Malomo, O. and Popoola, Oyekemi. (2017). Evaluation of the efficiency of a designed and fabricated micro- fermenter for the production of banana wine. International Journal of Research in Engineering and Advanced Technology. 5 (4). August-September, 2017.
ABSTRACT
A microfermenter (prototype) was designed and fabricated to check on the possibility of a closed system for the production of wine from banana (Musa acuminata). Banana juice (must) was innoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from wild fermented banana and fermentation allowed to take place for 9 days at controlled temperature of between 2-6oC. Physico-chemical parameters and yeast population were monitored throughout the course of fermentation. These parameters were; Colour, Yeast behaviour, Specific Gravity, Total Soluble Solids (0Brix), pH, Titratable Acidity and Alcohol content. During must fermentation, the Specific Gravity, Total Soluble Solids and pH all decreased from 1.057 to 1.013, 14 to 3 Brix and 4.90 to 4.00 respectively, while the Titratable Acidity and Alcohol content increased from 0.094 to 0.773% and 0.00 to 6% respectively. The fermentation commenced with a gravity of 140Brix with a yeast population of 6 million per ml and terminated with a gravity of 30 Brix and a yeast population of 8.7 million per ml to prevent yeast autolysis. The physico-chemical, microbiological and organoleptic properties of the banana wine (BWI) produced was compared with three (3) commercial wines made from grape. The commercial wines were “Vino de Italia Wine” (VIW), “Ocean Beach California” (OBC) and “Castilo de Espana” (CDE). Significant differences (p0.05) were observed in all samples of wine for physicochemical parameters, but no significant difference (p0.05) between the Specific Gravity of OBC and CDE. VIW had a Total Bacteria Count of 4×101CFU/ml while BWI and CDE had the same Total Bacteria Count of 3×101CFU/ml. VIW had a Total Fungi Count of 5×101CFU/ml, while BWI had a Total Fungi Count of 1×101CFU/ml. OBC had no Bacteria and Fungi. During organoleptic evaluation, significant differences (p0.05) were observed in the colour and clarity of BWI and the colour of the three (3) commercial wines. There was no significant difference between the taste of BWI and CDE and no significant difference between the flavour of VIW and BWI. The overall acceptability of VIW (8.47) was the highest, followed by BWI (8.20), CDE (6.80) and OBC (6.53). The fermentation yield of BWI was 495.5kg/tonne with fermentation efficiency of 77%. Banana wine was successfully produced using the microfermenter (closed system) under hygienic condition.
KEY WORDS: Microfermenter, fermentation efficiency, Brix, Titrable acidity, Fungal yeast count and Bacterial count and Alcohol,