Description
Easy homemade apple cider vinegar from apple peels and scraps!
Ingredients
Scale
Apple peels and cores (organic if possible – enough to fill your glass jar, packed tightly)
2 tbsp brown sugar
Water
Instructions
- Gather your apple peels and cores (seeds, stems and all!) and place them into your clean glass jar. You’ll want to press them down a couple of times to fit more peels in. If you don’t have scraps ready, first wash your apples thoroughly. Then peel all of your apples and core them either by cutting them into quarters or by using a corer.
- To kickstart the fermentation process, you’ll need to add sweetness. Although apples possess natural sugars on their own, it is not enough for a strong fermentation process, so they need a little jump start. Add 2 tbsp of sugar to your jar filled with apple scraps. This creates a sweet environment that will attract the necessary bacteria and yeast for good fermentation.
- Add filtered water to your apple scraps and sugar, filling to the top of your glassjar. Give it a good stir to make sure all the apple scraps are submerged.
- Cover the jar with a cheesecloth or a coffee filter, securing it with a rubber band. Place your jar in a warm, dark place and let nature do its work.
- Stir the mixture every couple of days to aerate it and promote the fermentation process. After a week, you’ll start to notice bubbles forming, indicating that the yeast is happily converting those sugars into alcohol. You’ll see lots of bubbles forming and moving like in the above video. Leave the peels to ferment for one week. Around the second week, the alcohol smell will become prominent, signalling the end of the first fermentation phase.
- Strain out the apple scraps and return the liquid to the jar, letting the apple infusion ferment for another 2-4 weeks.
- The second fermentation phase is all about transforming that alcohol into acetic acid. Cover the jar again and let it sit for an additional two to four weeks. During this time you’ll likely see a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) growing on the top of your liquid – (a pale whiteish/beige rubber film). This is a great sign! It means your apple cider vinegar is happy and fermenting! During these two weeks, the SCOBY will continue to thicken. This is normal.
- Taste it along the way; once it reaches your desired level of acidity, your homemade apple cider vinegar is ready for use! Once it’s been a couple of weeks and you’re satisfied with the flavour, Use a funnel to pour your homemade apple cider vinegar into a clean, airtight glass bottle or jar.