A new strategy for using banana as an ingredient in the brewing process

Beer is a traditionally fermented beverage made from malted grains of barley, hops, yeast, and water, while banana is an important food crop cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical areas and is one of the major fruits in Brazil. Besides, the banana is also very favorable to food industry (e.g. fermented beverages) due to its rich content on soluble solids, presence of minerals, and providing low acidity. In this context, the objective of this work was to evaluate a new strategy for using banana as adjunct to increase the fermentable sugars and to supply a specific aroma in pilot-plant brewing experiments. For this, static fermentations were conducted in a 180 L cylindrical-conical reactor using 140 L as working volume. Addition of banana was evaluated when changing the concentration of the wort from 10 to 12 ºP and from 10 to 13.5 ºP (ºP is the weight of the extract or the sugar equivalent in 100 g solution, at 20 ºC) and fermented under a constant temperature of 10 and 12.5 ºC, respectively. The results showed that the increment in the initial sugar concentration (12 to 13.5 ºP, due to the use of banana juice as adjunct), and in the temperature (10 to 12.5 ºC), increased approximately 17% the ethanol productivity. Thus, it was concluded that by using of simple preparation techniques of banana juice, banana can be used as adjunct in brewing processes, helping in the development of new products as well as in the elaboration of more concentrated worts when compared the traditional brewing worts.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Malteria do ValeCorn Products BrasilWallerstein Industrial e ComercialDiverseyLever (Brazil)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)CAPES/GRICES (Brazil/Portugal

Análise da fermentação em bioreatores cilindrocônicos de bancada na elaboração de cerveja com adjunto de banana

O aumento do extrato inicial de fermentação e uso de adjuntos na substituição do malte vem sendo uma alternativa para diminuição de custos na produção de cervejas. Uma outra característica deste processo tem sido a utilização de nutrientes para aumentar a produtividade volumétrica em etanol. Pelo fato da banana ser uma fruta abundante no Brasil e ser pouco qualificada para a exportação, pode-se utilizá-la como alternativa de adjunto do malte. Neste estudo foi elaborada cerveja utilizando a banana como adjunto do malte e estudado os parâmetros fermentativos principais obtidos no ponto otimizado em bioreatores cilindrocônicos de bancada. Para isso os mostos foram fermentados à 17,5 °P e 15 °C suplementados no início da fermentação com 420 mg/L de MgSO4. A produtividade volumétrica (Qp) alcançada foi de 0,68 g/L.h no tempo de 64 h de fermentação. Essa suplementação gerou um benefício, devido ao aumento de 6 % do valor de Qp

Omics profiles used to evaluate the gene expression of Exiguobacterium antarcticum B7 during cold adaptation

Abstract\ud \ud Background\ud \ud Exiguobacterium antarcticum strain B7 is a Gram-positive psychrotrophic bacterial species isolated in Antarctica. Although this bacteria has been poorly studied, its genome has already been sequenced. Therefore, it is an appropriate model for the study of thermal adaptation. In the present study, we analyzed the transcriptomes and proteomes of E. antarcticum B7 grown at 0°C and 37°C by SOLiD RNA-Seq, Ion Torrent RNA-Seq and two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis tandem mass spectrometry (2D-DIGE-MS/MS).\ud \ud \ud Results\ud We found expression of 2,058 transcripts in all replicates from both platforms and differential expression of 564 genes (absolute log2FC ≥1, P-value <0.001) comparing the two temperatures by RNA-Seq. A total of 73 spots were differentially expressed between the two temperatures on 2D-DIGE, 25 of which were identified by MS/MS. Some proteins exhibited patterns of dispersion in the gel that are characteristic of post-translational modifications.\ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud Our findings suggest that the two sequencing platforms yielded similar results and that different omic approaches may be used to improve the understanding of gene expression. To adapt to low temperatures, E. antarcticum B7 expresses four of the six cold-shock proteins present in its genome. The cold-shock proteins were the most abundant in the bacterial proteome at 0°C. Some of the differentially expressed genes are required to preserve transcription and translation, while others encode proteins that contribute to the maintenance of the intracellular environment and appropriate protein folding. The results denote the complexity intrinsic to the adaptation of psychrotrophic organisms to cold environments and are based on two omic approaches. They also unveil the lifestyle of a bacterial species isolated in Antarctica.CNPqCAPESUFPAFINEPFAPEMIGFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia de Portugal (FCT

Banana as adjunct in beer production: applicability and performance of fermentative parameters

Traditionally, the raw materials for beer production are barley, hops, water, and yeast, but most brewers use also different adjuncts. During the alcoholic fermentation, the contribution of aroma compounds from other ingredients to the final beer flavor depends on the wort composition, on the yeast strain, and mainly on the process conditions. In this context, banana can also be a raw material favorable to alcoholic fermentation being rich in carbohydrates and minerals and providing low acidity. In this work, the objective was to evaluate the performance of wort adjusted with banana juice in different concentrations. For this, static fermentations were conducted at 15 °C at pilot scale (140 L of medium). The addition of banana that changed the concentration of all-malt wort from 10 °P to 12 and 15 °P were evaluated (°P is the weight of the extract or the sugar equivalent in 100 g solution, at 20 °C). The results showed an increase in ethanol production, with approximately 0.4 g/g ethanol yield and 0.6 g/L h volumetric productivity after 84 h of processing when concentrated wort was used. Thus, it was concluded that banana can be used as an adjunct in brewing methods, helping in the development of new products as well as in obtaining concentrated worts.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)EMATER-MGJohnson-DiverseyFapesp (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/Brasil)Wallerstein Industrial & CommercialNovozymesCAPES (Coordenação para Aperfeiçoamento do Ensino Superior/ Brasil)Malteria do ValeGRICES (Gabinete de Relações Internacionais da Ciência e do Ensino Superior/Portugal