Tools for advancing the cachaça production chain: innovations in fermentation, distillation and aging

Abstract

The objectives of the present research are to test new strains of yeasts in the fermentation process, as well as the acid treatment of the ferment between recycles in order to maintain the yeast strain selected for cachaça production; to determine the chemical and sensorial quality of cachaça distilled in a three-body alembic; and to measure the maturation degree of cachaça aged in tropical wood casks, through the quantification of lignin-derived phenolic compounds. Sugarcane juice musts will be fermented with different yeast strains (DistilaMax RM, DistilaMax SR, Canamax and CA-11), in a yeast recycling process, in which the ferment will receive acid treatment for its revitalization. The fermented musts will be distilled in a three-body still. The cachaças produced will be aged in new barrels from Brazilian wood (Cerejeira, Cabreúva and Castanheira) for 18 months. Microbiological analyzes of ferment, chemical analyzes of volatile and maturation congeners of the distillates, as well as sensory analysis of the cachaça will be carried out. It is expected that the new yeast strains are suitable for the cachaça production process, that the acid treatment of the ferment provides the maintenance of the selected yeast strain throughout the fermentation cycles, that the three-body alembic produces cachaça with excellent quality and that aging in tropical wood casks gives rise to balanced cachaças in terms of composition of maturation congeners and with harmony and sensorial complexity. (AU)