Trickle process for vinegar production

In a process for production of vinegar, wherien a must is trickled through a support bed of acetic acid bacteria, an oxygen-containing gas is passed through the bed, must trickled through the bed circulated to the bed for further trickling through the bed vinegar is collected from the fermented must, the improvements comprising:

• first trickling an amount of a submerged fermentation Gluconobacter-produced alcohol vinegar through a plurality of support beds in an amount of from 5% to 20% of a total volume of the beds and circulating the alcohol vinegar passed through the plurality of beds for trickling further through the beds for colonizing the beds with Gluconobacter;
• adding to the circulating alcohol vinegar, over a period of time, an aqueous mixture of from 110 g/l to 130 g/l alcohol, from 5 g/l to 20 g/l acetic acid, and of nutrients, glucose, minerals and vitamins sufficient for growth and activity of the Gluconobacter in an amount to obtain and maintain a must having an acetic acid content of from 9.5% to 10.5%, an alcohol content of from 2.0% to 3.0% and a glucose content of from 150 mg/l to 300 mg/l and stopping the addition when fermentation production of acetic acid reaches a rate of from 0.2 g/l.h to 0.3 g/l.h;
• continuing trickling and circulating the must temperature suitable for growth of Gluconobacter through the plurality of beds for a period of time to obtain a fermented must containing vinegar and having an alcohol content of 7 g/l or below 7 g/l;
• collecting up to 95% of the vinegar from the fermented must;
• circulating uncollected vinegar to and trickling the uncollected vinegar through the plurality of beds and adding to the circulating uncollected vinegar, over a period of time, an aqueous mixture of from 110 g/l to 130 g/l alcohol from 5 g/l to 20 g/l acetic acid and of nutrients, glucose minerals and vitamins sufficient for growth and activity of the Gluconobacter to obtain and maintain a further must having an acetic acid content of from 9.5% to 10.5% an alcohol content of from 2.0% to 3.0%, and a glucose content of from 150 mg/l to 300 mg/l to obtain further must circulating and trickling to and through the beds and for a time to obtain a further fermented must containing vinegar and having an alcohol content of 7 g/l or below 7 g/l;
• collecting the vinegar from the further fermented must;
• and
• maintaining, during the trickling and circulation of the alcohol vinegar and of the musts, a temperature of the trickling alcohol vinegar and musts between each separated bed suitable for growth of the Gluconobacter and so that the temperature of the alcohol vinegar and musts varies no more than 2.degree. during passage through the plurality of beds.