Effect of co-inoculation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Lactobacillus fermentum on the quality of the distilled sugar cane beverage cachaça

Abstract

The effect of Lactobacillus fermentum in co-inoculation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae UFLA CA11 on the quality of cachac ̧a (sugar cane spirit) was evaluated. The co-inoculation was first evaluated in flask fermentation, and subsequently, yeast and bacteria were co-cultured at approximately 10 5 CFU/mL and 10 8 CFU/mL, respectively, in 4 consecutive batches. L. fermentum did not affect the growth or activity (sugar consumption and fermentation rate) of S. cerevisiae UFLA CA11 during fermentation. The physicochemical analysis revealed a higher concentration (Tukey test) of aldehydes (22.07 mg/100 mL anhydrous alcohol) in cachac ̧a produced by co-inoculation. Analysis of volatile compounds using GC-FID demonstrated that cachac ̧a produced by co-inoculation had higher concentrations of acetaldehyde (25.15 mg/L), ethyl acetate (30.17 mg/L), and 2,3-butanedione (170.39 μ/L), while cachac ̧a produced by UFLA CA11 contained higher concentrations of ethyl lactate (1205.98 μ/L), propionic acid (127.97 μ/L), butyric acid (2335.57 μ/L), and 1-pentanol (469.23 μ/L). The lowest concentration of acetic acid measured by HPLC was found in cachac ̧a obtained with UFLA CA11. The sensory analysis, performed using the Mann–Whitney test, revealed that cachac ̧a produced by co-inoculation differed from that produced by UFLA CA11 in taste and aroma.