Effect of Dissolved Oxygen, Temperature, Initial Cell Count, and Sugar Concentration on the Viability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Rapid Fermentations

By using 7 x 10(8) cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae per ml with which 25 degrees Brix honey solutions were fermented to 9.5% (wt/vol; 12% vol/vol) ethanol in 2.5 to 3 h at 30 C, i.e., rapid fermentation, the death rate was found to be high, with only 2.1% of the yeast cells surviving at the end of 3 h under anaerobic conditions. As the dissolved oxygen in the medium was increased from 0 to 13 to 20 to 100% in rapid fermentations at 30 C, there was a progressive increase in the percentage of cells surviving. The ethanol production rate and total were not seriously affected by a dissolved oxygen concentration of 13%, but fermentation was retarded by 20% dissolved oxygen and still further decreased as the dissolved oxygen content reached 100%. When the fermentation temperature was decreased to 15 C (at 13% dissolved oxygen), the rate of fermentation decreased, and the fermentation time to 9.5% ethanol (wt/vol) increased to 6 h. It was found that the higher the temperature between 15 and 30 C, the greater the rate of death as initial cell counts were increased from 1.1 x 10(7) to 7.8 x 10(8) cells per ml. At the lowest level of inoculum, 1.1 x 10(7) cells per ml, there was actual multiplication, even at 30 C; however, the fermentation was no longer rapid. The addition of 15% sugar, initially followed after an hour by the remaining 10%, or addition of the sugar in increments of 2.5 or 5% yielded a better survival rate of yeast cells than when the fermentation was initiated with 25% sugar.