Alcohol Fermentation Characteristics of the Korean Native Mulberry (Morus spp.)

This study was carried out to investigate the fermentation characteristics and optimum conditions for alcohol fermentation of the Korean native mulberry. The yeast strains of S. kluyveri DJ97, La parisienne (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Netherlands) and Enoferm (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Denmark) produced higher alcohol concentrations than other strains, and further study was therefore performed with these three species. The optimum additional water content for maximizing alcohol concentration was 250% (v/w). The alcohol concentrations were rapidly increased in the first 4 days under the optimum conditions and reached 13.8% for S. kluyveri DJ97, 14.0% for La parisienne and 14.0% for Enoferm, respectively. Residual sugar concentration was decreased steadily from the beginning of fermentation until 5 days, after which it maintained a constant level. The pH was decreased steadily in the log phase during further maturation. However, the pH underwent a slight decrease after 4 days and then was stabilized during further maturation. Methanol concentrations for the three species used were analyzed after 60 days maturation and were lower than the levels regulated by the food standard. Fusel oils such as n-propanol, iso-butanol, and iso-amyl-alcohol were produced as by-products with the highest production from Enoferm and the lowest from S. kluyveri DJ97.