It is now certain that the inherent ethanol tolerance of the Saccharomyces strain used is not the prime factor regulating the level of ethanol that can be produced in a high sugar brewing, wine, sake, or distillery fermentation. In fact, in terms of the maximum concentration that these yeasts can produce under batch (16 to 17% [v/v]) or fed-batch conditions, there is clearly no difference in ethanol tolerance. This is not to say, however, that under defined conditions there is no difference in ethanol tolerance among different Saccharomyces yeasts. This property, although a genetic determinant, is clearly influenced by many factors (carbohydrate level, wort nutrition, temperature, osmotic pressure/water activity, and substrate concentration), and each yeast strain reacts to each factor differently. This will indeed lead to differences in measured tolerance. Thus, it is extremely important that each of these be taken into consideration when determining "tolerance" for a particular set of fermentation conditions. The manner in which each alcohol-related industry has evolved is now known to have played a major role in determining traditional thinking on ethanol tolerance in Saccharomyces yeasts. It is interesting to speculate on how different our thinking on ethanol tolerance would be today if sake fermentations had not evolved with successive mashing and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of rice carbohydrate, if distillers' worts were clarified prior to fermentation but brewers' wort were not, and if grape skins with their associated unsaturated lipids had not been an integral part of red wine musts. The time is now ripe for ethanol-related industries to take advantage of these findings to improve the economies of production. In the authors' opinion, breweries could produce higher alcohol beers if oxygenation (leading to unsaturated lipids) and "usable" nitrogen source levels were increased in high gravity worts. White wine fermentations could also, if desired, match the higher ethanol levels in red wines if oxygenation (to provide the unsaturated lipids deleted in part by the removal of the grape skins) were practiced and if care were given to assimilable nitrogen concentrations. This would hold true even at 10 to 14 degrees C, and the more rapid fermentations would maximize utilization of winery tankage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Specific growth rates (mu) of two strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae decreased exponentially (R2 > 0.9) as the concentrations of acetic acid or lactic acid were increased in minimal media at 30 degrees C. Moreover, the length of the lag phase of each growth curve (h) increased exponentially as increasing concentrations of acetic or lactic acid were added to the media. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of acetic acid for yeast growth was 0.6% w/v (100 mM) and that of lactic acid was 2.5% w/v (278 mM) for both strains of yeast. However, acetic acid at concentrations as low as 0.05-0.1% w/v and lactic acid at concentrations of 0.2-0.8% w/v begin to stress the yeasts as seen by reduced growth rates and decreased rates of glucose consumption and ethanol production as the concentration of acetic or lactic acid in the media was raised. In the presence of increasing acetic acid, all the glucose in the medium was eventually consumed even though the rates of consumption differed. However, this was not observed in the presence of increasing lactic acid where glucose consumption was extremely protracted even at a concentration of 0.6% w/v (66 mM). A response surface central composite design was used to evaluate the interaction between acetic and lactic acids on the specific growth rate of both yeast strains at 30 degrees C. The data were analysed using the General Linear Models (GLM) procedure. From the analysis, the interaction between acetic acid and lactic acid was statistically significant (P < or = 0.001), i.e., the inhibitory effect of the two acids present together in a medium is highly synergistic.
Acetic acid (167 mM) and lactic acid (548 mM) completely inhibited growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae both in minimal medium and in media which contained supplements, such as yeast extract, corn steep powder, or a mixture of amino acids. However, the yeast grew when the pH of the medium containing acetic acid or lactic acid was adjusted to 4.5, even though the medium still contained the undissociated form of either acid at a concentration of 102 mM. The results indicated that the buffer pair formed when the pH was adjusted to 4.5 stabilized the pH of the medium by sequestering protons and by lessening the negative impact of the pH drop on yeast growth, and it also decreased the difference between the extracellular and intracellular pH values (⌬pH), the driving force for the intracellular accumulation of acid. Increasing the undissociated acetic acid concentration at pH 4.5 to 163 mM by raising the concentration of the total acid to 267 mM did not increase inhibition. It is suggested that this may be the direct result of decreased acidification of the cytosol because of the intracellular buffering by the buffer pair formed from the acid already accumulated. At a concentration of 102 mM undissociated acetic acid, the yeast grew to higher cell density at pH 3.0 than at pH 4.5, suggesting that it is the total concentration of acetic acid (104 mM at pH 3.0 and 167 mM at pH 4.5) that determines the extent of growth inhibition, not the concentration of undissociated acid alone.The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae under aerobic conditions can use short-chain organic acids, such as acetic acid and lactic acid, as carbon sources. The process involves induction of certain anabolic pathways, enzymes, and specific transport mechanisms (2,4,5,6,17). If glucose is available in the growth medium, these pathways and permeases are repressed. Glucose-repressed yeast cells are unable to take up the anions of these acids (6), but the undissociated acids diffuse freely into the cells. Once inside, these acids dissociate because of the higher intracellular pH and cause acidification of the cytoplasm. Generally, eucaryotic cells maintain their intracellular pH within a narrow range despite wide variations that may occur in the extracellular pH (7). Under fermentation conditions, the intracellular pH of S. cerevisiae is usually maintained between 5.5 and 5.75 when the external pH is 3.0 (9) or between 5.9 and 6.75 when the external pH is varied between 6.0 and 10.0 (8). To maintain the intracellular pH within a physiological range optimum for metabolism, the cells pump out protons at the expense of metabolic energy (ATP). Increased diversion of energy (ATP) to pump out protons results in decreased molar growth yield with respect to glucose (Y glucose ) (19,24). It has also been reported that the Y ATP (grams of biomass produced per mole of ATP generated) decreased from 14 to 4 when the concentration of acetic acid was increased from 0 to 170 mM (19). As the gap between the extracellular pH and the intracellular pH widens, greater stress i...
A number of economic and product quality advantages exist in brewing when high-gravity worts of 16 to 18% dissolved solids are fermented. Above this level, production problems such as slow or stuck fermentations and poor yeast viability occur. Ethanol toxicity has been cited as the main cause, as brewers' yeasts are reported to tolerate only 7 to 9% (vol/vol) ethanol. The inhibitory effect of high osmotic pressure has also been implicated. In this report, it is demonstrated that the factor limiting the production of high levels of ethanol by brewing yeasts is actually a nutritional deficiency. When a nitrogen source, ergosterol, and oleic acid are added to worts up to 31% dissolved solids, it is possible to produce beers up to 16.2% (vol/vol) ethanol. Yeast viability remains high, and the yeasts can be repitched at least five times. Supplementation does not increase the fermentative tolerance of the yeasts to ethanol but increases the length and level of new yeast cell mass synthesis over that seen in unsupplemented wort (and therefore the period of more rapid wort attenuation). Glycogen, protein, and sterol levels in yeasts were examined, as was the importance of pitching rate, temperature, and degree of anaerobiosis. The ethanol tolerance of brewers' yeast is suggested to be no different than that of sake or distillers' yeast.
Although wheat mashes contain only growth-limiting amounts of free amino nitrogen, fermentations by active dry yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were completed (all fermentable sugars consumed) in 8 days at 20°C even when the mash contained 35 g of dissolved solids per 100 ml. Supplementing wheat mashes with yeast extract, Casamino Acids, or a single amino acid such as glutamic acid stimulated growth of the yeast and reduced the fermentation time. With 0.9% yeast extract as the supplement, the fermentation time was reduced from 8 to 3 days, and a final ethanol yield of 17.1% (vol/vol) was achieved. Free amino nitrogen derived in situ through the hydrolysis of wheat proteins by a protease could substitute for the exogenous nitrogen source. Studies indicated, however, that exogenously added glycine (although readily taken up by the yeast) reduced the cell yield and prolonged the fermentation time. The results suggested that there are qualitative differences among amino acids with regard to their suitability to serve as nitrogen sources for the growth of yeast. The complete utilization of carbohydrates in wheat mashes containing very little free amino nitrogen presumably resulted because they had the "right" kind of amino acids.
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