| Intelligent Bacteria |
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Intelligent Bacteria is one of the research program in the Education Focus Program (EFP), which focuses on the collaboration between art and science. This program is the result of collaboration between HONF and a scientist community from the University of Gajah Mada (UGM) to explore the field of microbiology and biotechnology. Intelligence Bacteria have a main goal to bridge the practice, theories and innovative ideas from the fields of art and science to actualize it's application based on generic infrastructure and affordable technologies. This platform was built from a common vision to develop and integrate the two fields of disciplines to find new forms of innovation which refers to the needs of interdisciplinary actions for the wide society. Fruit Fermentation Video Tutorial from Julian Abraham on Vimeo. Basic ThoughtBased on the mass media in the past two months, numerous victims have died in vain due to unfortunate self-made alcohol drinks. Directly or not, this phenomenon occurred post the announcement of new regulation from the Ministry of Financial Department (PMK) No.62 of 2010 date 17/03 (Peraturan Menteri Keuangan (PMK) No.62 tahun 2010 tanggal 17/03) about the increasement in excise duty on alcohol. This regulation directly triggered expensive price in retail selling of alcohol drinks in the early of April 2010. Whereas the market segmentation of local traditional alcohol drinks is addressed to the diversified community low-middle economic community. This phenomenon is mainly caused by the new regulation are causing the price of local produced alcohol drinks are unaffordable by the society. For example, the price of one bottle of Red Wine "Orang Tua" brand before the regulation was Rp. 15,000.00. After the new regulation, the price went up triple times as much as Rp. 45,000.00. Self-made alcohol drinks in the market, in fact contain very dangerous substances. Research results from Forensic Laboratory of Kudus City Police Department in analyzing the self-made alcohol that caused the death of three people in Kudus last April, shows an amount of Methanol substance inside the drinks (Folnews.com). Based on the explanation from researchers at Microbiology Department of Gadjah Mada University (UGM) of Yogyakarta, Methanol substance inside the drinks are likely caused by unfavorable fermentation in the production. The type of alcohol produced from fermentation process that can be safely consumed in a certain amount is Ethanol. Unhygienic fermentation process can caused bacterial contamination causing Methanol to be produced as the alcohol product. If Methanol constantly consumed in certain amount of time, it can caused vision disorder to blindness, and even death. The containment of Methanol produced from the producing of self-mad alcohol drinks by the society is mainly caused by the lack of knowledge from the society in the proper fermentation process. By these reason, HONF collaborate with researchers at Microbiology UGM Yogyakarta to conduct a research in introducing a proper and safe fermentation technology for the society. Hopefully, this technology can be used by the society in producing self-made alcohol that is safe for consumption.    Focus Fermentation is a process of energy producing by microbes through the sugar molecules splitting in an anaerobic atmosphere. Anaerobic atmosphere is an atmospheric situation which Oxygen (O2) are not available in the area. In alcohol fermentation process, the microbes are commonly used is called Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the process, Saccharomyces cerevisae will convert Sugar in to alcohol (Ethanol) and CO2. CO2 gas will be released in to the atmosphere, while alcohol (Ethanol) will remain in the container where the fermentation took place (Fermentor). Normally, fermentation process lasts for 10 - 14 days, and the percentage of the alcohol (Ethanol) produced is less than 15%. This can be caused by many factors such as sugar content, room temperature, microbial properties, material density, water activities etc. Basically the main ingredient of the fermentation is the amount of sugar inside the fermentation materials. Thus, any material containing sugar can be used as a fermentation material. Taste, flavor, and of course alcohol content (Ethanol) that is produced are dependable on the type of fermentation materials. In this research, HONF and UGM Microbiology Laboratory have tried several types of fruit as fermentation materials to evaluate the differences in taste, aroma, alcohol (Ethanol) grade that is generated and also production cost of the fermentation itself. Fruit that has been used as test subjects for fermentation materials are Pineapple, Chrysophyllum, Palm water, Salak, Mango and Soursop. |
