Vinegar Making at St. Eugène Vinegar

Vinegar production is a two-staged fermentation process – two very different processes!

First, yeast converts natural sugars into alcohol (ethanol), and then, special bacteria convert the alcohol into vinegar (acetic acid). Each stage involves very different conditions such as temperature, microorganisms and the presence or absence of oxygen.

Our process

Step 1 | Sugar to Alcohol or “Making the Buzz”

All fruit contains sugar that can be transformed into alcohol. This process occurs naturally when yeast – which are present in and on fruit – uptake the sugar and release alcohol back into their surroundings. We’ll use apples as today’s example.

Apples are hand picked in our orchards at the peak of ripeness to maximize their sugar content, e.g. 15 % (known as 15 degrees Brix or 15 ° Bx; Adolf Brix a German engineer who in early 1800s pioneered sugar measurements). Apples are then crushed into peas-sized morsels and then pressed to release their juice and chilled to 11 C within our air-tight fermenter. Yeast is then selected based on what type of apple cider desired e.g. Champaigne yeast EC 1118 for a bone dry, snappy cider or sauvignon blanc yeast QA23 for a full bodied, fruit aroma forward cider. Yeast typically contributes 50% or the flavour and mouth feel of the cider and eventually our vinegar.

The yeast consumes the sugar and produces alcohol and releases carbon dioxide which bubbles out of the fermenter without letting oxygen inside. Once, all the sugar is consumed, about 25-30 days, the yeast clump together and fall to the bottom of the fermenter leaving a crystal clear, all natural apple cider. Wine is made in a similar process, press the grapes, obtain the juice and ferment the sugar into alcohol.

Step 2 | Alcohol to Acetic Acid or “Making the Snap”

Acetic acid fermentation involves plenty of oxygen, very warm temperatures (28-29C) and special, food-grade bacteria named Acetobacter. Indeed the “mother of vinegar” is a wonderful edible biofilm composed of acetobacter which forms during vinegar making. We leave a wee bit in each bottle – that whisp of white on the bottle’s bottom. Given that Acetobacter are everywhere in the environment, vinegar making is another all natural process. Commercial vinegar making was pioneered in Orleans France from wine that had gone sour. Vinegar is from the French “vin aigre” or sour wine. This “Orleans method” involves wooden barrels and wine or cider. The limitation is that only the bacteria close to the surface have access to oxygen and thus can make vinegar aka the chemistry occurs as a monolayer at the air-wine interface. Great vinegar but slow! Often months or years.

In 1823 a Karl Schutzenbach developed a new method which trickled the alcohol over toasted wood chips as a means to optimize the surface area where the acetobacter could obtain oxygen and speed the conversation of alcohol to vinegar. Vinegar lovers everywhere rejoiced! At St. Eugene Vinegar, we proudly celebrate the use of the Schutzenbach method daily to produce premium artisanal vinegars using locally sourced wild cherry shavings … with a medium toast! We are one of only two producers in Canada who use this method.

Apples from our orchards, or grapes from the Vankleek Hill Winery form the basis of our vinegars. The terroir of Eastern Ontario.