I believe the “non-brewed condiment” requirement is true in the U.K. However, I cannot find anything applicable to the U.S. that prohibits the use of petroleum-derived acetic acid in the production of vinegar for food use. If anyone has a cite otherwise, please let me know. Nonetheless, I do not know if any petroleum-derived vinegar is actually sold in the U.S. for food use. I have seen labels on some brands of vinegar that state, “Not made from petroleum.”
A large portion of the acetic acid used for industrial purposes is produced by the carbonylation of methanol with carbon monoxide.
i used to make wine in my garage and store it in 55 gal barrels. The red wines seem to do ok at the higher tan optimum temps in my garage but the white wines I had to move before summer, or they would always turn to vinegar. Does anyone know why the whites were more susceptible than the reds?
First, to be specific about terminology: we talk about wine going bad as “turning to vinegar,” which isn’t always the case. A more generic description is spoiling.
What’s typically happening is the wine is oxidizing, which turns the ethanol into acetaldehyde. Turning into vinegar (acetic acid) usually requires bacterial activity. That might be purposeful, like adding a mother to the wine, or undesired because of contamination.
White wines tend to spoil faster than reds because of the relative lack of tannins. Tannins are a natural preservative that come from the grape skins. White wines have little or no skin contact during fermentation and the skins of white wine grapes are lower in tannins to start. You can combat the spoilage to some degree with proper sulphur dioxide additions, but higher temperatures are going to be bad for wine, especially whites, no matter what.