At least that is reassuring – as I had been ensuring that everything was sanitized before I used any piece of equipment. So, the idea that it could have been from fruit flies is probably correct, Bob. Now I’ll look for a fruit fly preventative measure… I hear Lee Valley has some great fruit fly controlling gizmo.

Let me expound. It should never happen to you. I have “wine makers” from Mediteranean decent telling me about the right way to make wine all the time. They think they are making it the same way their ancestors did. “They never used any preservatives.” Boy are they wrong. If you read all the wine making books, the remedy for almost all problems is……sulphite. AWHHGGG. Get over it!!! For 1000 years they have been using sulphite to keep wine from turning to vinegar. Ferment the wine, put it into vessels to age it, but before you put it into that barrel, lite up that sulphur stick and let the smoke set into the wood.

The #1 enemy is the fruit fly. They live for fermenting fruit. Most of them will carry the acetobacter. When they find your must, they will leave some of the vinegar bacteria behind which will take about one year to turn much of your alcohol into vinegar.

Now, beyond that, independant of fruit flies, a natural by-product of fermenting yeast is acetic acid. But in very, very small amounts. Some wild yeasts produce a significant amount of acetic acid – enough for you to taste the vinegar in the finished product. The solution to this is to use a cultured wine yeast on day one. Grapes will carry wild yeasts in the waxy surface on their skins, which will convert the sugars to alcohol with varying degrees of efficiency. For 75 cents, always use a cultured wine yeast.

Bob Collin