Estudo cinético da fermentação alcoólica de inga edulis

Abstract

The ingá-cipó (Inga edulis) is a fruit with sweet flavor and pleasant aroma, typical of the North and Northeast of Brazil, and its form of consumption is only in natura. Because it has no other processing methods, this fruit has great potential for the production of new products, such as fermented alcoholic beverages, and can add to the income of the growers of this fruit. As a consequence was developed an alcoholic ferment of ingá with the objective of perform physicochemical characterization of inga pulp, analyzing the physicochemical characteristics of the wort, obtaining the kinetics of the fermented product and promoting analyzes of the characteristics of the alcoholic fermentation after maturation. The wort was prepared by diluting the ingá pulp in water 30% (w/v), after the chaptification dilution, until the soluble solids content was corrected to 21° Brix, and the sulfation was performed with the addition of K2S2O5 (0,1 g.L-1 ). The yeast used in the process was the Red Star Premier Blanc (3.33g/L). Fermentation of wort was carried out in triplicate for 144 h, after it was finished, the wort was brought to the refrigeration temperature for decanting, followed by the transfer of the fermented product, which was subsequently filtered and filled into glass bottles. The ingá pulp used in the beverage production was physico-chemically characterized as moisture (84,72%), ash (1,95%), soluble solids (12,75 °Brix), titratable total acidity (0,198 g/100 mL), reducing sugars (11,89 g/L) and pH (6,56). The kinetic study of the alcoholic fermentation process was carried out, monitoring the following variables: cell concentration, soluble solids, pH and titratable total acidity, reducing sugars and pH. The experimental results showed that the ingá pulp is an excellent medium for the production of fermented beverages, due to its high moisture content 84.72% and very sweet, the fermented wine had an alcohol content of 7.88°GL, total acidity 3.71g/L, falling within the limits established by the legislation. In this way, ingá fermented, in general, presented good physicalchemical characteristics, being able to be an economic alternative and to add more value to this fruit.