Influence of skin maceration and oxygen on anaerobic fermentation of grapemusts with high sugar content

Saccharomyces cerevisiae race cerevisiae was used to ferment grape musts in strictly anaerobic conditions, subjected to a prefermentative treatment of skin maceration and following a short aeration after 48 h of fermentation. Skin maceration caused an increase in the cellular phospholipid content wh ich affected neither viability nor the fermentative capacity of the yeasts. The short aeration had no significant effect on the unsaturation index of the cellular fatty acids, although it did increase the ergosterol/phospholi pid ratio. This was reflected by an increase in the growth rate, viability and fermentative capacity of the yeasts. Maceration did not increase the ef fect of aeration.