There's a "fruit scrap" vinegar method from Wild Fermentation (Google exactly that and you'll find a few blogs about it). Basically waht I do is fill a jar with the scraps, and I did mine to within 1" of the top, but didn't pack them down. Then I added 1/2 c. of honey (you can use sugar too, but I had honey on hand from making preserves dissolved in warm water (enough to fill the jar...I don't remember the proportions exactly. As long as the peels/cores don't have mold on them, they're clean enough. Cover the jar with cheesecloth/muslin/old diaper/scrap of cotton, just make sure it's clean, though it shouldn't touch the fruit/water/sweetner concoction. If it's a 2-part-lid, you can secure it with the screw ring...otherwise, use rubberbands and get it tight (they'll attract fruit flies like nuts, though you might have an advantage in the winter that it's colder and so less fruit flies?).
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Leave it for a week, I think (and I remember it saying you're supposed to stir/swish it... I never did and have made it a couple of years in a row now). Maybe it was longer. The blogs should say. Mine usually got left for at least a month, just because I would forget about it. Strain out the solids, clean out the container, put them back in the container with a clean cloth to cover and let them ferment for another few weeks. When it smells like vinegar, you can cap it with an airtight lid. Sometimes you'll get a mother, sometimes not. I remember reading somewhere (or maybe a YouTube video) about how the mother actually comes from something on a fly that landed on the fruit, so less clean peels might be more likely to produce one? I'm not sure... I've had 2 form, don't really like them, and often throw away... they don't seem to be the type of mother that will re-produce, or maybe I just have no idea how to treat them right (most likely).
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It's not going to be as deep in color as store-bought, mine usually turned out the color of lemonade...I think because it doesn't have the actual apple "meat" pressed into it. But it works well on salads, which is how I use my ACV. I do still buy store-bought to make pickles, because I'm worried about the acidity being right.
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Good luck! Have fun!
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PS... In order to deflect the fruit flies, I always have a small jar filled with apple cider vinegar and a few drops of soap next to the fermenting vinegars (uncovered). Flies jump in, thinking they've hit the motherload and promptly die. It won't get all of them, but is so much better than without. In the summer with all my fruit preserving/eating, I end up having at least one of these little traps strategically placed throughout the kitchen.
