Contributions to the Chemistry of Sake Brewing. 



. BY 



J. Okumura, Ndgakus/ii. 



I. THE rRESP:NT MODE OF SAKE 

 BREWING. 



In order to become thoroughly acquainted with the pre- 

 paration of sake, I have visited various factories at Noda, 

 Nishinomiya, Sakai, Osaka, Kioto, Tsu, Muroyama, Yokkaichi, 

 Handa, Kamezaki, Toyohashi, Fukui, etc. for longer or shorter 

 periods and will here give for the convenience of the reader a short 

 review of the various operations before I proceed to an account 

 of my own experiments.'" 



The operations are carried on from the middle of Novem- 

 ber to the end of March in different factories and with varying 

 details. 



The main stages, however, are : — 



1) The preparation of taiw-koji and koji. 



2) The preparation of 7noto-m3.sh. 



3) The preparation of inoromi or chief process which is 



again subdivided into three operations : pressings 

 cl.uifying, and preserving. 



(i) Tane-koji. 



While the koji itself consists of rice grains covered with the 

 mycelium of the fungus Aspergillus Oryzae, the tmte-kojp^ con- 

 tains besides this mycelium innumerable spores of that fungus. 

 Another difference is that while tane-koji is prepared from only 

 roughly whitened ricc'^' (not so well cleaned as koji x\q.€) the koji 



(1) The descriptions by Korsclull and Atkinson .ire doubtless very det.-xiled and 

 especially the latter dcscrioes a series of interesting experiments. Nevertheless, the 

 manufacture of sake still offers many points for further study. 



(2) Tane-koji is not generally made in the sake factories, but its manufacture forms 

 a special branch of industry. 



(3) In some factories broken rice is used for brewing. 



