My mother is trying to kill us all

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Dozingdruid
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My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by Dozingdruid »

Excuse the melodramatic title, but I look at her attempts to make vinegar and I see food poisoning in my future.

Long story short, my mother took a "recipe off the internet" and tried to make her own banana vinegar and date vinegar. Thankfully I came to visit before she filtered and started using the stuff.

I'm very worried about whatever she's got growing under her dining room table. Can someone help me identify the bacteria growing here? To my untrained eye they all look like lacto infections. And I don't think lactic acid is dangerous in small doses. As long as it isn't something too dangerous.
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I know this is a little off topic with distilling, but my mother won't listen to me (she's almost 70, us youngsters just don't like it because it isn't "scientific" enough), so I thought of you guys and all the threads i read about infected washes. Any help would be appreciated.
Distilling, gaming, woodworking, welding, electronics... I swear if I get one more hobby I'm going to have to quit my job.
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Run it!
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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Demy
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by Demy »

I produce my white wine vinegar (and sometimes apples vinegar), the best way is to have a bit of vinegar as a starter (chemically untreated vinegar) or insert something that has a bit of acetic bacteria (sometimes it works with Natural cereals, pasta etc.). I had to upload a video to YouTube on how to make vinegar starting from the little mature grapes ... if it might be of help I could upload it as soon as I can ...
stillanoob
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by stillanoob »

Look lacto. Very unlikely to kill anyone but very likely to be nasty. Did she start with yeast or is it one of those "put sweet stuff in a jar and hope it turns to vinegar"? many folks don't get that it has to go from sweet to alcohol to vinegar. And as Demy says, using some unpasturized vinegar or a mother of vinegar is the way to go. I make apple cider vinegar every year and it comes out quite good.
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by jonnys_spirit »

I tried several wine vinegars with some apple cider mother. Watered down slightly to an appropriate abv. The acetobacter did its job for a while then mold formed so had to chuck em. I’ve since learned that an airstone and air pump accelerates the aceto “ferment” since it needs O2 and alcohol. I’ll try again with an airstone but not in the winery / cellar. If memory serves an ABV of 6-8% is optimal. Good starter bases might be wines, whiskey, mead, beer (malt vinegar), rum, tequila, sake, etc..

Cheers!
-j
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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T-Boon
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by T-Boon »

here's a good how to.

NormandieStill
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by NormandieStill »

Curiouser and curiouser...

I do not have time for another rabbit hole. I'm trying to hard to ignore it!
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Bee
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Re: My mother is trying to kill us all

Post by Bee »

We generally overestimate the pathogenic value of molds, yeasts, bacteria, etc.

People naturally fermented all kinds of things for thousands of years without the benefit of cultures.
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