ABSTRACT TWO systems to recover fermented juice from variety M 81E sweet sorghum stalks that contained about 11% fermentable sugar were compared: (a) Stalks with leaves and tops removed were chopped and inoculated with 0.2% yeast in a forage harvester, stored under anaerobic conditions for 75 h in insulated fermentors and pressed in a screw press to recover fermented juice (5-6% ethanol); and (b) Mechanically harvested sweet sorghum billets (30 cm length) without leaves or seed heads were shredded and milled in a 3-roll mill; and bagasse was inoculated with 0.2% yeast, fermented for 100 h and pressed to recover fermented juice (4 to 5% ethanol), Potential ethanol yields were 75% of theoretical for the forage harvest system and 78% for the shredder mill system, based on 95% of theoretical ethanol yield from juice expressed during milling and no loss of ethanol during fermentation, handling and pressing in the screw press.