
Bad Black mold on Vinegar
- Can I use other sugar besides white sugar?
- Yes, the yeast/bacteria need sugar to convert to alcohol. White sugar works the fastest, brown sugar or honey could be used but may take longer to convert.
- What do you use ACV for?
- We use it for cleaning burnt pans, cleaning up spilled Lye from soap making, we use it in making broth, we use it with baking soda to clean nearly anything. One could drink it, or even wash their hair with it.
Strained cider, ready to ferment
Keep reading:
- Amazing Mozzarella at Home in 8 Easy Steps
- How to Peel Tomatoes for Smooth Pasta Sauce
- 10 Simple Steps to Making Cold Processed Soap (+2 Easy Recipes)
What do you use apple cider vinegar for? Have you ever made it yourself?
While formally trained as a mathematician, I am passionate about learning and teaching skills that allow me to be more self-reliant. This means growing my own food, making quilts, as well as preparing for small-scale emergencies and wide-scale disasters. I want to share my passions with you, and hope you will join me where ever you are on your journey through life.
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I have done this and the results were quite good, not as acidic as store bought apple cider vinegar but still good an information worth knowing.
Jerry,
I am glad you found it useful information. 🙂
~Lauren @ MSR
ACV also makes an excellent wood/cloth stain/dye that will not fade … 3cups ACV and 1 steelwool pad , let sit for 2 weeks in warm weather or 1 month in cooler weather … strain out remnants of steelwool then apply to wood or cloth,it takes about 15 minutes to develop full color… for lighter color on cloth rinse before the stain starts to dry. Best thing about this stain is no toxic fumes to breathe, most difficult thing is that it reacts different on each type of wood or cloth. It WILL permanantly stain your clothes and stain your hands.
Mark,
That is very interesting, thanks for commenting. I had never heard of using ACV for staining. Does it protect the wood in anyway or just a stain? I can imagine the ACV might prevent some mold grow in the wood?
~Lauren @ MSR
Ha! Read your comment about the “haters”. Couldn’t agree more! That being said though, the “real” ACV can be used for canning and has some medicinal properties. Do you think “scrap vinegar” can be relied on for canning or medical use or is it better to use it strictly for cleaning? Btw, this was a great article, very clear and straight forward. Thanks for the infor. 🙂
I think you could use the scrap vinegar for medical uses however for canning the recipe is assuming the vinegar is a specific pH. I would test the pH of your vinegar, as compared with standard vinegar before using for canning. The pH is important in inhibiting bacteria growth for water bath canning.
That was my line of thinking as well. Thanks for responding so quickly too. I also checked out your article on soap making earlier. I just might give that a try this summer. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.