EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 519 



VINEGAR '■''bEES/^ 



The use of vinegar "bees" is becoming more and more common so that 

 a short discussion of them will be pertinent. They are generally added 

 to a solution of sugar or molasses in water and set aside to ferment. 

 The mineral salts in the water plus the sugar serve as sufficient food for 

 the "bees." These "bees" are not insects but a mixture of micro- 

 organisms, consisting of yeasts and bacteria, and occasionally molds. 

 Certain of these yeasts and bacteria are of the type which working to- 

 gether will produce vinegar. 



However undesirable germs are always present, many times in such 

 numbers as to hinder the activity of the vinegar-forming organisms 

 and consequently insufficient acid is produced. It is a waste of sugar 

 to continue to add it to "bees" of this kind. It is very hard for the 

 microbiologist to control with any certainty the activities of a mixed 

 culture consisting of so many different kinds of germs consequently it 

 is not surprising that many times the housewife does not always have 

 success. 



With an active culture of "bees", vinegar is often formed very quickly, 

 in fact much more quickly than under the ordinary methods of vinegar- 

 making. This can be easily explained, however. The housewife makes 

 small quantities generally less than a gallon, and keeps the liquid in 

 a glass jar in the kitchen where she can watch the activities of the 

 "bees." The kitchen is warm, generally much warmer than the cellar 

 where the vinegar barrel is generally kept, thus is much more conducive 

 to rapid microbial growth than is the cellar. 



Pure cultures under the same conditions prove much more satisfactory 

 as the fermentation is under control. (An application blank for obtain- 

 ing pure cultures is found on page 406.) 



