Design and Operation of an Artificial Pit for the Fermentation of Chinese Liquor
Yuan-yuan Yue1,2, Wen-xue Zhang1,3, Rui Yang1, Qi-sheng Zhang1, and Zhong-hua Liu1
1 Department of Food Engineering, College of Light Industry & Food Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
2 Hunan Light Industry Research Institute Co., LTD, Changsha 410015, China.
3 Corresponding author. E-mail: foodbiotech@126.com
J. Inst. Brew. 113(4), 374–380, 2007 | VIEW ARTICLE
ABSTRACT
A laboratory-scale artificial pit for solid-substrate fermentation was designed and placed into operation to explore a new-style of distilled liquor. This product recaptures the quality of Chinese traditional liquor. The on-line parameters determined included temperature, gas production, and physicochemical and flavor characteristics of Huangshui. The quality of the liquor produced by the artificial pit was also monitored. Changes in the pit temperature reflected the fermentation conditions in the pit. The ratio between gas production and alcohol content of Huangshui was 1:2. On average, 6.24 litres per batch of the new-style distilled liquor was produced using this non-traditional pit and the basic quality was acceptable. Although the fermentation time was only 1 month, the yield ratio of alcohol from the artificial pit was 20.5% compared with a typical 3 month fermentation yield of 33% in the industry. This artificial pit was deemed feasible for fermentation research and for quality improvement for Chinese new-style distilled liquor.
Key words:
Artificial pit, brewing, Chinese new-style distilled liquor, engineering design, on-line determination.
Publication no. G-2007-0128-503 ©2007 The Institute & Guild of Brewing