TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental whisky fermentations
T2 - influence of wort pre-treatments
AU - Daute, Martina
AU - Jack, Frances
AU - Harrison, Barry
AU - Walker, Graeme
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by a Collaborative Training Partnership programme grant awarded to Martina Daute (BB/R505201/1) under the auspices of the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with additional support from The Scotch Whisky Research Institute.Acknowledgments: We thank our colleagues at The Scotch Whisky Research Institute sensory panel, not only for evaluating the spirits, but also for their positive feedback throughout the study.
Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by a Collaborative Training Partnership programme grant awarded to Martina Daute (BB/R505201/1) under the auspices of the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with additional support from The Scotch Whisky Research Institute.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
PY - 2021/11/10
Y1 - 2021/11/10
N2 - In addition to ethanol yield, the production of flavour congeners during fermentation is a major consideration for Scotch whisky producers. Experimental whisky fermentations can provide useful information to the industry, and this is the focus of this paper. This study investigated the impact of wort pretreatments (boiled, autoclaved, filtered) on fermentation performance and flavour development in Scotch whisky distillates as an alternative to freezing wort for storage. Our study showed that no significant sensorial differences were detected in low wines (first distillates), while the chemical compositions showed clear changes in increased levels of esters and higher alcohols in boiled and autoclaved wort. In contrast, filtered wort comprised overall lower levels of congeners. Regarding alcohol yield, all three pretreatments resulted in decreased yields. In practice, the pretreatment of wort prior to fermentation requires additional process operations, while freezing requires large storage units. The pretreatments adopted in this study significantly influence the composition of the malt wort used for experimental whisky fermentations, and this results in a poorer fermentation performance compared with untreated wort. We recommend the use of fresh or frozen wort as the best options for small-scale fermentation trials.
AB - In addition to ethanol yield, the production of flavour congeners during fermentation is a major consideration for Scotch whisky producers. Experimental whisky fermentations can provide useful information to the industry, and this is the focus of this paper. This study investigated the impact of wort pretreatments (boiled, autoclaved, filtered) on fermentation performance and flavour development in Scotch whisky distillates as an alternative to freezing wort for storage. Our study showed that no significant sensorial differences were detected in low wines (first distillates), while the chemical compositions showed clear changes in increased levels of esters and higher alcohols in boiled and autoclaved wort. In contrast, filtered wort comprised overall lower levels of congeners. Regarding alcohol yield, all three pretreatments resulted in decreased yields. In practice, the pretreatment of wort prior to fermentation requires additional process operations, while freezing requires large storage units. The pretreatments adopted in this study significantly influence the composition of the malt wort used for experimental whisky fermentations, and this results in a poorer fermentation performance compared with untreated wort. We recommend the use of fresh or frozen wort as the best options for small-scale fermentation trials.
U2 - 10.3390/foods10112755
DO - 10.3390/foods10112755
M3 - Article
VL - 10
JO - Foods
JF - Foods
SN - 2304-8158
IS - 11
M1 - 2755
ER -