Any organic apple cider vinegar (ACV) will have some floating in the bottle. It’s the slightly opaque film that you see floating.

Depending on the volume of juice you are working with, you can try to capture a small amount to add to your ferment, or you can simply pour an amount of ACV into it. The more you use, the more it will flavour your ferment. I use ACV the first time making vinegar from any other juice, but the next time, I normally use the same vinegar to make the transformation. ie, Rice vinegar mother for rice vinegar and so on. Exceptions are with pear juice and beer, neither of which have sufficient acid and need to have some added…at least this is the way it was explained to me by another vinegar maker, when I asked about difficulties with these two.

…and you’re welcome! Thank you for the comment.

Just started looking into this process so where might one find a my vinegar mother?

Thanks so much!

Thank you for your comment. I plan to expand on rice vinegar making technique in the next year. There are multiple methods and each generates a different type. It seemed unlikely that the water from merely soaking the rice would make something worthy, but it really works.

I find this recipe is very satisfying to use relative to others I have tried partly because of its simplicity and quality of product. The work/flavour ratio is always important for me. I don’t mind work, but labour added to a recipe has to really pay off in flavour.

For me, the key to a good vinegar, is aeration, and the length of fermentation (I find that 6 months to a year mellows the flavours). I have seen people recommend using a mechanical aerator, the kind that are used in fish tanks, which I have yet to experiment with, but I like to aerate by simply transferring from the fermentation vessel to another and back again.

Hi David you seem to be the only one to know his stuff. I ve been looking for the correct rice vinegar recipe and it is not easy to find the one that seems right. Actually this.post is the best I found so far. I m in Finland and I can find most thing bit i like to make things from scratch. Thanks for your post. Irmine

Thanks for this! Sorry that I didn’t notice it sooner. I have not yet used them, but will as soon as there is time.

BTW Japanese Mirin is made this way using sweet glutinous rice and traditional Japanese Rice Vinegar is made from fermented Mirin like rice wines. Sake lees can also be a source of Koji if they are not sterilized before sale. This is a fun and easy fermentation project that is much easier than winemaking or brewing beer. If you decide you do not want to drink the rice wine, you can still make the vinegar or bottle the rice wine for cooking or making Tare sauces and homemade Teriyaki sauce from scratch. It’s just steamed rice and a rice yeast ball.

Thanks for catching that. It should have said 500gr by weight is the same as 2cups/500gr dry measure.