The Vinegar's Alive!

Oops. I filled one of my vinegar-making jars too full yesterday and the fermentation process led to an overflow overnight. I suspected that I was trying to stuff too much prickly pear pulp in the jar but was too lazy to pull out another jar, make more sugar-water, and transfer some of the pulp.

It would have been less work to do that yesterday than having to do it this morning after cleaning up the overflow mess. Sorry, no pictures because I needed to deal with the clean-up promptly (and because I didn't think about the camera until I was almost done.) Suffice it to say that when I opened the closet this morning, the cheesecloth on one of the jars was bulging up, soaked in pink fluid, and dripping down the side. There was a puddle of pink liquid on the bag underneath the jar.

Yes, I put a bag under the jar yesterday as a precaution. Obviously my intuition was warning me there might be a problem but I didn't listen well enough. Unfortunately, liquid seeped off the bag so I had to clean the pink off the carpet, too. On the plus side, I overheard a conversation at the CSA on Tuesday about how nice it was that prickly pear fruit juice doesn't stain. Yay! It took some work, but the carpet did come clean. I would not have been so lucky with some other red liquids.

Of course, now with the pulp split between two jars, that means I'm going to have that much more vinegar when this is all done. Aw, who wants to practice moderation anyway?!