Volatile Compounds of Raw Spirits from Different Distilling Stages of Luzhou-flavor Spirit

Abstract

The manufacturing procedures of spirits in the world such as whisky, brandy, rum, vodka, cachaça, and Chinese spirits are constituted of three consecutive processes: fermentation, distillation and ageing. For these processes, distillation process is closely correlated with the quality and yield of the raw spirit. Alembic stills and column stills are applied to the distillation of brandy, whisky, and cachaça. The former has no trays or appreciable reflux and requires multiple distillation to achieve high-proof raw spirits, while the latter has a reflux column to decreases the concentration of the congeners in raw spirits (Claus and Berglund, 2005). A distinct device called as Zeng-tong (Li et al., 2012) has been widely applied to the distillation of Chinese spirits for a long history. The Zeng-tong is composed of reboiler, taper barrel, condenser and other attachments, such as stream pipes, lid and tube type heat exchanger (shown in Figure 1A). Similar to fruit brandy (Claus and Berglund, 2005), the operation mode of Chinese spirits belongs to a batch distillation. The main production process of Chinese spirits is as follows ( Figure 1B). Prior to the spirit distillation, the fresh grains and grain hull are mixed with the fermented grains to adjust Short communication

Effects of different distillation patterns on main compounds of ChineseLuzhou-flavour raw liquors

“…Tables 2 and 3 summarize the volatile compounds identified from different distillation patterns. Fifty-nine volatiles were identified and classified in the following families: alcohols (6), acids (12), esters (28), phenols (4), aldehydes (3), furans (1), ketones (4) and miscellaneous (1). Of them, 10 kinds of constituents were detected in each sample, and accounted for an average of 81.93% of total volatile amounts.…”

“…Compared with brandy, whisky, cachaça, etc., the distillation pattern of Chinese liquor is entirely different. It is carried out in a steaming bucket apparatus (called as Zeng‐tong ), which is similar to a packed column and filled with solid particle mixture, including fermented grains, grain hull and fresh grains . As one of the most famous Chinese liquors, the distillation mode of Luzhou ‐flavour liquor differs from MaoTai ‐flavour and light‐flavour liquor.…”

Age Discrimination of Chinese Baijiu Based on Midinfrared Spectroscopy and Chemometrics

“…Meanwhile, due to the reinforced association between alcohol and water molecules and the volatilization of ethanol, the stimulation from alcohol has weakened compared with the high-proof raw Baijiu. In this case, more than 300 organic compounds can reach equilibrium, which forms more harmonious and coordinated taste and tends to achieve optimal quality and increasingly prominent fragrance [10][11][12]. Consequently, the liquor age is often used to evaluate the quality of Chinese Baijiu [13].…”

Changes in Volatile Compounds of Chinese Luzhou‐Flavor Liquor during the Fermentation and Distillation Process

“…The former, multiple distillations method, was applied to achieve more aromatic substances, and the latter was required to obtain high‐proof spirits, whereas the corresponding flavor compounds almost all decreased (Claus and Berglund ; Arrieta‐Garay and others ). For Chinese Luzhou ‐flavor liquor, the distillation was carried out in a steaming bucket apparatus, filled with fermented grains, fresh grains, and grain hull (Zheng and others ). This device was called as Zeng‐tong (Zheng and others ), whose structure and operation performances were different from copper alembics.…”

“…For Chinese Luzhou ‐flavor liquor, the distillation was carried out in a steaming bucket apparatus, filled with fermented grains, fresh grains, and grain hull (Zheng and others ). This device was called as Zeng‐tong (Zheng and others ), whose structure and operation performances were different from copper alembics. In fact, its operating model was similar to packed column, where the flavor constituents of matrix were transferred into raw liquor by vaporization, extraction and fractionation (Li and others ).…”