Aaak!!! Vinegar Eels Problem

Vinegar eels are normally super simple to culture and maintain. I usually have more than I can possibly use. But for the last two or three months, mine have been dying off, and all my attempts to start new healthy cultures have failed. What's going on?

[@amandablum4732]

Sorry I don’t have any advice to remedy. But thank you for posting this. Very interesting. I will be keen to know the outcome too.

[@ale_papa]

In case you haven't figured it out yet, those are called "Kahm yeast", or so called by us homebrewers and fermented food nerds. Contrary to the name, Kahm are not actually yeast but a few different strains of "harmless" bacteria. They are considered OK to have occasionally in fermented beer, pickles and sauerkraut. Personally I don't like them. I have no clue why they have a detrimental effect on your eel colonies though. Needs separate research. P.s. They usually occur when fermentation temperature is over 23°C. If that helps.

[@XxxSammi3xxXMspNz]

As an aside, I think we need to talk about your schnapps habit 😉

[@XxxSammi3xxXMspNz]

Just a thought, have you changed the type of vinegar you use?

[@jaymiller3238]

@@XxxSammi3xxXMspNz I think it's the same brand I started with. You think there might be that much variation?

[@jaymiller3238]

LOL No comment(!) but thanks for making me laugh.

[@XxxSammi3xxXMspNz]

@@jaymiller3238 the white stuff floating at the top makes me think something’s reacting with the vinegar or apples. I use micro worms for my smallest fry but looking at getting vinegar eels too. Would love to know what’s causing your pain.

[@RoseMary-gl4ee]

Temp too cold, or too hot?

[@marionmoat9235]

I had this happen to me when I used a different apple cider vinegar instead of Braggs apple cider

[@redmule8621]

I had one culture do the same thing I just sat on it for a while because it's happened to me before. Later I added more vinegar more eels and a little bit of yeast and left it for another couple of weeks just to see what would happen and today I have vinegar eels. I don't know what happened what happened but I just kept playing with it to see if I could get it to produce. I've started other cultures and they're doing fine I wondered if it was something in the jar it was a different jar a new old jar

[@jaymiller3238]

Yeah, mine seemed to spontaneously recover after a few months. I had to stop selling them, temporarily, but they're doing okay now. Thanks for the yeast suggestion.

[@88mrben]

Hi, I just bought my first culture and started a few culture. All of which had the same white foam on top. I read ur comments that u went away for 3 weeks and it resolved itself. So does that mean I just leave them aside without doing anything and it should go away? Would appreciate your input because I can’t seem to find any information about this phenomenon

[@gordonhu9863]

My best guess is that there is something wrong with either the apples or vinegar. Have you tried starting cultures with different produce? Is the vinegar in the new cultures from the same bottle or batch of vinegar as the previous?

[@jaymiller3238]

Different apples. Same vinegar.How can vinegar possibly go bad?

[@chouavang503]

Jay did you ever figure out why? Let me know necause mine are cloudy and jave surface scum

[@jaymiller3238]

No, the problem seemed to resolve itself. Have a look at the comments. Someone said it was a harmless bacteria that shows up in beer brewing and pickling when the temperature goes above 23°C. At the time, my cultures were in the closet of my residence. Since then, they’ve been in the basement and I haven’t had any issues. For what it’s worth…

[@Scouse.raver1]

I also get the scum on some of my cultures I made three cultures exactly the same at the same time, two got the scum the other one did not. The culture that did not get the scum is the one I was feeding from the other two were stored away I thought maybe it was the eels dying causing the scum but I really don't know

[@jaymiller3238]

I went away for three weeks and when I returned the problem had fixed itself. Go figure.

[@CADSMITH-jimpac]

Can it be cultured without a starter? I can't find a starter here where I am.

[@jaymiller3238]

I wouldn't know. I've seen a video on how to start micro worms without a culture, but I don't know about vinegar eels. They're both nematodes, so it might be possible.

[@robin-br6ob]

hi have you found the solution for it? ok am also facing the same issue.😢

[@jaymiller3238]

Just time and patience. I went away for three weeks and when I returned the problem seemed to have resolved itself.

[@alanturink4998]

What happen if we eat it?

[@Scouse.raver1]

Nothing will happen you would pass them naturally vinegar eels are harmless to humans

[@tvideo1189]

Vinegar eels are harmless and (believe it or not), were even commonly present in commercial vinegar purchased at shops during the 50's along with a floating layer of harmless bacteria called "Mother Of Vinegar".