Hi all !
My name is John and i posted this new topic because i have a question with regard to the safe use of homemade vinegar.
Before going into further details, i would like to say a big thanks to all of you giving useful advice through ifsqn.com.
Your contribution is valuable and greatly appreciated !
I am an amateur wine maker and this year i decided to make red wine vinegar for the first time.
I followed the process summarized below:
1. Harvesting grapes
2. Pressing/crushing grapes
3. Wine fermentation (no sulfites added)
4. Adding homemade mother of vinegar
5. Vinegar fermentation
6. Removing mother of vinegar/ Filtering (with cheesecloth).
7. Storage of vinegar in the refrigerator (in 5 litres bottles, 15litres in total)
8. Executing infused vinegar recipe
9. Bottling infused vinegar in 250ml bottles
10.Kept refrigerated before/after use.
After step 7 (and before making the infused vinegar recipe), i got the acidity of the plain vinegar measured which was 3.5%. This percentage is lower than that stated in the local (Greece) and EU legislation (6% minimum).
Furthermore, the infused vinegar recipe says that i have to simmer the vinegar together with the honey and figs. I think that the vinegar will lose part of its acidity -due to heating- and thus become even more weak. Therefore, i am a bit concern about its safety and fit for cosumption. I would like to ask the following:
> Are there any possible food safety (e.g. micobiological) issues related to low acidic homemade vinegars ?
> Is a homemade vinegar (heated and stored refrigerated) considered microbiologically stable, regardless of its acidity percentage ?
> Is there any suggestion about the infused vinegar shelf life ? Is a two-month period acceptable, from a food safety perspective ?
Thank you very much in advance :-)
Kind regards
John