ELABORAÇÃO DE AGUARDENTE DE MEL DE ABELHA Apis mellifera DE ACORDO COM A FLORADA TÍPICA DO SERTÃO PARAIBANO

Abstract

The brandy industry has expanded and diversified its products. So, aiming at this diversification of products, the present work aimed to follow the fermentation kinetics, carry out the production and characterization of Apis mellifera honey spirit. Fresh biological yeast from Saccharomyces cerevisiae bakery was used in the fermentation system. Analyzes of alcohol content, density, and acidity of the drink were carried out according to official methods. The total fermentation time was approximately 132 hours, verifying the stabilization of the soluble solids content after 84 hours of fermentation. The fermentative yield was 79.3%. From 18 L of must, a total of 2.3 L of distillate was obtained. The density found was 0.930 g/L, the alcohol content was 54 °GL and the spirit's volatile acidity was 60 mg/100 mL of anhydrous alcohol, in accordance with the official Brazilian standard. The yield of the distillation process was 79.2%. According to the parameters of productivity and yield, it is concluded that honey spirit is a viable alternative for the use of honey produced in Sertão Paraibano.