YEAST ESTERASES AND AROMA ESTERS IN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Abstract

It has been shown that the proportion of fatty acid ethyl esters retained by the yeast cell increases with increasing acyl chain length as the ester becomes more lipid soluble. The distribution of esters depends on the yeast strain and on the fermentation temperature; larger amounts of esters were found to transfer from the cells into the medium at higher temperature. It was shown that esterase activity is located both inside and outside the yeast cell plasma membrane. Intact yeast was capable of hydrolysing the ethyl esters of caproic, caprylic and capric acid. Acetate esters, were hydrolysed only very slowly or not at all. The hydrolytic activity of baker's yeast was studied with ethyl caprylate as substrate. The hydrolysis was very fast at the beginning. The equilibrium attained depended not only on the concentration of ester and alcohol but also on the pH, a higher amount of ester remaining in solutions of lower pH. It was also shown that the esterases possess appreciable ester synthesizing ability and an equilibrium was attained by incubating yeast with caprylic acid and ethanol. The experiments described show that the ester level in an alcoholic beverage, such as beer, is not dependent solely on the ester concentration formed during fermentation: in the presence of yeast the level can be shifted in either direction by changing temperature, pH or alcohol concentration — or the amount and type of yeast.