To update - I made two phone calls today. 1. To my local extension office 2. To the Bragg company My extension office said that as long as the vinegar is labeled 5% acidity - it is safe to use in BWB canning. She also said to use a recipe that calls for cider vinegar, not white vinegar. The Bragg company said their vinegar is safe to use in canning. It must be processed (BWB) according to the canning directions in the recipe - to kill the mother, ie. the bacteria. Cold pack - refrigerator or freezer pickles is NOT to be done because it does not destroy the mother. It doesn't matter if you shake the bottle first, pour off carefully or filter it. You can do it anyway you want. The important thing is to process it BWB. I think I would filter it for a clearer looking product.. I really want to see if Bragg's vinegar makes better tasting pickles. The bread 'n butter pickles I make never last very long. I usually make 4 or 5 batches and that's gone shortly after Christmas. The Bragg company also said it can be added to any cider vinegar to enhance it. So using it 1:1, with Heinz as David52 will do- is a good thing. Happy canning! -gloria

princesspez - Whee - this is a really oldie but goodie post. In re-reading it, I have confirmed what the writers have offered. Perhaps at the time of reading them, I was too busy "doing my own thing" to really appreciate the great advice. However, your recent post mentions "adding more wine" throughout the year. Personally, I wouldn't disturb the wine/mother combination until it has reached it's final fermentation. It may take several months - and when it tastes as you like, remove the "mother" and start another batch if you like. Strain out the mother and save it - or start anew. Then I bring the completed vinegar to a boil to stop any tail ends of "mother" left that would continue fermentation, and store in a capped bottle for present use. You could measure the acidity with a meter if you like, and if you intend to use it for pickling - it should be OK as long as it is 5% - as mine turned out to be). I hope to do some string beans this next summer with white wine vinegar - and perhaps now that I'm thinking about it, should start the wine "cooking" now. The instructions on the commercial "mother" is as follows: Use a clean 1 gallon jar or bottle. Add to the culture: 16 oz. of wine. 8 oz. of water. Air is necessary for conversion of alcohol to vinegar so plug opening with cloth - I used cheesecloth and a rubber band. Keep in 80 to 90 degree temperatures. Complete conversion is possible in 3 months. Use the finished vinegar as a culture to make more vinegar using the same proportions. The instructions don't continue to include stopping the fermentation - but I remember inquiring at that time and so did the boil step as well. About sourdough bread - since my posting, bread making has improved somewhat. For what it's worth, I have added potato water (heating to 80 degrees and adding yeast and sugar for proofing), in the recipe I'm using in place of the water called for. It seems to give my bread a lighter consistency. One other "helpful hint - from ???) is to allow the bread to rise slowly, acquiring more air. I put the dough in my microwave - no heat) until it rises, rather than a warmer room temperature might be. Also brush the bread with water both before rising and before baking - nice crusty crusts. I add back water and flour to the culture and store in the fridge. Take it out the day before, and let it "do its thing" all day - smells great. My son (my critique person) really liked the last bakings. He puts grated roman cheese on it - and toasts. Anyway, this is my upate. Just my 2 c's. Bejay

I would think vinegar would too be harmful, after all it is an acidic!! Check that dirts PH and see. Bet that's the sourest dirt in town! I hope that she thought it was water, if it was apple cider vinegar, that's brown, no mistake there and besides the smell, mabe her sniffer just doesn't work anymore and she can't read labels. I'd hate to think she did that on purpose, if she did, keep yer ole eye open for the next 30 days sister, imagine what she could do with Clorox!!!

You can buy "mother of vinegar" in health food stores and from places that stock wine making supplies, etc. I did it the hard way, and just left a jar of red wine out with the lid off (but protected from flies etc, with some cheese cloth) until wild spores found their way in. The white wine was harder to start for some reason (I'd read that it likely would be) so I bought a bottle of cider vinegar with live mother of vinegar from a health food store and mixed some of that in to the jug of wine. Nothing happened for a couple of weeks (except for evaporation) and I finally fished a piece of the mother out of my red wine vinegar, rinsed it as thoroughly as I could and plopped it into the white wine. Dunno if that's what did it or if the cultures in the cider vinegar finally got going...maybe a combination of both...but after a couple more weeks, I could smell the vinegar aroma and that the mommy was growing was evident. I'm afraid I don't follow the rather rigid steps I've seen listed on some websites as to how to feed the mommy etc. When I've a bit of leftover wine, I pour it in. When my vinegar carafe needs filling, I strain some. If the mommy gets too plentiful, I strain it out and let it start growing anew. So far, I've had enough red and white wine vinegar for my uses, enough mommy to hand 'round to friends who want to start making their own, and I haven't made anybody ill. The jugs sit on the floor, in a dark corner of my pantry, covered with cheesecloth (mommy needs to breath) and if I haven't used/replaced/fed in a while, I add a bit of water to replace that lost from evaporation. I'm sorry, I know this isn't very helpful. I'm sure someone else could give you more detailed directions.