STREPTOCOCCUS MUCILAGINOSUSKULKA, COSBIE AND WALKER (Spec, nov.)

Abstract

Particulars are given of the isolation, characteristics and classification of a catalase-negative, tetrad-forming streptococcus, which was obtained from a ropy beer. The most distinctive feature of this organism is its propensity to render beer extremely viscous, not only under anaerobic but also under aerobic conditions, and this propensity has persisted over a period of five years, during which the organism has been cultivated in the laboratory. In its principal characteristics it differs so markedly from those beer streptococci which have been described previously, and indeed, from other non-pathogenic streptococci concerning which particulars have been published, that it is to be regarded as a new species. The habit of producing a very viscous condition both in bottled beer and in beer in cask renders it particularly virulent as a beer disease organism.