INFLUÊNCIA DO NITROGÊNIO E DO FÓSFORO NO RENDIMENTO ALCOÓLICO DA FABRICAÇÃO DA CACHAÇA

Abstract

Cachaça is the most consumed distilled drink in Brazil, and has stood out for its quality. As it is a drink enjoyed for a long time, only by the less favored portions of the Brazilian population, today it is gaining ground among drinkers from higher social classes, and also gaining ground outside our territory, being an export product to countries such as the USA and Germany. To ensure good production, some care must be taken, such as hygiene and the choice of yeast. To promote improvements in product quality and quantity, some nutrients can be added to the fermentation medium, in order to improve the conversion of sugars present in the medium into ethanol, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, considering that yeast activity depends on its vital conditions which, in turn, are closely correlated with their nutrition. In general terms, this work aims to analyze the behavior of alcoholic distillation for cachaça, of wine fermented with different dosages of the nutrients Nitrogen and Phosphorus. Fermented wines were distilled with different dosages of Nitrogen and Phosphorus, to identify which N/P ratio produces greater quantity and better quality of cachaça, analyzing the physical-chemical parameters, acidity, alcohol content, higher alcohols and congener coefficients. The tanks that stood out were tank 08 with the largest volume and highest alcohol content, tank 06 with the highest acidity content, tank 03 with the lowest acidity content.