Home-Made Cider Vinegar 15 
Preparation of Acetic Culture. 
1. Three to four weeks after the yeast culture has been added to 
the cider prepare the Acetic Culture in precisely the same 
manner as described for the yeast in paragraphs 1 to 6 
above. See that all of the culture is removed from the bottle; 
rinse with a little cooled boiled water if necessary. Do not 
shake the jar while the culture is developing. 
2. By the end of one to two weeks, a white, gelatinous film or 
membrane should be visible on the surface of the liquid. 
This is a growth of acetic acid bacteria and constitutes the 
“Mother of Vinegar.” 
3. When this acetic membrane is well formed, which will require 
about two weeks, with a clean sliver of wood, previously 
dipped into boiling water, remove the membrane from the 
jar, but do not lay it down; pour the contents of the jar into 
the barrel of cider, now fermented, to which the yeast was 
added some five or six weeks before; next drop the sliver 
with the attached acetic film into the barrel through the 
bung-hole. The wood will serve to float the acetic mem¬ 
brane on the surface of the hard cider and thereby hasten 
its development by keeping it in contact with the air. 
4. Keep the barrel at 65 degrees F. to 75 degrees F. till the vin¬ 
egar has formed. 
5. When vinegar of satisfactory quality has been obtained, in 
three to six months, draw off and store at a cool, even tem¬ 
perature in casks which are kept full and tightly bunged. 
6. Both of these cultures can be propagated indefinitely by em¬ 
ploying a small portion of the jar cultures in the same man¬ 
ner as the original bottle starters. 
