I am making a fruit scrap vinegar using the entire fruits of dark purple grapes, apples and yacon. I plan on making one small jar of grapes and one large jar (3-4 liters) of apple and yacon 50/50. The yacon will be "cured" (left to ripen) so the complex fructooligosaccharides can convert to simple fermentable sugars. Anyways I am going to use 1/4 cup of unrefined brown sugar per liter of water.
I would like to accelerate the process by adding raw apple cider vinegar mother or red wine vinegar mother.
My Q's are:
Should I add all the raw braggs apple cider vinegar mother or just a little bit? If I cut the mother in half for each jar will it regrow? Should I innoculate at the beginning of the whole process or is it better to throw it in once it's turned into alcohol?
Does the water/sugar to fruit ratio matter?
If I juice all the fruit will it render faster results?
Can I use a shirt as a cheesecloth alternative?
This is my third attempt at making vinegar, last couple times I had no education on the process, this time i'm somewhat following the food scrap vinegar recipe on wild fermentation however I'm using particular fruits that may render a very different result. Any tips would be genuinly appreciated.