Homemade apple cider vinegar was a staple for centuries, as it not only preserved the apple harvest, the finished cider vinegar was then put to work preserving the rest of the summer’s bounty. Raw cider vinegar with the mother good for more than just food preservation, and it’s also used as a powerful probiotic tonic in all manner of home remedies.
Search the internet for recipes for homemade apple cider vinegar and you’ll get all sorts of answers…few of them accurate. These days, most are shortcut methods that use pounds of white sugar with a few apple peelings for color and flavor.
That is NOT apple cider vinegar. That’s harsh white vinegar with a bit of brown coloring.
It mostly goes by the name Apple Scrap Vinegar, and I’ve made it myself. It’s a convenient way to re-use apple peels, but it’s a far cry from real apple cider vinegar.
Traditionally, apple cider vinegar is made with just one ingredient…fresh pressed raw apple cider.
The apple skins already have the necessary bacteria, and it only takes a bit of guidance to steer them in the right direction. Exposing them to air at the right time, keeping the crock at the right temperature, simple things like that will allow you to make apple cider vinegar at home with little more than fresh apples (or fresh-pressed cider).
Basics of Making Apple Cider Vinegar
Making cider vinegar, just like making other types of fruit vinegar, is a two-stage process.
The first step is alcoholic fermentation, and yeast convert the sugars within the cider to alcohol to make hard cider. Leave raw apple cider at room temperature for a few days and it’ll begin to ferment without any intervention. About 2 weeks later, it’ll be pretty potent.
Once you have hard cider, it’s actually a bit tricky to prevent it from turning to vinegar on its own. Cider makers actually use specialized valves (called water locks or airlocks) to prevent the hard cider from coming into contact with air where it might be exposed to vinegar producing bacteria.
The second stage is acetic acid fermentation, where vinegar producing bacteria convert the alcohol into vinegar. These bacteria require oxygen to function, and the more surface area exposed to air the better. Simply expose the surface of the hard cider to air, and leave the container open but covered with a cloth to keep flies/dust out.
Vinegar producing bacteria work a lot slower than yeast, but 6 weeks to 6 months later you’ll have a thriving “vinegar mother” floating at the top of a batch of homemade apple cider vinegar.
Pull out the mother culture (which is a jelly-like mass, similar to a kombucha mother) and use it to convert another jug of hard cider into vinegar. Once the mother is active, the process will go a bit faster and the hard cider will convert to vinegar a bit quicker.
Apple cider vinegar with the mother
How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar
The basic process of making apple cider vinegar is really simple, but there’s plenty of ways for things to go wrong. Wild yeasts and vinegar cultures aren’t always the most dependable or efficient at doing the bidding of humans.
Over the centuries, people have selected specific strains of yeast and acetic acid bacteria that work efficiently without producing off-flavors.
Want to make REALLY GOOD apple cider vinegar?
Then you’ll need to a bit more than leave apple cider out on the counter. Trust me though, the extra effort is well worth it and you’ll be rewarded with something truly special.
The Noma Guide to Fermentation has incredibly detailed instructions on how to make the perfect homemade vinegar from just about anything (from common starters like pears & elderberries to exotic things like butternut squash, whiskey, and black garlic).
They control every aspect of the fermentation, which results in a perfectly balanced finished vinegar that’s full of flavor. I’m going to take you through their process, and you can decide for yourself if you’re up for the challenge of making artisanal apple cider vinegar.
(If not, just leave some raw cider on the counter covered loosely with a towel…it’ll do the work on its own and make a simple no-fuss cider vinegar.)
Selecting Cider for Apple Cider Vinegar
Just like anything, good homemade cider vinegar starts with the raw ingredients. Store-bought apple juice and “cider” often has chemical additives and artificial flavorings, and those are to be avoided. If it has preservatives, like potassium sorbate, it won’t actually ferment at all.
Start with a simple one ingredient apple cider, whether fresh pressed or store-bought. We use our double barrel cider press to extract juice from our homegrown apples, but any fresh cider will work (raw or pasteurized), provided pressed apples are the only ingredient.
Preservative Free Cider is essential for homemade cider vinegar
Primary Fermentation (Alcoholic)
Start by pouring your apple cider into a fermentation vessel. I’m using a wide mouth carboy, but a mason jar with a silicone water lock works well too.
You can use a regular narrow neck carboy for the alcoholic fermentation portion of this, but you’ll need to move it into something with a wide mouth once you move onto converting the alcohol to vinegar.
Since you’re actually going to innoculate this “hard cider” with vinegar culture later, using a water lock is optional. It creates a one-way valve that allows CO2 to escape during fermentation but doesn’t allow contaminants inside. Mostly, it’s preventing vinegar contamination…which we’re going to intentionally do later.
Still, I’m using one because I’m trying to carefully control the alcoholic fermentation here, and vinegar’s not the only contaminant it prevents.
Innoculation’s not technically necessary if you’re using raw cider because the skin of the fruit contains plenty of wild yeast. (It is required for pasteurized cider.)
The thing is, the yeast actually imparts A LOT of flavor during fermentation. There are literally dozens of commercial wine and cider yeast strains, and each will dramatically alter the character of a hard cider.
If you’re lacking yeast, add a few raisins to the batch as they have yeast on their skins as well. Whenever you do, don’t add bread yeast, as it will make your cider vinegar taste like bread. (It’ll even smell like rising bread while it’s fermenting.) That might sound fine, but trust me, it’ll taste pretty bad.
I chose to innoculate with a simple champagne yeast (premier blanc), which is a neutral and dependable fermenter and I always have plenty on hand from my homemade wine. Noma suggests using Saison yeast because “it creates a great bouquet during fermentation, with no trace of bitterness.”
Add your choice of yeast, attach the lid/water lock, and set the fermentation vessel somewhere room temperature or slightly cooler. A slower fermentation will retain more flavor, and Noma suggests 18C or 64F.
In about 24 to 48 hours, you should see bubbles rising as your cider begins to convert to alcohol.
Apple cider vinegar after 24 hours of alcoholic fermentation
Ending Yeast Fermentation (With Pasteurization)
Allow the cider to undergo alcoholic fermentation for 7 to 10 days, depending on how much residual sweetness you want in the finished cider vinegar. The acetic acid bacteria can only convert alcohol to vinegar, but not sugar.
Stopping the fermentation early means that the residual sugars will remain in the cider vinegar and balance its flavor. Allowing the fermentation to complete (14 to 21 days) will mean that the all the sugar will turn into alcohol, and then eventually acetic acid after it’s inoculated with vinegar culture.
While that’s perfectly fine depending on your tastes, it creates a pretty abrasive cider vinegar that’s hard on the tongue (but great when diluted, or for cleaning).
If the yeast is left alive, they’ll eventually consume all the sugar. To stop this from happening, pasteurize the hard cider at a low temperature (70C or 158F) on the stovetop.
Pour the hard cider into a pot with a lid and slowly bring it up to temp. It should be steaming, but well below a simmer.
Allowing it to come to a full simmer (or boil) will drive off some of the volatile aromatic compounds that will create good flavor in the finished vinegar. It’ll also cook off the alcohol that’s needed to feed the vinegar culture.
Hold the temperature at 70 C of 158 F for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once pasteurization is complete, allow the hard cider to come to room temperature before proceeding. (This is important, as inoculating now with vinegar culture will kill the vinegar mother too.)
Adding Vinegar Mother (Vinegar Culture)
At this point, you have a finished hard cider that should taste pretty darn good. It’s got a bit of residual sweetness, and you should be able to taste the alcohol as it’s roughly 4-6 % ABV.
If you’ve pasteurized the mixture, it’s stable and ready for inoculation with vinegar culture.
Just like yeast, the vinegar culture will impart a certain amount of flavor to the finished cider vinegar, but to a much less noticeable extent. For completeness, I tested a bunch of different local raw vinegars. They all tasted different out of the bottle but assuming everything else was held constant they all made similar finished cider vinegar.
Focus on finding good quality apples and using quality yeast, and then just find any raw vinegar containing monther culture.
A good, widely available option is Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar with the Mother. (You can also use vinegar from a previous batch.)
Vinegar “mother” culture actually floats in the air as well, so if you leave a wide mouth container full of hard cider open (just loosely covered with a towel), it’ll eventually turn to vinegar as well. It takes longer, and I’ve heard some people have trouble with this method even after many months of waiting.
There’s just less “good bugs” in the air these days, with less home cooking and more sterilization in general.
I’d suggest adding about 1/2 cup of raw vinegar per gallon, whether it’s carried over from the previous batch or a commercial raw vinegar. Noma suggests starting with 20% cultured cider from a previous batch, which is more like 3 1/2 cups for a one-gallon batch.
Secondary Acetic Acid Fermentation
Unlike the initial alcoholic fermentation, that takes place sealed with a water lock, acetic acid bacteria need as much airflow as possible. That’s one reason I use wide mouth one-gallon jars, which allow for a good bit of surface area exposed to the air at the top.
The problem is, fruit flies absolutely love vinegar. It’s pretty tricky to keep the little beasties out of there, and historically, is wasn’t really possible. Fruit flies actually carry vinegar culture on their feet, so lacking vinegar culture people would just allow them to land on the hard cider. (Gross by modern standards, but historical food sanitation standards were a bit different.)
Still, I generally prefer to keep extra bug-based “protein” out of my vinegar, so I use a fine weave linen cloth over the top. They can be tied on, to ensure a tight seal, but I’ve found that my hair elastics are actually the perfect size to stretch over the wide mouth opening. That gives me a good bug tight seal, but still allows for plenty of airflow.
Left to its own devices, this secondary fermentation process is much slower than the first phase. It takes 3-4 months for the alcohol to completely convert to vinegar at room temperature, and 6 months or longer in basements, root cellars, or cool rooms.
For me, that’s totally fine. I start batches in the fall with the apple harvest and store them in my basement. The fresh vinegar is ready by preserving season in the spring and summer.
If you’re hoping for quicker results, Noma actually uses a modern process that finishes the vinegar in just 14 days (plus the original 10 days of alcoholic fermentation). They use an air stone and air pump to add oxygen to the developing vinegar, and mechanical airflow causes the acetic acid bacteria to work overtime. (This is actually the process used to make vinegar on a commercial scale.)
Airstones are usually used in home aquariums, but you can get a clean new one for less than $10 for use in homemade vinegar.
According to Noma, “With constant aeration, you’ll be able to turn vinegar around in 10 to 14 days. Start tasting the vinegar daily after a few days. If the taste of the alcohol is still noticeable, the vinegar needs to ferment further. You could use a pH meter or pH strips to test how acidic your vinegar is–a pH range of 3.5 to 4 is usually right–but in all honesty, we find the taste to be a better guide. Sugar, viscosity, and the flavor of your vinegar can all affect the perception of acidity on your tongue.”
The choice is yours, but personally, I’m not making homemade apple cider vinegar for speed. I’m happy to let the probiotics take their time, and I love watching a healthy vinegar mother slowly develop over the course of several months of natural fermentation.
Bottling Apple Cider Vinegar
Once the vinegar is finished, it should be completely shelf-stable for extended periods. It’s acidic and still has live probiotics, and if capped up and protected from extremes of cold or heat, should keep nearly indefinitely.
Generally, most people strain the finished vinegar and store in something like a flip-top Grolsch bottle. Mason jars work well to, though I’ve found that the vinegar corrodes the lids (unless they’re sealed in a water bath canner, which would kill the vinegar, so it’s not a great option). I use BPA free plastic mason jar lids for my raw cider vinegar when I need to store it in mason jars.
(Grolsch bottles are the best option in my opinion though.)
Really though, there’s no particular need to “bottle” the vinegar. You can just leave it in the fermentation vessel until you need it. The mother will sink to the bottom eventually, but it’s perfectly fine left exposed to the air if you’re going to use it in a reasonable amount of time.
(Over extended periods, it will evaporate and some of the volatile compounds that give the vinegar rounded flavor will dissipate. If you’re not using it within 3-4 months of finishing, I’d go ahead and bottle. Noma actually suggests straining the vinegar, tightly capping, and then storing in the refrigerator to maintain as much flavor as possible.)
How to Make Apple Cider Vinegar
Homemade apple cider vinegar is easy to make at home, provided you're patient!
Ingredients
- 1 Gallon Apple Cider (Raw or Pasteurized, but Without Preservatives)
- Wine Yeast
- Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (Store-bought, or from a previous batch)
Instructions
- Pour the cider into a clean fermentation vessel, and allow it to come to room temperature if it was chilled. Be sure the cider doesn't contain preservatives or other ingredients. (I'm using a wide mouth carboy with an airlock, but any clean, non-reactive container will work.)
- Dissolve a packet of wine yeast or cider yeast in a small amount of water. Allow it to rehydrate for 10 minutes before adding it to the cider. (Do not use bread yeast!)
- If fermenting in a carboy (recommended), then cap the container with a water lock and allow it to ferment for 7-10 days at a cool room temperature (Roughly 18 C or 64 F). A water lock is optional, and you can just cover your fermentation vessel with a towel (but don't cap it as CO2 needs to escape during the fermentation process).
- (Optional) To stabilize the hard cider, pasteurize it at 158 degrees for 15 minutes. This is optional but will ensure that the yeast doesn't consume all the sugar so that a bit of residual sweetness will remain for flavor. (Pasteurizing here only removes yeast, your finished cider will still contain the vinegar mother, which is added next.)
- Add raw cider vinegar with the mother from a previous batch or from a store-bought container. There's no exact amount, but at least 1/2 cup per gallon, and as much as 4 cups per gallon of hard cider.
- Secondary acetic acid fermentation needs a container that maximizes airflow, so choose something with a wide mouth. Use a non-reactive material, such as glass or ceramic, and avoid metal. (A mason jar, fermentation crock, wide-mouth gallon jar, or even a large ceramic bowl work well).
- Secure a cloth over the top of the fermentation vessel to keep dust and fruit flies out.
- Place the container in a room temperature (60-70 degrees) room, out of direct sunlight, and allow the mixture to culture for 3-4 months.
- Once the vinegar has finished, it should have a cellulose mass at the top. This is the vinegar mother, and is completely normal. Strain and bottle the vinegar, reserving the mother to start another batch later.
Fully fermented apple cider vinegar should keep in a sealed container at room temperature for extended periods (years). I'd recommend flip-top Grolsch bottles for storage.
Ways to Preserve Apples
Want a few more ways to preserve a bumper crop of apples?
- Homemade Apple Butter
- How to Make Apple Sauce
- Apple Cider Syrup (Boiled Cider)
- Apple Jam
- Apple Wine
- Hard Cider
Easy Probiotic Ferments
Looking for more ways to keep your crock bubbling?
- How to Make Sauerkraut
- Making Sauerkraut in a Crock
- All Rye Grain Sourdough Starter
- How to Make Mead
Alfredo Lim
Please give me the exact recipe,because i nake my own ways :
2 apple raw
2 glass of mineral water
3 tablespoon of brown sugar
My question is this right procedure
and my fermentation process
is 2 months.
Thank you.
Administrator
If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the post you will find my recipe.
Francisca Tripp
I pressed 10 gallons of apple.juice with my interns and we ended up leaving it in a fridge for 3 weeks and it started to be fizzy! How can I turn it into apple cider vinegar at this stage?
Ashley Adamant
Nice! Looks like you’re well on your way to hard cider. Bring it out to room temperature, crack the lid to let off CO2 as it ferments. In a few days, primary fermentation will be done and you’ll have hard cider. After that, just pick up the instructions starting with hard cider (above).
Mary Breck
Trying to figure this all out. We have an apple tree and I want to try making ACV this year. In the above case, does she add yeast at this point, or is it past that and she just adds some mother to it?
Administrator
This would be past the point of adding the yeast. Adding the yeast is what gets it to the hard cider point.
Jana Miles
I made hard cider then catalyzed it with Bragg’s ACV, covered and let it sit. After maybe 3 months it had developed a sort of powdery coating, but nothing resembling a mother. I removed the coating, strained the liquid, and started again. It has grown the powdery coating again. Can you explain what is happening and how I can fix it/get mother to develop? Thank you!
Administrator
It sounds like Kahm yeast. Here is an article from Fermentools that explains it.
https://fermentools.com/what-is-kahm-yeast-is-it-safe/
Gail J Morris
I ended up with a vinegar mother in my store bought apple cider vinegar. It was about as big as the first joint on my thumb. I put it in some sweetish wine I had with a fermentation lid on it. (the plastic/rubber with the bubble in the middle). It’s now about 2-3 inches across. what do I do with it now: how do I keep it going. Can I add it to some raw/pasteurized store bought apple cider/juice?
Administrator
I would use it to make your own apple cider vinegar. The process is the same as in this article but adding the developed mother will speed up the process. If you buy pasteurized cider from the store, it is no longer raw.
Gail J Morris
thank you! What about using apple juice from the refrigerated section if no additives? Sorry to be a pest but I love this kind of stuff
Administrator
As long as there aren’t any additives, you should be fine but that will probably be difficult to find.
Gail M
Thank you for the help
Administrator
You’re welcome.
Dawn M Blais
Good day,
I have read your article and have a question.
We pressed our own apples and i would like vinegar.
I was aiming to experiment by only setting the cider in a warm place with a cloth on the top.
So to say, with no additions of yeast.
So far, we started in early october.
I have the gel-like mother floating in there.
Is there anything else to do?
Do I take the mother out and wait some more?
Or do I just leave it in and wait for the process to take place on it’s own?
I hope that information and question makes sense.
You were one of the only sites that had information that wasn’t the “scrap” method.
Administrator
You want to leave the mother in even after the vinegar is finished.
Dean
Fantastic article, thanks for sharing. You did a great job explaining this process a beginner can understand.
Administrator
You’re very welcome. Thanks for sharing. We’re glad you enjoyed it.
Jennifer McDermott
I have coupled my gallon apple cider jar to my kombucha jars with the warming belt. we will see how the fermentation process goes. Its been sitting for a few weeks now. With Kombucha you can do a constant flow method where you have an active mother in a “spigoted” fermentation crock that you can add to and dispense from. Once the mother is established with the apple cider do you think this would work or does kombucha work faster? Thanks!
Administrator
I’m honestly not sure how that would work. Definitely let us know if you give it a try.
Umberto
You stop the first fermentation after 7 to 10 days so not all sugar is transfert in alcohol. Then you heat the the first ferment for 15 minutes and more alcohol evaporates. I was wondering if there remains enough alcohol to be processed into STRONG enough vinegar to have a shelf life.
Most procedures even add sugar to arrive at an acidity of 5% What is the reasoning behind the procedure you use?
Administrator
This process for making vinegar came from The Noma Guide to Fermentation. This process will give you a high quality artisanal vinegar. This process is more controlled and will result in a perfectly balanced vinegar that is full of flavor.
Katie
How do you know the vinegar is finished? I have a thin “mother” on the top and sediment at the bottom. Do you want to strain the sediment off? How would you recommend handling the mother until you make another batch? Thank you!
Administrator
I just keep the mother and the sediment in there with the vinegar. If it smells like vinegar then it should be good to go.
Avery
What do you mean by bottling it if you don’t finish in 3-4 months? Do you mean just putting an bottle or pasturising it?
Administrator
You are not pasteurizing it, you just want to put it in a bottle with a cap.
Terry
Thanks for these instructions! We pressed our own apples. I used a yeast that you recommended. The only problem was that the top kept popping off of my fermentation vessels! I used two different ones and during the first night, they kept popping off! It was pretty funny, but I took them off and just covered with a dry cloth. After 10 days, I put into a pan and heated to 150 for 15 minutes, added a small amount of apple cider vinegar that has a mother (Braggs- though I did not see the mother), and have put it into my cupboard with breathable cloth held down with hair ties. Keeping my fingers crossed! It smells really good so far. After 3 months, I should bottle it up, or should I wait until the mother forms?
Thanks again!
Administrator
The mother should have actually formed already at that time or shortly after.
Liz
How do we know if the acidity level is above 5% so it’s good for pickling. And if it’s too low, how can we raise it once it’s finished
Administrator
It’s generally not recommended to use homemade vinegar when canning. If you’re just pickling it and keeping it in the fridge, it’s fine for that. If you’re canning it’s best to use commercial vinegar to ensure the correct pH for safe food storage.
Landon
The only cider I can find without preservatives has vitamin c added. Just apples and vitamin c. Will that make vinegar? This is looking in grocery stores and Walmart. What other types of places would have single ingredient apple cider?
Administrator
It should still work as long as it doesn’t have preservatives. Do you have any local health food stores or coops?
Landon
We don’t as far as we know. We’ll have to try the one we found. Thanks so much!
Administrator
You’re very welcome.
Jen
I ordered an 11 gram packet of saison champagne yeast, the directions instruct to add the yeast to 100 ml of water, and stir to dissolve. I have three one gallons of pressed apple cider divided equally into each jug, how much of the yeast water do I add to each jug?
Administrator
One packet of yeast is usually enough for 5 gallons of liquid. I would just divide the packet up equally between the 3 jugs.
Darcy
I entered my cc card # for the monthly subscription plan and when I hit enter it took me to the same page and wanted me to do it again. Red flags going off here….
want to comment?
Ashley Adamant
Yeah, sorry about that, not sure what the issue could be. That’s all handled by substack, and I don’t really have anything to do with the technical side of things. Sorry I can’t be more help there.
Regrin
I am following your directions for making apple cider vinegar with fresh cider from my generous neighbor. I have two glass gallon vessels going (day 8 with the yeast) and at this point, I am trying to decide if I split it and keep half as hard cider. Your post on making hard cider talks about getting the cider off the lees. Is this only an important step if you’re going for hard cider? Will the lees have an impact on the vinegar? Thanks for your awesome blog!
Administrator
Yes, this is only necessary when making a hard cider.
MichellecM
I noticed that the recipe states to add a packet of yeast to the gallon of cider however in the comments you said that a packet is enough for 5 gallons. Did I put too much yeast in my gallon? If so, how can I remedy it ?
Thanks so much for your advice and recipe
Administrator
One packet is enough to do 5 gallons but it shouldn’t hurt anything to use the full packet.
Maryanne
I was so glad to find this article a few months ago! I pressed some apples and made the juice into hard cider, then I ordered an air stone and an aquarium pump, added a vinegar mother, and it has been doing very well. It grew a big mother also, and I tested the vinegar and it has an acidity of 3.8. That is the same acidity my bottle of Braggs ACV has. But my homemade vinegar still tastes a little like alcohol. Some of the vinegar has evaporated since the air is very dry here. If I keep the airstone in it and continue fermenting it, will it get to a point where it won’t have the alcohol flavor before too much of it evaporates? It’s about 5 1/2 gallons of vinegar, I think I started with about 6 1/2 gallons.
Administrator
How long has it been fermenting and what is the temperature?
Maryanne
It’s been being aerated with vinegar mother added since November 2, 2023. The temperature has been about 67-70 degrees F.
Administrator
It can take 3 to 4 months for the process to complete at room temperature so I would just give it a little more time.
Katie
My vinegar smells like rubbing alcohol – is it bad? Salvageable? What did I do wrong? Help!
Administrator
I don’t know if I have ever had it smell like rubbing alcohol before but it does turn to alcohol before it turns to vinegar. I would just let it go a little longer.
Julie
Thank you for the detailed instructions. I’m pretty sure I followed everything exactly, but something has gone wrong. I’ve had my secondary acetic acid fermentation going for 4.5 months and I’d say the room temp has probably been around 68-72. It’s in a very wide mouth glass container with cloth tied on top and in the bottom of the pantry in a dark corner. Sediment has formed on the bottom but there is no mother on top. Over half of the liquid has evaporated. What could have caused the mother to never form?
Administrator
It could take up to 6 months for the mother to form so you may want to allow it to ferment a little longer.
Grover
Hi, I followed the directions exactly and pasteurized it. After 4 months it was vinegar but never did form a mother in gallon jars and it tasted and smelled a little yeasty like the champagne yeast. Is there a way to make the vinegar more potent and more tasteful?
Administrator
The longer it sits, the stronger the flavor should get.