YEASTS AND MOULDS. 

 6. Use and Properties. 



151 



A beverage, usually taken in compara- 

 tively large doses, producing a mild form 

 of intoxication. 



Usually taken in small amounts, pro- 

 ducing a speedy, though transient, form of 

 intoxication. Taken as a wine. In Japan 

 sak6 is usually heated before drinking. 



Fig. 70. — Sak€ making. Steamed rice cells (c) attacked by the hyphse (a) of 

 Aspergillus oryzos which feed upon the dextrinized rice starch, converting it into 

 sacchrine substances. Yeast cells and bacilli are usually associated with the hyphal 

 fungus, feeding upon the saccharine substances formed. 



There are numerous varieties oiSaccharomyces concerned in beer brewing. 

 There are several kinds of upper or top yeasts (Kahmhefe Oberhefe) and sev- 

 eral kinds of bottom or lower yeasts (Unterhefe), each kind possessing 

 supposedly special properties. Just what part the more or less incidentally 

 associated organisms (as bacteria, moulds, and foreign yeasts) may play in 

 the fermentation processes is not clearly understood. It is known that some 



