I want to make vinegar for cleaning and laundry softener

Hi
has anyone tried to make heaps of cheap vinegar that wouldn´t color laundry? Maybe sugar with  breadyeast  in water and later a vinegar culture?. would anyone know how much sugar per liter will produce how much or percent alcohol? is there another Way without pure sugar to make inexpensive vinegar for cleaning? thanks for any help or ideas.

Maybe press some potatoes for starchy water?
Or maybe rice wash?
After fermentation, adding a mother from an organic apple cider vinegar and aerating the vat might be  good.

hi
a friend of mine says that the percentage of alcohol is slightly higher or about the same as the table sugar and around 15 percent alcohol kills beer yeast (im not sure about bread yeast) so ... i litre(kG) container water with 50 g sugar and then when its fermented i could add the vinegar mother. can i add the vinegar mother at the same time?. hopefully its not too colored.

hi William Bronson
cheers, thats a great idea usually the water gets dumped in the garden. il try it for sure

I am waiting for my apple cider wine to finish then make some apple cider vinegar with a couple liters. The wine will only cost me $0.75 per bottle so that's cheap isn't it?
Hopefully we both remember to post our progress.

This is something even I would probably buy industrially made.
Vinegar contains a few percent of citric acid. Buying Citric acid directly uses far less volume and is also less expensive.

(I can buy 750ml of 10% vinegar for 1€, or 20l of 60% citric acid for 30€.)

Nothing against making vinegar, but i'd rather use that for eating, given the effort and ingredients.

I made 20 L of apple cider this autumn using an electric juicer.  I took the leftover pulp, added water to it, and made vinegar with it.  I could have made 20 L of vinegar (or more even) if I'd had a big enough container!  I think I ended up with about 10 L altogether, and although it's light yellow, I'm perfectly happy using it in my washing machine (and in my chickens' drinking water, our salad dressings, etc).

I have also made "scrap" vinegars by saving apple cores and peels in my freezer, then putting them in a jar and covering with water and letting them ferment.  I searched for scrap vinegar online, and used the instructions given by Kitchen Counter Culture.  If you're eating apples all winter, that ought to be enough to make a new (small) batch once or twice a month.  When I did this last year, I used it for cleaning and chickens, but I'm sure it's absolutely fine for culinary use too

Sebastian Köln wrote:This is something even I would probably buy industrially made.
Vinegar contains a few percent of citric acid. Buying Citric acid directly uses far less volume and is also less expensive.

(I can buy 750ml of 10% vinegar for 1€, or 20l of 60% citric acid for 30€.)

Nothing against making vinegar, but i'd rather use that for eating, given the effort and ingredients.

I think vinegar contains acetic acid,not citrus,but your point is well made.

you can make "cleaning grade" vinegar with fruit and veggie scraps. Toss fruit peelings, potato peelings, etc. In pot and make a sort of soup. Let cool and add yeast. Cover with cloth or screen. Let ferment. Strain when bubbling gets slow. Let finish fermenting. You can open it to air to add "mother" to turn the ferment into vinegar. Or add mother from live vinegar like Braggs... Let process into vinegar. It will get a gelatinous blob it it. Strain off mother for laundry use. This will work for cleaning and laundry use. and its free!!

Hi just wanted to update that I use lots of nice smelling herbs from the garden like artesimia and roman chamomile leaves or lemon peels and table sugar about a cup per three quarts water. This makes a great, clear, good smelling laundry vinegar that ends up at usually 4.0  ph and I add a juice glass full maybe that's a half a cup per load and that works great.

I merged your stuff with the following thread. I hope that is okay by you.

I do not combine citrus rinds with vinegar for a cleaner, however, I do use a combination of white vinegar and water, 1 to 10 ratio or there about, for the best window cleaner you can image. I add enough vinegar to a spray bottle of water until I can just smell the vinegar. Too much vinegar and you will think you are living in a salad bowl. I use the vinegar/water and wipe the windows with newsprint. Do not use the colored print, just black and white, and your window will sparkle.