Production of Vinegar by Aspiration

¹ Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, California 95616.

The ultimate goal of a laboratory- and- pilot-scale study of submerged acetification was to determine the most important factors in successful production of 10% vinegar from properly denatured pineapple brandy in the aeration-by-aspiration device we have called an Aspirator.

The optimum temperature for submerged acetification of vinegar stock was found to be approximately 80°F. Adequate cooling of the acetifying mash proved very critical under pilot-scale conditions.

Aeration also was shown to be an important factor in producing high strength vinegar by submerged oxidation. Insufficient aeration was a limiting factor with the pilot-scale Aspirator.

Accessory nutritional mixtures also influenced submerged oxidation of vinegar stock in either the laboratory or the pilotscale equipment. The best mixture contained corn sugar, dibasic ammonium phosphate, autolyzed yeast, citric acid, powdered whey, and potassium chloride. Increases in ammonium phosphate and citric acid in this formulation improved acetification in laboratory-scale experiments but not in the Aspirator where the original formulation of Hildebrandt and his co-workers gave best results even though there was ample evidence that aeration was not ideal in that apparatus.