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EP-4740744-A1 - METHOD FOR PRODUCING FERMENTED MALT LIQUID

EP4740744A1EP 4740744 A1EP4740744 A1EP 4740744A1EP-4740744-A1

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for producing a malt-fermented liquid having a low ethanol concentration and sufficiently few unpleasant odors derived from the wort, and a malt-fermented beverage obtained from the malt-fermented liquid obtained by the production method. The present invention provides a method for producing a malt-fermented liquid, comprising inoculating a fermentation raw material liquid containing a malt-derived saccharification product with a yeast and fermenting it to prepare a malt-fermented liquid, wherein the yeast is a RAG - phenotype Kluyveromyces lactis, and an ethanol concentration of the malt-fermented liquid is less than 0.05 v/v% per 5.0 mass% Brix; and a method for producing a malt-fermented beverage, comprising producing a malt-fermented liquid by the method for producing a malt-fermented liquid, followed by producing a malt-fermented beverage using the obtained malt-fermented liquid as a raw material.

Inventors

  • MAEDA, SATOSHI
  • MIYOSHI, Miho
  • IKEDA, YUKA
  • TAKAHASHI, TOMOKO
  • SASHIHARA, Koichi
  • KUSUNOKI, KEIZO
  • CONG, Jiaheng
  • KANDA, TOMOMASA

Assignees

  • Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240628

Claims (16)

  1. A method for producing a malt-fermented liquid, comprising inoculating a fermentation raw material liquid containing a malt-derived saccharification product with a yeast and fermenting it to prepare a malt-fermented liquid, wherein the yeast is a RAG - phenotype Kluyveromyces lactis ; and an ethanol concentration of the malt-fermented liquid is less than 0.05 v/v% per 5.0 mass% Brix.
  2. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein a methional concentration of the malt-fermented liquid is 3.0 ppb or less per 5.0 mass% Brix.
  3. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein the methional concentration of the malt-fermented liquid is 15 mass% or less of the methional concentration of the fermentation raw material liquid.
  4. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein a concentration of the yeast in the malt-fermented liquid at the end of the fermentation is 3.0 × 10 6 cells/mL or more.
  5. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein a concentration of the yeast of the malt-fermented liquid at the start of the fermentation is 2.0 × 10 4 cells/mL or more.
  6. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is carried out under oxygen-supply conditions, and the oxygen-supply conditions are conditions in which a time required to increase the dissolved oxygen concentration of pure water from 6.0 ppm to 8.0 ppm at 18°C and atmospheric pressure is more than 0 hours and not more than 5 hours.
  7. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is carried out under conditions in which no oxygen is supplied.
  8. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is carried out at a temperature of 1°C or higher.
  9. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is carried out for 4 hours or more.
  10. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to claim 1, wherein the fermentation is carried out for 24 hours or more.
  11. A method for producing a malt-fermented beverage, comprising producing a malt-fermented liquid by the method for producing a malt-fermented liquid according to any one of claims 1 to 10, followed by producing a malt-fermented beverage using the obtained malt-fermented liquid as a raw material.
  12. The method for producing a malt-fermented beverage according to claim 11, further comprising diluting the malt-fermented liquid.
  13. The method for producing a malt-fermented beverage according to claim 11, wherein a malt-fermented beverage with an original wort extract content of 3 to 7 mass% is produced.
  14. The method for producing a malt-fermented beverage according to claim 11, wherein the malt-fermented beverage is a beer-like sparkling beverage.
  15. A malt-fermented beverage having an ethanol concentration of less than 0.05 v/v% per 5.0 mass% Brix and a methional concentration of 3.0 ppb or less per 5.0 mass% Brix.
  16. The malt-fermented beverage according to claim 15, which is a beer-like sparkling beverage.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method for producing a fermentation broth using a malt-derived saccharification product as a fermentation raw material, which has a low ethanol concentration and reduced wort odors, and a method for producing a beverage containing the fermentation broth produced by the production method as a raw material. This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-109981, filed on July 4, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND ART In recent years, a wide variety of alcoholic beverages have been launched on the market in response to the diversification of consumer preferences. For example, there is an increasing demand for alcoholic beverages with a relatively low alcohol content, which are easier to drink. On the other hand, in the case of fermented alcoholic beverages, in addition to ethanol, various aroma components are produced by yeast during the fermentation, which contribute to the flavor of the beverage. In fermented alcoholic beverages, various aroma components produced during fermentation depend on the type of yeast used in fermentation. For example, the yeast most widely used in brewing beer and wine is Saccharomyces, but in recent years, yeasts other than Saccharomyces have been used to produce beers with flavors different from those of conventional beers. For example, a method for producing beer with a high content of isoamyl acetate (IAAT) and ethyl acetate by fermenting wort under aerobic conditions using yeast of the genus Pichia such as Pichia kluyveri is known (Patent Document 1). In addition, a method for producing a fermented beverage with an alcohol concentration of less than 1% by volume is known by inoculating a mixture of wort and whey with Kluyveromyces lactis and Kluyveromyces flagilis and fermenting the mixture (Patent Document 2). Furthermore, for the production of low-alcohol beer, Saccharomycodes ludwigii, which has low ethanol productivity, has been used as a yeast for producing non-alcoholic beer (Non-Patent Document 1). On the other hand, several yeast mutants with low ethanol production have been reported. For example, it has been reported that mutant strains of Kluyveromyces lactis with a phenotype that cannot grow when respiration is inhibited (RAG- phenotype) produce less ethanol on YPD medium than wild-type strains (Non-Patent Document 2). It has also been reported that mutant strains with RAG- phenotype can be selected by subjecting wild-type strains of Kluyveromyces lactis to mutation treatment and using poor growth in a medium containing antimycin A, a respiration inhibitor, as an indicator (Non-Patent Document 3). Citation List Patent Documents Patent Document 1: PCT International Publication No. 2014/202564Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 60-094077 Non-Patent Documents Non-Patent Document 1: Bellut, et al., Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, 2019, DOI: 10.1080/03610470.2019.1569452Non-Patent Document 2: Wesolowski-Louvel, et al., Molecular and General Genetics, 1992, vol. 233(1-2), p. 89-96.Non-Patent Document 3: Wesolowski-Louvel, et al., Yeast, 1992, vol. 8, p. 711-719. SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem In the production of fermented alcoholic beverages, suppressing the degree of fermentation in order to keep the ethanol concentration low may result in a decrease in the content of aroma components or in poor fermentation, leaving unpleasant odors derived from the wort. The present invention aims to provide a method for producing a malt-fermented liquid having a low ethanol concentration and reduced wort odors remaining due to poor fermentation, a method for producing a malt-fermented beverage using the malt-fermented liquid produced by said production method, and a malt-fermented beverage produced by said production method. Solution to Problem As a result of intensive research aimed at solving the above problems, the present inventors have found that by fermenting a fermentation raw material liquid containing a malt-derived saccharification product using a RAG- phenotype Kluyveromyces lactis, fermentation can be carried out sufficiently while ethanol production is greatly suppressed, making it possible to produce a malt-fermented liquid with a sufficiently low ethanol concentration and reduced unpleasant odors derived from the wort, and thus completed the present invention. The method for producing a malt-fermented liquid, the method for producing a malt-fermented beverage, and the malt-fermented beverage according to the present invention are as follows. [1] A method for producing a malt-fermented liquid, comprising inoculating a fermentation raw material liquid containing a malt-derived saccharification product with a yeast and fermenting it to prepare a malt-fermented liquid, whereinthe yeast is a RAG- phenotype Kluyveromyces lactis, andan ethanol concentration of the malt-fermented li