Abstract
Baiyunbian baijiu, the most popular miscellaneous-flavor baijiu in China, has been widely consumed for decades. Similar to many Chinese baijiu, Baiyunbian baijiu is fermented in five successive batches every year. Sensory analysis demonstrated that the raw baijiu obtained from the last two fermentation batches always has better quality than that produced from the former three batches. In this study, the microbial compositions of fungi and bacteria in each fermentation batch were investigated via high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that Bacillus, Virgibacillus, and Lactobacillus dominated the bacterial community in the last two batches, and the most prevalent fungi were Paecilomyces, Saccharomyces, and Zygosaccharomyces. In contrast, large percentages of fungi belonging to Thermomyces, Thermoascus, Monascus, and Issatchenkia and prokaryotes belonging to Acetobacter, Lactobacillus, and Thermoactinomyces were observed in the former three fermentation batches. GC-MS analysis revealed that the fermented grains sampled from the latter two batches contained high concentrations of ethyl lactate, 2,3-butanediol and ethyl caproate, which were mainly generated by co-fermentation of Lactobacillus and yeast. The high acidity of the fermented grains in the fourth and fifth fermentation batches as well as the large contents of ethanol and moisture promoted the formation of the functional microbial community. This study provides insight into factors that influenced the baijiu fermentation and is helpful for developing new fermentation techniques with higher baijiu quality.
Highlights
In human history, many foods are processed and preserved by spontaneous fermentation
Regardless if it is an expensive brand or homemade brewage, is mainly fermented by Multiple Fermentation Formed Microbiota traditional methods; no microorganisms are intentionally inoculated into the fermentation process (Li et al, 2011)
Chinese baijiu is traditionally divided into five categories, including soy sauce, light, strong, sweet honey and miscellaneous (Xiu et al, 2012)
Summary
Many foods are processed and preserved by spontaneous fermentation. Microbial communities in five successive Baiyunbian baijiu fermentation batches were characterized by high-throughput sequencing. The chemical properties and volatile profiles (temperature, acidity, moisture, ethanol, reducing sugar, and starch content) of the fermented grains were detected to understand the correlation between the microorganism succession and the dynamics of fermentation factors.
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