In-line conductivity measurement to select the best distillation technique for improving the quality of apricot brandies

• DOI: 10.1007/s00217-021-03766-2
• Publication Date: 2021-05-06T13:03:27Z
• Authors: Andreas Liebminger; Christian Philipp; Sezer Sari; Markus Holstein; Volker Dietrich; Manfred Goessinger
• Keywords: 0404 agricultural biotechnology; 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences

During column distillation of fruit brandies, reflux rates in the column can heavily impact the transition of less volatile congeners into the product contributing either to an unclean taste when too enriched or to a lack of aroma intensity when too depleted. The authors of this study demonstrated that besides the reflux rate other factors need to be taken into consideration, specifically when the fruit contains high levels of carboxylic acids. Using a novel in-line measurement technique for monitoring distillate conductivity, it was shown that the heating ramp of the pot is equally important as it easily impacts the relative volatility of tail congeners enabling them to enter the condenser already at the beginning of the distillation. Tail congeners present in the heart fraction may not only be detrimental for the final product quality by themselves but also shifting the point of tails which make conventional methods for automated tail separation more prone for failure. By means of a statistical approach a new model was proposed how to select the right balance between reflux conditions and heating parameters resulting in an improved product quality of apricot distillates.