If bacteria produce ethanol through fermentation, and ethanol can kill bacteria, why are they not killing themselves with their own ethanol?

Question

If bacteria produce ethanol through fermentation, and ethanol can kill bacteria, why are they not killing themselves with their own ethanol?

In: Biology

Answer 1

They die after the fermentation process. But if you’re asking why they’re alive during the process, probably because of the way they produce it. The bacteria that were used to produce ethanol has high ethanol tolerance. An analogy I can think of is like the way we produce stomach acid in our stomachs, but we can’t drink it or let it on our skin without harming ourselves.