Análises das mudanças físico-químicas e sensoriais de cachaças envelhecidas submetidas à filtragem com carvão de um filtro comercial

Abstract

Sugar cane spirits is a drink considered a national symbol, being produced by large producers, which are holders of the large trade-marks that dominate the market, and by about 30 thousand small and medium producers in artisanal stills dispersed throughout the whole country. The state of Minas Gerais is the largest producer of the artisanal drink distilled in copper stills. Due to the lack of instruction and/or negligence on the part of some distillers, the copper originating from the artisanal stills becomes a great problem, because that metal, in high concentrations in the drink, can result in serious problems to human health. As such, it was aimed to study the influence of the carbon used in the commercial filters on the removal of copper and of similars, and also on the sensorial quality of the drink. A much used technique for the removal of the metal is the use of adsorbent materials. In this work, a column with carbon from a commercial filter was used to filter the samples, verifying the differences before and after the filtering of the aged cane liquors. In the physiochemical analyses, the decrease of the copper concentration, furfurol, alcohol level, superior alcohols, volatile acidity, dry extract and aldehydes was verified and an increase of the ester concentration, responsible for the characteristic bouquet of the drink, was also verified. In the Descriptive Quantitative Sensorial Analysis (ADQ®), the trained tasters detected a decrease, mainly, in the intensity of the color, aroma and woody flavor characteristics