Viabilidade de produção e caracterização de cerveja artesanal com acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC)

Abstract

The craft beer market is growing not only in Brazil, but also in Paraíba. Consumers seek more quality and variety of styles, flavors and scents in the brewing business. This work has focused on craft beer with the addition of acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC), an economically important fruit to the Brazilian State of Paraíba, with several crops during the year, enabling the industrial use as a brewing additive. The objective of this study is to physically and chemically evaluate the acerola and the beer produced, analyze the fermentative kinetics and carry out microbiological and sensorial analyses to establish the commercially viable amount for the production of Blond Ale beer with acerola. Two productions were made: 12L of beer with 1000g of acerola (Beer 1) and 12L of beer with 1500g of acerola (Beer 2). The fermentation progress occurred, as usual, with the addition of the fruit, which reduced the pH os the beers to 3.46 and 3.42, collaborating with the efficiency in relation to microbiological aspects. The sensorial analyses revealed a good global acceptance of the beers produced. The consumption habits of most tasters were to drink popular beers, so the good acceptance indicates that beer produced with acerola is light, refreshing and easy to drink, even though it is more acidic, fuller and more alcoholic than the above mentioned. There was no statistical difference between the sensorial analysis of the two beers produced, which allows the use of smaller quantities of the fruit industrially without loss of quality to the consumer.