Wine vinegar mother - how to get it out of a bottle??

[BlueGoo]

Hello all - I've always wanted to make my own vinegar and now I might have the opportunity to do so... my (large) glass bottle of Italian red wine vinegar seems to have developed a wine mother at the bottom. I have about 2" of vinegar left in the bottle, which has a very narrow neck and one of those plastic stoppers in it so that the flow of vinegar is moderated.

I would like to get the wine mother out of the bottle and into a ceramic container so I can add leftover wine etc. but have no idea how to go about this. If I break the bottle I risk getting glass shards in the liquid. If I pry the plastic stopper out and fish the mother out it might break into bits and that can't be good. Does anyone have any safe suggestions? Thanks!

[amyamelia]

shake your bottle up with the little bit of vinegar left behind and the mother will hopefully break into smaller pieces. That is not a problem. Then you can pour it all into your new container.

[blue room]

Is it not flexible enough to just pour out of the bottle? They seem like such flimsy wispy things, or is the bottle neck *really* narrow? I've read that people save bits of mother to start other batches, so having it break probably won't hurt it.

[BlueGoo]

Thanks for your response - it appears that this may be the only way to go..