2l6 



OKUMURA ; CONTRIBUTIONS TO 



liquor). The shdchii is consumed as a stimulant by the lower 

 class. The residue serves also for vinegar manufacture. 



it will be seen from this description that sake brewing is 

 capable of considerable modern irhprovements. Above all it 

 would be desirable to work with pii7-e cultures of sake yeast. In 

 the second place the separation of the mashing process from the 

 fermenting process would render the proceeding much safer and 

 avoid losses so often encountered. The time of the brewing pro- 

 cess might also easily be shortened by one half, and by means 

 ot ice machines the manufacture made possible also in summer. 



II. ON THE LOSS OF STARCH IN SAKE BREWING. 



Before the whitened rice is cooked for consumption or is 

 steamed for sake brewing it is usually washed with cold water to 

 remove the fine particles of bran which are still attached to the 

 grain, and which would impart an unpleasant taste to the pro- 

 duct. It seemed to me of interest to determine the amount of 

 starch which is thus lost, as it has a considerable value. This 

 starch could be easily recovered by collecting the liquid in large 

 tanks, and allowing it to settle for a day. In order to obtain a 

 reliable estimate I washed 0.05 koku (7.45 kilos) of whitered or 

 cleaned rice in cold water until the washings ceased to show a 

 milky appearance. These washings were collected and digested 

 with 1% KOH solution. After standing 24 hours the supernatant 

 solution was poured off and the subsided starch was washed 

 repeatedly and collected on a filter. This practically separable 

 air dry starch amounted to 32.025 grams = o.469^."' 



As in Japan 7.5 million hectoliters, i.e., y% of the entire 

 rice crop is used for sake brewing, this loss is very considerable. 



(1) This amount only relates to the quantity of starch which could be recovered in 

 a short time. In reality the total loss is much greater and was determine I in this case 

 to be 154.7 grams carbohydrate (principally starch) from 7.45 kilos of whitened rice. 



(2) According to practical observations 87-95 [larts of whitened rice are oljtained 

 from 100 parts of liulled gr.un by volume, i he pro2iortions are as follows : — 



Eijkrnan Taitaha Kobayashi 



Whitened rice. 89.42 9105 91.92 



Broken grain. 1.30 1.69 0.50 



Bran. 8.75 7.37 7.16 



Loss. 0.53 — 0.30 



