Does accidental vinegar have a culture that I can pass along?

Question

Background: A couple of years ago we left a half drunk bottle of Sirah on the counter and it went to vinegar. A really nice vinegar with a pleasant, mild flavor, and we've been using splash here and a bit there ever since. Now I'm down to circa half a cup.

Is this a live culture like a bread starter? Can I buy a bottle of a similar wine, and intentionally propagate the flavor of this stuff? Or is just a crap-shoot?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_of_vinegar ... but I have no idea about the flavor. — derobert, Mar 11 '11 at 21:09
'What's so unpleasant about being drunk?' 'You ask a glass of water.' — Sobachatina, Mar 11 '11 at 21:20

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 11 '11 at 22:42

9

This video of Alton Brown - Good Eats explains it way better than I ever can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JEi4OW2Q54

If your bottle of wine turned to vinegar you probably have some "mother" at the bottom of that bottle that you can use in your next batch.

answered Mar 11 '11 at 22:42

LoveGandhi

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I don't seem to have big wad of mother, but I do have loose floating bits of something. Possibly I'm good to go. – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten Mar 11 '11 at 23:06
Since you have loose stuff try straining it, you might have more than you think. – LoveGandhi Mar 11 '11 at 23:43

Does accidental vinegar have a culture that I can pass along?

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