Evaluation of the Effect of Different Yeast Strains on the Quality of Blackberry Grape Wine (Syzygium cumini L. Skeels)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different yeast strains (Lalvin 71B-112, Red Star Premier Cuvee, Red Star Montrachet) on the quality of blackberry grape wines. Blackberry grape ( Syzygium cumini L. Skeels), as it is known in the Atlantic coast, grows with great abundance and on a wild basis in gardens, streets and avenues, but it is rarely used by this region’s inhabitants. In the fermentation process, yeast strains were inoculated within three fermentation musts with the same physicochemical characteristics, cleared up with Bentonite (USP grade) and different parameters such as pH, alcohol levels, color, residual sulfur, appearance and sensory analysis were evaluated; then, the results were subjected to a statistical analysis with “Statgraphics1” and “Excel” to identify if there were significant differences amongst wine samples from the blackberry grapes. The results showed that the grape wine with the best characteristics was the one fermented with the Red Star yeast, which displayed superior quality with respect to the others. In the color evaluation, the % of red saw a decrease. The alcohol production that was obtained was influenced by the initial pH resulting in a characteristic degree of alcohol for this type of alcoholic beverage. It was determined that the optimum dose for the process of clearing in blackberry grape wine is 0.9 g/L of albumin since it complies with all the parameters established in the standard.