Test making vinegar with dirty conditions

 This is just a test. The main thing I want to know is ... can I make vinegar with next to no regards for cleanliness and measurements?

If it works, I will use the vinegar for cleaning.

1. Cleanliness...

One of my neighbours passes me all her kitchen scraps for my compost. I will only use pears from that coz I know she eats them regularly. I wont wash it. I will just separate the pears from the rest and chuck them into a 1.5 litre plastic Coke bottle.

The bottle I chose was lying outside in my collection of plastic bottles to reuse. I rinsed it out with tap water.

2. Chlorine...

I used water direct from the tap so I know for sure it is chlorinated. All Youtube instructions stress the need for dechlorinated water. I will add rainwater too if available, but collected in my dirty buckets I use for gardening.

Filter out the debris with a fish net

3. Dark place...

Its not going to be dark. It will be in the shade but still its quite a lot brighter than indoors.

4. Temperature...

Indoors is on the upper limit of what is recommended for making vinegar, under 30C. This test will be outdoors, so I think, even in the shade it will get to over 30C.

5. Measurements...

None at all. I put a teaspoon of white sugar, in about 500ml water. I will increase the water as I get more peels. The peels are whatever I get, so not much at the start.

6. Starter...

I will add just a tiny bit of ginger bug, maybe a tablespoon. That's hardly anything at all coz any recipe that calls for ginger bug asks for more than 100ml of the stuff.

7. Start and end dates...

This test will have multiple starting points coz I will just keep adding peels until it reaches maybe 3/4 of the container. 

As for the end date. I will try to get my hands on some pH testing strips. Hopefully that will be the indicator the vinegar is ready. I dont want to taste it coz I dont know how much dirt will be in it. 

19Aug2020 update: more from my neighbour...

I didn't anticipate so much pear scraps.. the 1.5litre bottle is too small. Transfered to an old 9litre...

Both containers doing well with no sign of mold!! Touch wood.

21Aug2020 update: today I decided to simplify things and put both pear mixtures into one container. Both smelt and looked good before combining. The new container is nearly opaque so it will cut out most of the light. It has a wide mouth which will make handling bigger pieces easier. The screw top will not be tightened to allow for air. Tightened only for shaking it up.

  

28Aug2020 day 18: quite a nice pellicle/mother/scoby has formed.