# Wine's turning to vinegar - how to speed it up?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wines-turning-to-vinegar-how-to-speed-it-up/359789>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** wine\
**Created:** [June 7, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wines-turning-to-vinegar-how-to-speed-it-up/359789 "2006-06-07T19:20:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wines-turning-to-vinegar-how-to-speed-it-up/359789/1 "2006-06-07T19:20:39Z")

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I’ve got a bottle of what was probably a very nice shiraz, but it was apparently stored upright or in an overly-warm spot by its previous owner who gave up alcohol after an edict from their doctor.

I took a sip, and thought “ick, it’s turned to vinegar!” but it’s not quite to the state of vinegar that could be used for making salad dressings.

How can I speed the process along? It’d be a shame to just dump it down the drain, like I did three other bottles that were truly and unspeakably corked. :sad:

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wines-turning-to-vinegar-how-to-speed-it-up/359789/2 "2006-06-07T20:17:49Z")

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Get yourself a [vinegar mother](http://www.liquidhobby.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LH&Product_Code=8195&Category_Code=MISC_VMSS). Sorry to hear about the corked bottles. Three cheers for screw caps!

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**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\
**Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wines-turning-to-vinegar-how-to-speed-it-up/359789/3 "2006-06-07T20:18:13Z")

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Sounds like just leave it, maybe give it more air if you can do it safely:

[http://www.vinegarman.com/VinegarMaking.shtml](http://www.vinegarman.com/VinegarMaking.shtml)

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wines-turning-to-vinegar-how-to-speed-it-up/359789/4 "2006-06-08T22:33:09Z")

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To mother or not to mother seems to be a fairly evenly divided thought.

I’ll just try leaving the cork out of the bottle and standing it up in the back corner of a cabinet. Should be a nice dark and cozy place for the bacteria to do their thing.

Now I just have to remember that it’s back there and open, or I’ll have quite a mess. :eek: