Physicochemical characterization of special persimmon fruit beers using bohemian pilsner malt as a base : Physicochemical characterization of special persimmon fruit beers

Lambic sour beers are the products of a spontaneous fermentation that lasts for one to three years before bottling. The present study determined the microbiota involved in the fermentation of lambic beers by sampling two fermentation batches during two years in the most traditional lambic brewery of Belgium, using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. From 14 samples per fermentation, over 2000 bacterial and yeast isolates were obtained and identified. Although minor variations in the microbiota between casks and batches and a considerable species diversity were found, a characteristic microbial succession was identified. This succession started with a dominance of Enterobacteriaceae in the first month, which were replaced at 2 months by Pediococcus damnosus and Saccharomyces spp., the latter being replaced by Dekkera bruxellensis at 6 months fermentation duration.

Five different instrumental techniques: thermogravimetry, mid-infrared, near-infrared, ultra-violet and visible spectroscopies, have been used to characterize a high quality beer (Reale) from an Italian craft brewery (Birra del Borgo) and to differentiate it from other competing and lower quality products. Chemometric classification models were built on the separate blocks using soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) obtaining good predictive ability on an external test set (75% or higher depending on the technique). The use of data fusion strategies - in particular, the mid-level one - to integrate the data from the different platforms allowed the correct classification of all the training and validation samples.