Avaliação de diferentes agentes clarificantes na redução de turbidez em hidromel

Abstract

Mead is an alcoholic beverage that results from the fermentation of honey, previously diluted with water, being a good income option for honey producers, by adding value to the product. Clarification, one of the most important steps for accepting various types of beverages, removes the suspended compounds responsible for turbidity, usually through high-cost filtration equipment. Another alternative to this process is the use of only clarifying agents, which also provide great quality to the product. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the ideal type of clarifier for each drink. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of three potential clarifying agents on the reduction of mead turbidity, applied at concentrations of 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.5% (w / v): gelatin, bentonite and carrageenan. The results were obtained through measurements using a turbidimeter and the collected values evaluated by Tukey test with 5% significance. Carrageenan was the only clarifying agent that had a satisfactory result, with turbidity values below 10 NTU, on the day after their addition. Gelatin samples had no effect on the suspended particles of mead after three days of their addition. The addition of bentonite significantly reduced turbidity, however to values above 10 NTU. Within the conditions under which the experimental tests were conducted, the produced meads presented physicochemical characteristics according to the Brazilian legislation (PIQ). In addition, it can be concluded that the use of carrageenan as a clarifying agent for reducing turbidity in mead is feasible.