By Spottedray
wales,
United Kingdom 
Can you use malt vinegar instead of white wine vinegar to pickle gherkins?
Hello.
I'm growing gherkins this year and they're coming on. I hope to jar pickle them.
Do you have to use white wine vinegar to do this or could I malt vinegar. I have two gallons of it.
Thanks.
25 Jun, 2014
Answers
Which will be a lot sharper with malt vinegar
25 Jun, 2014
You're quite right MG. But if you dilute it a bit and add some sugar it works fine. Just make sure you don't dilute it below 5% Spottedray as you run the risk of your gherkins spoiling.
25 Jun, 2014
Malt vinegar will affect the colour of the pickles. Leave a piece of gherkin in malt vinegar overnight to see what it looks like and then think what it would be like after a few weeks.
25 Jun, 2014
Yes, vinegar is just acetic acid. Apart from the colour, the only other real difference would be the flavour imparted by the vinegar.
25 Jun, 2014