WO2017123082A2

WO2017123082A2 - Agave-based functional alcoholic drink and production method thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2017123082A2
Application number: PCT/MX2016/000189
Authority: WO
Inventors: Joel ESTRADA DAMIÁN
Original assignee: Estrada Damián Joel
Priority date: 2016-01-12
Filing date: 2016-12-20
Publication date: 2017-07-20
Also published as: MX2016000409A; WO2017123082A3

Abstract

The present invention describes a novel functional alcoholic drink and the production method thereof. This new high-quality alcoholic vodka drink, without unpleasant flavours and odours, is obtained by combining sugars of the genus Agave, particularly those derived from inulin, preferably A. angustifolia, A. cupreata, A. potatorum, A. salmiana and A. tequilana Weber var. azul.,with a second group of sugars (glucose, fructose and secretaries) derived from the syrup of Agave mapisaga, Agave atrovirens or Agave americana. The process for producing the agave vodka comprises the following steps: extracting the sugars from the agave hearts by means of a diffusion process; performing enzymatic hydrolysis of the inulin; mixing the fructose-rich juice with the syrup of Agave pulquero (Agave mapisaga, Agave atrovirens or Agave americana) in a ratio of 80/20 and at 12 °Bx; fermenting the agave juice with the strain S. cerevisiae ICE18; distilling the fermented must; rectifying the result of same; performing a third distillation to increase the purity thereof; and lastly, supplementing the distillate with agave syrup rich in functional molecules, particularly FOS, polyphenols and saponins, and filtering this product with cellulose to obtain the end product. Finally, the alcohol is diluted with water to a concentration of 30 to 40% by weight, before being bottled. This process produces different types of high-quality agave vodka, without impurities and with different organoleptic profiles depending on the mixture of agaves used in the production thereof.

Description

FUNCTIONAL ALCOHOLIC DRINK BASED ON AGAVE AND METHOD FOR

PRODUCE IT

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the alcoholic beverage industry in particular of distilled beverages and to a process for the production of a novel, high quality distilled beverage resulting from the fermentation of the mixture of sugars of different species of the genus Agave , said drink in its appearance and taste shows similar characteristics to vodka. Additionally, this new beverage presents as distinctive features the presence of functional molecules derived from agave that provide nutritional benefits to the consumer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years the international demand for alcoholic beverages and in particular those that meet new elements of quality, are having a remarkable boom, so that a huge field of research and innovation is generated, having special interest in generating more and better products, In addition, the boom for products and processes that are increasingly natural and that may represent benefits over others, highlights the immense panorama of possibilities that has triggered a growing interest in consumers for new products and novel processes

Vodka and other similar alcoholic beverages such as gin are neutral non-aged spirits that can be distilled from potatoes, rye, wheat, barley, corn and many other fermentable materials accompanied by spices.

The process already known comprises the fermentation of the sugar contained in these raw materials to ethanol by means of the S. cerevisiae yeast; subsequently the ethanol recovered from the resulting paste is rectified and mixed with water at a required alcohol concentration; for example 30% to 45% by weight.

Traditionally, ethanol for the production of alcoholic beverages has been made from various raw materials, including Helianthus tuberosus tubers (US Pat No. 4400469. France Application No.2470796), Sweet potato (yam or sweet potato) (Japan Application No 59-6639) cane sugar (US Pat. No. 4,326,036), millet grain, sorghum (Germany Application No. 3,445,049), and sugar beet (French Application No. 26106451). In order to replace these food products, production processes have been developed from by-products such as whey (US Pat. No. 4086366).

Today, the lack of traditional raw materials for the production of neutral spirits and the increasing demand of this type of products, has caused that the producers and bottlers of many countries resort to massive strategies of production of low cost but of doubtful quality of the product. The most common is the mixture of neutral grain alcohol (obtained as a byproduct of ethanol distillation plants) with water and satirizers, this mixture is bottled and sold in many cases without quality control. Unfortunately, most of the spirits obtained by this process are not distilled so the products contain significant amounts of undesirable alcohols and other molecules that are known impart negative flavors and odors to the product and contribute to its poor quality.

For example, a gas chromatography analysis performed on some brands of Vodkas sold in the United States reveals significant concentrations of undesirable alcohols and other molecules. These compounds typically have both low and high boiling points and include: acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde. methyl acetate, methanol, butyraldehyde, ethyl acetate, methyl propionate, propan-2 proponal, allyl alcohol, butanol-1 propanonl, ethyl propionate, propyl acetate, 3 methyl-2-butonal, isobutyl acetate, 3- methyl-1-butonal, isobutyl alcohol isobutyl oropionate, isoamyl acetate, butyl propionate, furfurflic alcohol, methyl heptanoate, ethyl phenyl, and ethyl hexadecanoate; As a result, vodkas are of poor quality with a bad taste and smell.

It is understood that common impurities found in vodka, gin and various liquor drinks produced from ethanol, are highly toxic compounds, such as fusel oils, methanol, acetaldehyde that are formed during the production of ethyl alcohol. The use of alcoholic beverages that contain these impurities may result in the poisoning of an organism. Additionally, it is also known the existence of an unpleasant physical state one day after using alcohol in significant amounts. The state experienced after acute alcohol intoxication is classified as post-intoxication syndrome. The removal of toxic substances from these distillates, such as fusel oils and acetaldehyde mainly, is critical in the development of a high quality product.

The purification of alcohol comprises the separation of components or fractions, distinguishable by their boiling temperatures. Column equipment (Japanese Patent No. 4-27830), are normally used in this purification; However, fusel oils and acetaldehyde have boiling temperatures that are practically identical to ethanol itself, so high technology and complex equipment are required to separate these molecules from ethanol. It is currently common in the production of this type of beverage to carry out a second distillation or rectification of alcohol and water to generate a more intense mixture of the beverage and facilitate the formation of ethyl alcohol hydrates, hydrates are better formed during the phase soda that the liquid phase due to the higher temperature. The idea of introducing a rectification step after distillation is due to Awaloff and is described in German patent 599498 of 1934. As the Awaloff process points out, a pure distillate containing 40% ethanoi per volume is produced. The liquor produced is soft without the presence of metals.

The elimination of undesirable molecules is important in the quality of the drink, since this type of distillates must be pure without the addition of flavors that mask impurities. Today there is a growing consumer demand for high quality vodka distillates containing low levels of alcohols and other unpleasant products.

For this reason, numerous processes have been developed to purify various vodka distillates or beverages. Previously the alcohol-water mixture was filtered through successive beds of activated carbon, although this process eliminated impurities was found to introduce a turbidity in the bottled beverage that generated an unpleasant appearance to the product (US Patent. No. 2946687). US Pat 3914442 sought to eliminate this problem by treating carbon-filtered alcohol with a cation exchange resin to maintain the pH range of Vodka between 7.2 and 9.0.

Another approach to purification includes pumping nitrogen to the water-alcohol solution; The nitrogen gas is then saturated with the vapors and the impurities are then removed through an adsorbent.

Although these and other similar approaches have been partially successful in removing impurities from the production process of these beverages, the need still exists to produce a more economical, impurity-free beverage that also possesses unique organoleptic properties.

The sugars of the Agave genre represent an excellent raw material of low cost and high quality for obtaining distilled alcoholic beverages, in particular for the production of Vodka type beverages.

The agave genus is ecologically and culturally important in Mexico, due to its high diversity of species and its wide distribution in a variety of places of the national territory and also for its ancestral use by Mesoamerican cultures. Of the nearly 200 species of agave that exist worldwide 180 are in Mexico, all of them used for various purposes such as manufacturing textiles, tools, food, medicine, construction materials. Particularly important are 53 species that are used for the production of alcoholic beverages called mezcal, which are spirits obtained by distillation of cooked and fermented agaves.

After 20 centuries of use, the main current use is in the production of beverages distilled spirits derived from the fermented sugars of agave. This is the case of tequila and mezcal both beverages commercially protected by the designation of origin since 1978 and 1995 respectively. In these processes of making these drinks, fructans are transformed to fructose with the consequent loss of their functional properties.

An important exception is pulque, a non-distilled fermented beverage obtained from mead, a sweet nutrient-rich extract extracted from the stems of the Agave mapisaga, Agava atrovirens and Agave americana, commonly called Pulp Agave. Pulque is obtained by fermenting mead, this drink is mainly produced and consumed by the states of the center of the country. However, due to the changes shown in recent years by consumers towards beer, pulque consumption has decreased dramatically since the 1960s. As a result, the cultivation of pulque agave has come down because it does not ensure enough income for producers. In order to maintain the cultivation of agave plants, the government has implemented various programs with the objective of developing high-value products that revitalize the cultivation of pulque agave.

In terms of composition, mead is about 90% sugar, mainly sucrose, fructose and glucose and about 8-9% fructooligosaccharide agavines (Agave FOS). When the mead is fermented and the simple sugars transformed by the action of the microorganisms, the FOS Agaves are retained constituting an important prebiotic of the pulque. Additionally, mead contains pollfenoles, saponins, amino acids, vitamins, proteins, gums, minerals and other bioactive molecules with various activities on human health, such as antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory (Santos-Zea et al., 2012; Olvera- Garcia et al., 2015).

The economic activity of the cultivation and harvest of the various types of agaves, subject of the present invention, is a fundamental source of income for various rural communities of our country, so it is of great importance to offer them alternatives for the diversification of products that increase their income and improve your quality of life.

The present invention describes the development of a functional distilled beverage that by its components and method generates a high quality distillate free of bad flavors and odors from the mixture of fermentable sugars of the Agave genus, in particular from the combination of the A. mapisaga, Agave atrovirens or Agave americana mead with enzymatically hydrolyzed sugars from inulin from other species of the Agave genus: A. angustifolia, A. cupreata, A. salmiana, A. potatorum and A. tequilana Weber var. Blue; etc. This innovative functional alcoholic beverage can be generated through the different combinations of the agaves described above, so that we can obtain different types of agave vodka. The sugar mixture is fermented and distilled until a smooth drink is obtained with slight distinctive sensory notes resulting from the combination of the selected agave species. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The characteristic details of the present invention are clearly shown in the following description, accompanying figures and examples, which are merely illustrative of one of the preferred embodiments of the embodiment of the invention therefore should not be considered as a limitation for the same.

The present invention relates to a combination of selected ingredients, which makes it possible to obtain a new high-quality functional alcoholic beverage and describes a new process for making this Vodka-type alcoholic beverage of mild flavor and pleasant aroma.

In particular, the present invention details the elements that make up this alcoholic beverage and a process for the production of this from fermentable sugars from the pineapples of two groups of agaves.

The present invention describes an alcoholic beverage free of acetakJehyde and fusel oils. This drink has a distinctive organoleptic profile depending on the combination of agave species used in its preparation.

Additionally, this new beverage presents as a distinctive feature the presence of various functional molecules from the juice of Agave mapisaga, Agave atrovirens and Agave americana.

The first step in the production of this alcoholic beverage derived from Agave is the collection of the pineapple or heart of the mature plant (6-10 years) which contains a reserve polysaccharide, the inulin formed by fructose units, the pineapple or Heart is obtained from the different species of Agaves, such as: Agave angustifolia, Agave potatorum, Agave salmiana; Agave cupreata and Agave tequilana Webervar. blue.

In another aspect of the invention, inulin is extracted from the hearts using diffuser equipment; the inulin is subsequently enzymatically hydrolyzed using inulinases to obtain a juice rich in sugars with a content of 8 to 16 "Brix, preferably 10 to 14 * Brix and more preferably 12" Brix.

In a better aspect of the invention the juice of Agave tequilana Weber var. Blue, Agave angustifolia, Agave potatorum, Agave salmiana or Agave cupreata or mixtures thereof is adjusted to a concentration of sugars of 12 ° Brix and mixed with the juice of the pulsed agave adjusted to a concentration of 12 ° Brix so that they can be generate different types of must. Another important stage of the process refers to the conversion of the sugars contained in the mixtures of Agave musts into ethanol by a fermentation process carried out by the ICE18 strain of S. cerevisiae. In another aspect of the invention, the must is fermented in stainless steel tanks for 3 to 6 days. In a better aspect of the invention the must is fermented at a temperature of 24 ° C-32 ^° C, preferably 26 ° C-30 ° C and more preferably a temperature of 28 ° C; The result of the fermentation is a must with an alcohol content between 6 to 8%. The cua passes to a triple distillation stage in stainless steel stills. In one aspect of the invention, the first, second and third distillation are preferably carried out by fractional distillation. The first distillation is performed between 1.5 to 2 hours, the product is called ordinary and contains 20% alcohol; The second distillation takes between 3-4 hours and has about 55% alcohol. This product has three components: heads with a high alcohol content and unwanted aldehydes are discarded; the middle section or heart comprises the desired fraction and saved for final processing; The third component, the tails is also discarded. The third distillation is carried out with the middle section or heart lasting 3-4 hours and generates a product of greater purity.

In one aspect of the invention, the first distillation is carried out at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 70 to 100 ° C, preferably 80 to 96 ° C.

In another aspect of the invention, the second distillation is carried out at atmospheric pressure at a temperature of 70 to 100 "C, preferably 80 to 93 ° C.

In another aspect of the invention, the third distillation is carried out at atmospheric pressure at a temperature of 70 to 100 ° C, preferably 80 to 93 ° C

In a final aspect of the present invention, the distillate is mixed with mead to add functional molecules to the finished product. Then the alcoholic beverage is filtered with cellulose filters in order to eliminate possible impurities that have remained in the product, then the beverage is stored in a storage tank at -10 ° C prior to bottling.

The present functional alcoholic beverage by the combination of its elements or ingredients presents organoleptic characteristics towards a neutral drink with slight notes of agave. It contains very low amounts of methanol and no presence of impurities such as acetaldehydes and fusel oils. Additionally, it presents several functional molecules from the mead of the pulque Agave.

Example

The following example is presented to illustrate the invention, but the invention should not be limited thereto and the obvious variations thereof will become apparent to those subject matter experts.

The process begins with the extraction of the sugars from the pineapples of Agave tequilana Weber var. Blue., Using a diffuser equipment; subsequently the pineapple juice is hydrolyzed by the addition of inulinases, until a fructose-rich juice is obtained.

Fructose-rich juice is adjusted to a sugar concentration of 12 ° Brix. On the other hand, the mead is obtained from the Agave puiquero by the traditional process by cutting the inflorescence at the base and extracting the mead by a suction process and kept in refrigeration until its use

In a thousand-liter stainless steel fermentation tub with a temperature control 700 liters of hydrolyzed agave juice are added at a concentration of 12 ° Brix, then 100 liters of mead obtained from A. mapisaga are added at a concentration of 12 ° Brix. The previous must is inoculated with 100 liters of a culture of the ICE 18 strain of S. cerevisiae previously grown in aerobic conditions for 24 hours in must with a concentration of reducing sugars of 20 g / L.

The juice is fermented at a temperature of 28X for 4 days, under static conditions. At the end of the fermentation the must is separated from the yeast and transferred to a stainless steel still where it is distilled three times.

The first distillation is carried out under the following conditions: temperature of 85'C. The second distillation is carried out at a temperature of 90 ° C. The middle section is separated and the heads and tails are removed. The middle section or heart is subjected to a third distillation process after adjusting the alcohol concentration to 30 ° G.L. with water; This is done at a temperature of 90 ° C. The three distillations are performed at atmospheric pressure.

The distillate obtained from the third distillation is transferred to a column of activated carbon in order to adsorb residual aromas that have remained in the product.

The product after treatment with activated carbon is mixed with 20% mead and then subjected to a cellulose filtration process.

Finally the product is adjusted with distilled water at a concentration of 40% and transferred to a storage tank and maintained at a temperature of -10 * C until bottling.

Claims

1. A method for producing a distilled alcoholic beverage, which contains as components the sugars of the pineapples of the genus Agave, as well as various functional molecules derived from them, characterized in that it consists of:

a) obtain two types of fermentable sugars from the pineapples of the genus Agave: The first type of sugars are obtained from the enzymatic hydrolysis of the inulin of the "Agave mezcalero and tequilero": Agave angustifolia, Agave cupreata, Agave potatorum, Agave salmiana and Agrave tequilana Weber var. Blue. The second type of fermentable sugars is obtained directly from the collection of mead from the Pulga Agave: A. mapisaga, Agave atrovinens or Agave americana; b) mixing type 1 agave sugars and type 2 agave sugars in a 50/50 ratio, preferably in a 60/40 ratio, most preferably in a 70/30 ratio and more preferably in an 80/20 ratio;

c) adjust the mixture of the two types of pineapple sugars to a concentration of 8-16 'Brix, preferably 10-14 ° Brix and more preferably to 12 "Brix for fermentation;

d) ferment the mixture of the two types of sugars using a strain of S. cerevisiae in stainless steel tanks for 3 to 6 days, at a temperature of 24-32 ° C, preferably at a temperature of 26-30 ° C and more preferably at a temperature of 28 ° C the result of the fermentation is a must with an alcohol content between 6 to 8%;

e) distill the fermented must by a triple distillation process: subject the fermented must from the previous stage to a first distillation at a temperature of 80 to 96 ° C. The second distillation is carried out at a temperature of 80 to 93 ° C. The middle section is separated and the heads and tails are removed. The middle section or heart is subjected to a third distillation process (after adjusting the alcohol concentration to 30 ° G.L. with water), this is carried out at a temperature of 80 to 93 ° C;

f) supplement the distillate of the previous stage with 20-30% of mead from the pulque Agave, preferably with 10-20% and more preferably with 5-10% of mead to generate an alcoholic beverage containing functional molecules: FOS, Polyphenols, Saponins and nutritional such as amino acids, peptides, vitamins and minerals;

g) filter the functional alcoholic beverage by means of cellulose filters to remove possible impurities from the beverage;

h) adjust the functional alcoholic beverage to a concentration of 40% alcohol;

i) store the functional alcoholic beverage in tanks at -10 ° C until bottling.

2. A functional distilled alcoholic beverage that is obtained through the process according to claim 1.