96 USE OF MUCOKEiE IN THE SPIRIT INDUSTRY. 



time is kept in motion to prevent the development of a mycelial 

 herbaere on the surface of the mash, since this would lead to a 

 loss of material by brisk respiration. 



In twenty-four hours after inoculation, the entire mash is 

 permeated with the mycelium of the xbnyJoinyces. The forma- 

 tion of sugar now proceeds with rapidity. Its fermentation, how- 

 ever, according to the patent in question, is not (or at most not to 

 any considerable extent) effected by A)nylomycetes capable of 

 exercising this function, but rather by a suitable pure yeast, 

 which at this stage is added to the mash cooled to 33° C, the 

 amount taken being about 5 grams grown in about \ a litre of 

 nutrient solution in a Pasteur flask. The reproduction of this 

 comparatively small sowing proceeds rapidly during the next 

 twenty-four hours, thanks to the uninterrupted admission of 

 air. The latter is then excluded, whereupon both species of 

 fungi act conjointly during the three following days : the 

 Amyloimjces saccharifying the hitherto unconverted portions 

 of starch and dextrin, whilst the fermentation of the sugar 

 already present and that continually forming, is chiefly effected 

 by the yeast. The principal task assigned to the yeast by the 

 patentees is not this fermentation, but merely the formation of 

 carbon dioxide, thereby ensuring the presence of an oxygen-free 

 atmosphere within the fermenting vessel, and thus precluding 

 the consumption of the alcohol by the Amylomyces. Collette 

 and BoiDiN (II.) afterwards, in 1898, took out an additional 

 patent, in which it is explained that the yeast may be enth-ely 

 dispensed with, if the saccharified mash be freed from oxygen 

 by stopping the supply of air immediately the iodine test reveals 

 that the conversion of starch is completed ; then passing carbon 

 dioxide through the mash for an hour, and afterwards leaving 

 the Amylomyces to proceed with its task alone. It is neverthe- 

 less a fact that yeast is still added in the Amylomyces process 

 plant erected in Austria-Hungary since the date of this addi- 

 tional patent. An English patent for a mechanico-technological 

 modification of the process was also taken out by Collette and 

 BoiDiN (III.) in 1S98. 



An important simplification of this process is practised in 

 the Anker Distillery at Antwerp, as reported by 0. Saare (I.). 

 In this case the sterilisation in the autoclave and the boiling 

 with sulphuric acid are omitted. The mash, prepared from 

 steamed maize with an addition of 2 per cent, of malt, is trans- 

 ferred direct to the fermenting vessel, where it is boiled for a 

 short time by steam under ordinary pressure, then cooled and 

 aerated, the inoculation with the Aviylomyres culture being 

 afterwards effected in the manner already recorded. When 

 this has done its work and the mash no longer reacts with 

 iodine, an addition of yeast is given, the kind used being the 

 No. II. race of the Berlin Station (§ 245). 



