Bettacreek!
Here's what I did:
Find some unpasteurized apple juice - either at the local farm stand or somewhere like that in Autumn (too late now), or make some. I have a juicer, but a food processor or blender would also work. You don't need a lot for the first batch. If unfiltered pour it through a jelly bag/old pillowcase/something like that. It doesn't need to be crystal clear,but it should at least be mostly liquid
.
Put the filtered juice into a wide mouthed jar, and cover with cheesecloth/muslin/tea towel. The idea is to let air in but keep dust and critters out.
Put the covered jar in a corner of the kitchen (not too cold) and leave it alone for several months. If you think about it give it a stir occasionally, to oxygenize it a bit.
After a while it will start to smell like vinegar. Leave it until it smells and tastes strong enough for you. It may develop an acetone sort of smell (nail polish remover); no problem, just stir it more often and/or pour it back and forth from one container to another a few times to get more oxygen in. The acetone smell will dissipate.
When it smells right to you pour it into a jar or jug, cap it, and keep it in a cool pantry. Vinegar is the end product; it may get more sour, but it shouldn't go bad.
Now, if you were lucky, you will have found a "mother" floating in your vinegar. I have never found one, so I won't describe what I haven't seen. Look it up. If you find one, skim it off, and put it in some more apple juice - this lot doesn't have to unpasteurized as the "mother" will kick start it with all the proper aceto-bacteria. Leave it alone again, and you'll have more vinegar (and, maybe, more "mother"). This one should develop more quickly.
If you did not find a "mother" don't worry. If your vinegar smells and tastes like vinegar then that is sufficient. For the next lot just mix a cup of your vinegar into the apple juice and let it get on with business. You have a perpetual source of ACV as long as you have apple juice.
Now, if you are a cook who wishes more variety in your vinegars, take some of the "mother" (or a cup of the finished ACV), and add it too a jar of red wine (not expensive, but not the cheapest either
). Put the jar aside as before, and soon you should have some red wine vinegar (with a bit of apple). Next time, use some of this to start the next lot; eventually it will be essentially all wine, and no more apple. White wine vinegar is made the same way, though the apple or red wine is more noticeable for the first few batches.
The reason I suggest you start the whole process with ACV is because unpasteurized apple juice will turn to vinegar eventually whether you want it to or not - unless you do something to stop it. Wine, on the other hand, has sulfites in it specifically to stop this from happening, so it needs the kick start of some finished, raw vinegar.
Sorry for the novel, but I hope the information is useful to somebody.
