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. 2023 Dec;14(1):2255423.
doi: 10.1080/21655979.2023.2255423.

Screening ester-producing yeasts to fortify the brewing of rice-flavor Baijiu for enhanced aromas

Chunyun Qu  1   2 , Liying Peng  1 , Yongtao Fei  1   2 , Jinglong Liang  1   2 , Weidong Bai  1   2 , Gongliang Liu  1   2
Affiliations

Screening ester-producing yeasts to fortify the brewing of rice-flavor Baijiu for enhanced aromas

Chunyun Qu et al. Bioengineered. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

To enhance the aromas in Guangdong rice-flavor Baijiu, ester-producing yeast was selected to fortify Baijiu brewing. Among eight kinds of ester-producing yeasts selected, Saccharomyces cerevisiae CM15 (CM15) that showed both the stronger ability to utilize substrates to produce esters and the excellent tolerance to industrially relevant stress factors was chosen. When CM15 was synergistically fermented with six kinds of Kojis from distilleries of rice-flavor liquor in Guangdong, the enhanced total esters had happened to the liquors brewing with the fortified four kinds of Kojis, especially with Koji F. When Koji F was fortified with CM15, the resultant Baijiu showed a higher esters proportion and a lower higher alcohol ratio than that of Baijiu brewed only with Koji F, with the content of ethyl acetate and ethyl lactate increasing by 25% and 214%, respectively. This study suggested that CM15 can be used as a functional microorganism to fortify Baijiu brewing, which might also be suitable for other traditional fermented foods.

Keywords: Ester-producing yeast; ethyl acetate; ethyl lactate; higher alcohol; rice-flavor liquor.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The fermentation rate (A), alcohol content and residual sugar content (B) among eight kinds of selected ester-producing yeasts.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Volatile flavor compounds formation by eight kinds of ester-producing yeasts with glucose (A), sugarcane molasses (B) and nitrogen-rich medium (C) as the carbon source respectively.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Heat map of esters formation by eight kinds of ester-producing yeasts with glucose (A), sugarcane molasses (B) and nitrogen-rich medium (C) as the carbon source respectively. The number in the heat map was the average concentration of esters with the unit mg/L. The significant difference of total esters’ concentration between CM15 and the second excellent yeast under different media was analyzed (p ≤0.001, ***; p ≤0.0001, ****; t-test).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The tolerant performance of CM15 under glucose (A), NaCl (B), ethanol (C), temperature (D) and pH (E).
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Effects of CM15 addition on the flavor substances (A), total acid, total ester and alcohol (B) of rice-flavor liquor in Guangdong. The data are the means and standard deviations of three replications (p ≤0.05, *; p ≤0.01, **; t-test).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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