Vinegar Pineapple vinegar

What am I doing wrong? Second batch I've tried, first a preferment with fruit-wine yeast under an airlock, then after it stopped bubbleing innoculate with two tablespoons of unpasturized vinegar. And left it for ~6-7 weeks under a cheescloth, ocassionally stirring. Maybe midway through put it in another jar and discarded the sediment.

Only pineapple and sugar, no skin,. In the first ferment i added sugar in the beggining and let it ferment, in the second i added sugar in weekly periods letting the yeast work its way through it first, (add sugar, bubbling, wait for the bubbles to slowly go down, repeat, until no more new bubbles after a 2 tablespoon sugar)

Before the innoculation with the vinegar it was distinctively boozy, especially the second batch

It has not gone bad, but it is not particularly pleasant either. The PH is around 2.9- 3. I feel like it should be lower.
I have kept all equipment reasonably clean but as i've said it has not gone bad there is no foul smell, but its just not good. Also I have never tasted pineapple vinegar before but i have a strong feeling that its not like this.

(In an act of desperation i tried to boil it off and concentrate it, it somehow made it worse and also slightly less acidic surprisingly.)

I was loosely following Sandor Katz, and Glen and Friends' pineapple vinger video

Thanks

6 Upvotes

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u/offengineer 1d ago

You probably have too much alcohol.

1

u/gutyiman 1d ago

So the acetobacter is not doing so well, causing the ph to not get so low?

2

u/offengineer 1d ago

If the alcohol was too high they would've gone dormant and no acetic acid would be produced.

1

u/gutyiman 1d ago

I should have measured the ph beforehand but i dont think pineapple on its own would have a 2.9-3.0 so some thing must have happened,

1

u/gutyiman 1d ago

i remembered i have some pinapple in the fridge, checked it and its about the same so you're probably right

u/Practical_Tension551 1d ago

I've made vinegar from a wide range of things like rose petals to dandelion flowers to pine needles and, many pineapple 🍍 vinegars. Why would you not put the rind in? The idea of making vinegar is to capture wild yeast and, it lives on the skins of everything. The other benefit to making vinegar is to be able to use the scraps that you would normally throw in the composting bin.

I just finished starting to make some strawberry vinegar using the ends that you cut off and throw out. I filled my jar and added some sugar mixed with filtered water. --- covered the top with a cloth and used a rubber band to keep the cloth on the top. I only ever cover my vinegars with a cloth because it allows the natural yeasts in the air to do their magic as well. All of my ferments like vinegars, sourdough, cultured butters, creme fresh... they all are kept in the same area and the natural yeasty in the air do their magic. I was taught fermentation from a homesteader years ago and they did everything the old fashioned way. That's the way I do mine and they all work.

That is my newest batch of strawberry vinegar next to my sourdough. Tomorrow there will be creme fresh fermenting just like that next to them. You will see that my strawberry tops are active because they are floating with little tiny bubbles. In about 4 to 6 weeks I will have gorgeous homeade strawberry 🍓 vinegar made from kitchen scraps. And, I usually get a scoby to grow on the vinegar as well.

1

u/gutyiman 1d ago

To be honest i dont know what store bought pineapple is sprayed with, so if it was homegrown i would be fine with leaving in the rind. I also wanted a bit more control by introducing brewers yeast. In hope that there would be less off flavors (which sometimes can come from wild fermentation in my experience)