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J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol (2009) 36:655661 DOI 10.1007/s10295-009-0534-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Effect of Agave tequilana age, cultivation eld location and yeast strain on tequila fermentation process
L. Pinal E. Cornejo M. Arellano E. Herrera L. Nuez J. Arrizon A. Gschaedler
Received: 6 October 2008 / Accepted: 16 January 2009 / Published online: 24 February 2009 Society for Industrial Microbiology 2009
Abstract The effect of yeast strain, the agave age and the cultivation eld location of agave were evaluated using kinetic parameters and volatile compound production in the tequila fermentation process. Fermentations were carried out with Agave juice obtained from two cultivation elds (CF1 and CF2), as well as two ages (4 and 8 years) and two Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains (GU3 and AR5) isolated from tequila fermentation must. Sugar consumption and ethanol production varied as a function of cultivation eld and agave age. The production of ethyl acetate, 1-propanol, isobutanol and amyl alcohols were inuenced in varying degrees by yeast strain, agave age and cultivation eld. Methanol production was only affected by the agave age and 2-phenylethanol was inuenced only by yeast strain. This work showed that the use of younger Agave tequilana for tequila fermentation resulted in differences in sugar consumption, ethanol and volatile compounds production at the end of fermentation, which could affect the sensory quality of the nal product.
Keywords Tequila Agave tequilana
Fermentation kinetics Volatile compounds
Introduction
Tequila is a characteristic alcoholic beverage of Mexico. Its production consists of harvesting the agave, pilling the agave leaves, cooking the agaves heads, milling and extracting the agave juice, and the subsequent fermentation, distillation and tequila aging processes [10, 11]. One specic characteristic of the tequila 100% agave production is that Agave tequilana Weber blue variety species is allowed as the only source of sugar [19]. Taxonomically, Agave tequilana Weber blue variety is classied as a member of the Rigidae group within the genus Agave of the Agavaceae family. The physiological plant maturity takes between 7 and 10 years depending on cultivation conditions, and after owering it senesces and then dies. Normally, the agaves are harvested between 6 and 10 years or just before owering when the accumulated sugars (fructans) have a maximum concentration. These agave fructans consist of a complex mixture of fructooligosaccharides containing...