J Ijfoodmicro 2008 12 008
J Ijfoodmicro 2008 12 008
J Ijfoodmicro 2008 12 008
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The effect of removing the second step of malt conversion in the brewing of Chibuku beer was investigated
Received 9 April 2008 with the intention of extending the shelf-life of the product. Chibuku was brewed in the laboratory scale
Received in revised form 21 November 2008 fermenters using Delta Beverages' standard brewing procedure. A variation was made where the second malt
Accepted 4 December 2008
conversion was not conducted on one brew. The effect of increasing pasteurisation time was also
investigated. The extension of shelf-life was determined by following the physicochemical and the sensory
Keywords:
Sorghum opaque beer
profile of the products for a period of ten days under sub-tropical ambient conditions. Ethanol productions
Fermentation were similar between the control and test beers (without second conversion malt). A product with overall
Second conversion malt acceptability of 70% was made from the brew without the second malt conversion and with 15 min
Shelf-life pasteurisation at 80 °C. The product was, however, low in bite and head retention, but had less bacterial load,
decreased acid production, and improved keeping quality by at least two days. However, due to
contamination of the pitching yeast with lactic acid bacteria (LAB), total acids rapidly increased after
168 h and caused unacceptable sourness. Increasing pasteurisation time to 20 min reduced bacterial load of
the wort to figures as low as 2 × 103 cfu/ml. General hygiene levels of the brewery were acceptable and no
coliforms were detected in the product or contact surfaces along the production line. Bacterial contamination
of the product mainly comes from the raw materials with pasteurisation greatly reducing this load. If
improved, the procedure has the potential of extending the shelf-life of the beer to beyond 168 h.
© 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.
1. Introduction Chibuku is made from straight run maize, sorghum meal, sorghum
malt, barley malt, water, lactic acid and a top fermenting strain of the
Chibuku, an opaque beer, is one of the industrialised alcoholic yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The opaque beer brewing process
beverages in Zimbabwe, and there are more than 20 opaque beer involves the blending of sorghum malt and meal, barley malt and
breweries that produce over 420 million litres of the beer each year straight run maize grits, the extraction and breakdown of carbohy-
(Parawira et al., 2005). The beer product is an opaque pinkish-brown drates from these raw materials to make a sugar solution, followed by
liquid with a thin consistency due to its high content of suspended and its subsequent fermentation with yeast to produce ethanol and carbon
dissolved solids (3.6% w/v), with an alcohol content of approximately dioxide (Fig. 1). Essentially, the process involves lactic acid fermenta-
3–5%, pH around 3–4 and lactic acid levels around 0.5 g/l (Casey et al., tion as well as alcoholic fermentation.
1984; Bvochora and Zvauya, 2001). Opaque beer, also known as doro, The major biological changes occurring in the brewing process are
hwahwa, mhamba or utshwala, in different regions of Zimbabwe, is catalysed by natural lactic acid bacteria and yeasts from barley and
also a popular beverage in several countries in Africa (Gadaga et al., sorghum malt, and the S. cerevisiae yeasts introduced as a starter
1999). Different cities in Zimbabwe produce different brands of culture. Like other industrialised processes, saccharification plus lactic
sorghum beer, namely, Ingwebu, Go Beer, Pungwe, Thabani, and Simba. acid souring occur first, while alcoholic plus lactic acid fermentations
It is considered a nutritious product because it contains a mixture of occur last (the first acidification is due to added lactic acid while the
organic acids, alcohols, vitamins and other growth factors produced second is due to inherent LAB in the raw material) (Wood, 1985). The
by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts (Van Heerden, 1989; Holzapfel, beer is sold while microbiologically active, hence beneficial bacteria
2002). The beer is marketed and consumed while still actively may end up spoiling the product. Opaque beer from Delta Beverages
fermenting, and is effervescent and has a refreshing aroma. plants in Zimbabwe is made by the “double cook” method (pasteur-
isation) for utilization of starch in the malt and also pasteurising the
wort.
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +263 4 307762; fax: +263 4 304071. Most traditional, African cereal-based fermented foods deteriorate
E-mail address: aparawira@yahoo.co.uk (W. Parawira). rapidly and become unacceptable to consumers within one to four
Chemical and organoleptic changes were followed in the beers Time taken to reach 0.5% (v/v) total acids was taken as an index of
stored under sub-tropical ambient conditions for a period of 10 days. shelf life. According to Delta Beverages standards, the product is
Chemical tests performed during the fermentation period were total deemed unacceptable (spoiled) when total acids reach 0.5% (v/v). The
reducing sugars, pH, total acids (titratable acidity), total dissolved time taken for the product to become unacceptable in terms of bite,
solids and alcohol. sourness and odour was also assessed through sensory evaluation.
The pH of the samples was measured immediately after sample
collection using a CYBERSCAN 500 pH meter at room temperature. 2.8. Statistical analysis
Titratable acidity was done using the method outlined in the DELTA
BEVERAGES Chibuku Raw Materials and Analytical Methods manual The Pearson's Product Moment correlation coefficient at 0.01 level
(1998). Each beer sample (100 ml) was filtered through a No. 1 of significance was used to ascertain the extent of the relationship
Whatman filter paper after which 10 ml of the filtrate were titrated between removal of the second malt conversion and the beer
against 0.1 N NaOH using phenolphthalein indicator until a permanent composition with respect to total acids, lactic acid, and alcohol. A
pink colour persisted for 30 s. The titration was done in triplicate for matched pair T test was performed to determine the differences
each sample. The total acidity was then calculated as follows between the two samples.
Fig. 2. Changes in total dissolved solids and alcohol concentration during fermentation
of Chibuku beers. –Δ– alcohol control, - -Δ- - alcohol variant, –♦– dissolved solids Fig. 3. Changes in pH and total acids during fermentation of Chibuku beers. –♦– pH
control, - -♦- - dissolved solids variant. control, - -♦- - pH variant, –Δ– total acids control, - -Δ- - total acids variant.
J. Kutyauripo et al. / International Journal of Food Microbiology 129 (2009) 271–276 275
Generally, the laboratory brewed beer resembled commercial Removal of the second step of malt conversion reduces total
Chibuku beer in appearance. All the beer samples had a thin bacterial loads to levels as low as 3.3 log cfu/ml, causing less
consistency on pouring except for the control beer which became production of total acids during fermentation. Consequently, this
slimy by day 7. The control beer had a head of 4.5% compared to 3.9% delayed the time taken to reach the unacceptable total acid threshold
for the beer without second conversion malt. The overall head, as of 0.5% (v/v). It took 168 h to reach this threshold value using this
measured within 5 min, was acceptable and almost uniform in all modified process unlike the 120 h achieved using the normal brewing
samples, with the control having a better head retention. The control process. Spoilage of the normal product as evidenced by appearance of
beer had an average viscosity of 58 during the fermentation period pellicles and roppiness was observed at 168 h while these were not
while beer produced without the second malt conversion had lower found in the test beer product even at 240 h. If removing the second
average viscosities of 49–52. Standard viscosity values range from 50– malt conversion is to be adopted as a way of brewing sorghum beer
60 in normal Chibuku products. By the seventh day, the control beer with extended shelf life, it would be necessary to carry out further
was ropy with white pellicles on the surface, while roppiness and off- studies to optimize the process and determine acceptability of the
odours were recorded from the ninth day in the test beer. The control product in the market. It would also be advantageous to identify the
beer had a settling of 5% while the beer without the second malt types and load of bacteria in raw materials and that remaining in the
conversion had a settling of 2%. Settling increased from the seventh wort after pasteurisation, so as to effect targeted preservation
day in all samples. measures. A comprehensive HACCP system for Chibuku needs to be
Head retention and creaminess (foaming ability) values were established so as to ensure quality control and improve storage life.
lower in the test beer and decreased as the beer matured. This may be This is the first report on the effect of removing second conversion
due to loss of dipeptides and other proteins that are responsible for malt in the brewing of Chibuku; hence extensive research is still
foam stabilization (O'Rourke, 2002). Protein in beer may be pre- needed in the optimization of the process including the storage
cipitated to give a whitish curd-like suspension (pellicles). This is conditions that favour extended shelf-life and effective pasteurisation.
probably due to denaturation of proteins as they reach their isoelectric
points during the drop in pH caused by lactic acid as the beer matures Acknowledgements
(Bhat and Vaitheeswaran, 1998).
The authors would like to thank Dr T. H. Gadaga for the
3.4. Sensory evaluation of Chibuku constructive discussion they had during the drafting of this work.
They also appreciate the support from technical staff in Delta
The control beer and the test beer were described as resembling Beverages, Technical Department, in particular Central and Quality
the original Chibuku brand with good taste and no off-odours. The Control Laboratories for their cooperation and allowing this research
products were acceptable according to the rating by the panel of to be carried out at their premises using their facilities.
tasters based on the parameters evaluated (Table 2). No unacceptable
sourness, odour or bite was recorded to warrant rejection of the new, References
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