VARIATIONS OF FLAVOR SUBSTANCES IN DISTILLATION PROCESS OF CHINESE LUZHOU-FLAVOR LIQUOR

摘要

To investigate the variations of flavor substances in distillation process of Chinese Luzhou-flavor liquor, systematic experiments were carried out in an industrial-scale experimental distiller. Distillate samples were collected continuously throughout the whole distillation process and analyzed by gas chromatography and sensory evaluation. The results show that the compositions and variations of flavor substances mainly depend on their physical and chemical properties. The flavor substances with low boiling point, such as ethanol, acetaldehyde, ethyl format and ethyl acetate, are vaporized quickly and therefore have high contents in the distillate obtained in the early stage of distillation. The flavor substances with high boiling points enter into distillate mainly by extraction and, hence, their variations depend on the dissolving properties. The alcohol-soluble substances, such as ethyl hexanoate, ethyl butanoic and so on, are distilled out mainly in the early stage of distillation, and their extraction rates decrease as the distillation process proceeds, while the water-soluble substances, such as organic acids, ethyl lactate and so on, are mainly present in the latter-stage distillate and the extraction rates increase as the process proceeds. Variations of methanol and furfural were found irregular and the reasons for this irregularity were analyzed. Sensory quality of distillate declines as the distillation process proceeds.