The standard process is a simply, cyclical production process (charging process) and serves the production of high quality wine and fruit vinegars, as well as alcohol vinegars up to an output-acidity of 14.5%. The alcoholic wine or the spirit mash is then put into a mash tank. From there, at the beginning of the batch, a defined volume of the mash is pumped into the ACETATOR ('charging') which already contains a residual volume with active acetic acid bacteria. The alcohol transported into the ACETATOR in this way is oxidized ('fermented') into acetic acid through the acetic acid bacteria. The acetic acid concentration increases while the alcohol concentration falls. If the minimum alcohol concentration of 0.3% is achieved during the course of the batch, a part-quantity of the raw vinegar produced in this way is pumped out of the ACETATOR ('discharged') and a new batch begins.
The standard process is divided into three process steps:
1. Charging
2. Fermentation
3. Discharge
In the context of the fermentation terminology, it is known as a 'Repeated Batch Process'.
Vinegar bacteria catalyse the transformation from wine / alcohol to vinegar / acetic acid