I was shopping for vinegar the other day and noticed a lot of unanswered questions regarding the difference between cleaning vinegar and distilled white vinegar. In this blog post, I will explain the difference between cleaning vinegar vs distilled vinegar and when it’s okay to substitute and when substitution is dangerous. I’ll also share a trick for saving money.
In both cases, the main ingredient in white vinegar is grain alcohol fermented a second time to form acetic acid.
Distilled white vinegar vs cleaning vinegar
Distilled vinegar is the type of white vinegar you buy at the grocery store. The distillation process after fermentation removes impurities making it safe for human consumption.
The cost of this type of vinegar varies depending on where you buy it and the brand name. If you buy a national brand of distilled white vinegar at a high-end grocery store, it can cost twice as much as the same quantity of the house brand at a discount grocery store.
For cooking purposes, I’ll be surprised if you notice a difference. But I understand if you paid $6 a gallon being hesitant to use it to, say, fix a dishwasher or toilet or clean up the remnants of a leaky battery.
Where to buy distilled white vinegar
Cooking vinegar is generally around 5% acetic acid regardless of the brand. Depending on the store, you may be able to get a gallon of distilled white vinegar for less than a gallon of cleaning vinegar at a hardware store. That’s especially the case at a discount chain like Aldi. And if you have a Costco membership, Costco sells a 1.32 gallon jug of Heinz white distilled vinegar for around $3.75.
So if you’re at Costco, don’t feel bad about buying vinegar there and using it for cleaning. Or if you are at the grocery store anyway, and a gallon of their house brand of distilled vinegar costs less than $3, it’s worth getting vinegar there to use for cleaning.
Cleaning vinegar
Hardware stores sell cleaning vinegar for use as a cleaner and/or to use to adjust the pH balance of soil. The difference between hardware store cleaning vinegar and distilled vinegar is that the cleaning vinegar has not been distilled to remove impurities. That means cooking with it isn’t safe.
The cleaning vinegar that costs around $3 a gallon is 5% acetic acid, derived from grain alcohol. That’s the same concentration as distilled vinegar from a grocery store. Since it isn’t distilled, in theory, making it costs a bit less than making grocery store vinegar. In practice, stores don’t necessarily pass the savings on to the consumer.
So when it comes to cleaning vinegar vs distilled vinegar, you can clean with distilled white vinegar. But don’t cook with cleaning vinegar. And don’t make salad dressing with cleaning vinegar.
Hardware stores also sell what they call 30% vinegar. This vinegar is 30% acetic acid derived from grain alcohol. This makes it six times more potent than ordinary vinegar that costs $3 a gallon. That’s why it costs closer to $20 a gallon. You can certainly buy the 30% vinegar to use for tough jobs. You can also dilute it whatever concentration you wish. Buying 30% vinegar and diluting it yourself rarely saves money, but it does save a lot of space. Just be careful because the 30% vinegar is much more dangerous if you ingest it. If you have small children, put a Mr Yuk sticker on your cleaning vinegar, especially the higher concentration 30% vinegar.
In conclusion
So to wrap things up, if you remember one thing about cleaning vinegar vs distilled vinegar, it’s to not use cleaning vinegar for cooking. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using distilled vinegar for cleaning, especially if you already have distilled vinegar on hand, if the grocery store is closer than the hardware store, or if the grocery store is considerably cheaper. Don’t be surprised at all if discount chains like Aldi or Save-a-Lot undercut Home Depot’s price. Just don’t cook with hardware store vinegar.
And buying white distilled vinegar at Costco or Aldi and using it for cleaning and for cooking is both a way to save some money and remain safe. The same is true of distilled white vinegar from other discount stores, as long it costs less than $3 per gallon.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
Once upon a time you could also get concentrated vinegar from photo suppliers, though it was called acetic acid. It came in two strengths: 28% and glacial (pure). The stuff sold by Kodak, at least, was pharmaceutical grade so it was safe to eat if you diluted it appropriately. It was used for making stop bath, a dilute acid solution that you used to stop the action of the developer, which was a base.
It doesn’t seem to be made any more; now they only sell indicator stop bath that has a pH-indicating chemical added. (It changes color if it stops being acidic.) But if you should encounter some at a reasonable price, it would be fine to use for cleaning. In the other direction, you can use food-grade vinegar in the darkroom if it’s cheaper than buying stop bath, or if you find yourself without any when you need it.