The kinetics of alcoholic fermentation of sugars by brewer's yeast

Abstract

THE kinetics of alcoholic fermentation of sugars by living yeast was established by the work of These workers showed that the rate of fermentation is approximately constant over a wide range of sugar concentration and remains constant during the main part of the fermentation. Brown used a high seeding rate which, in the absence of added nutrients other than the sugar, remained fairly constant during the observations, and measured the rate of fermentation by the rate of disappearance of the sugar. On the other hand Slator used a low seeding rate and measured in a specially devised apparatus the velocity of CO2 evolution over short periods of time during which no yeast increase could take place. He calculated the value of "n" in the equation d [CO ] d2 = k [sugar]n, and showed that it was approximately zero between the limits of sugar con- centration 0-5 % and 10 %. Slator and Sand [1910] concluded that "...it is