Studies regarding the utilization of wood chips on the quality improvement of some natural spirits

Abstract

In a series of papers we have studied some methods of accelerated maturation of raw young fruit distillates in contact with oak wood. Total acidity exhibited a differentiated evolution. For the majority of samples a moderate long-term increase was often noticed, although there were samples for which the total acidity remained the same after 170 days. The alcohol concentration diminished in a differentiated manner. The esters content had the most interesting values, as they reflected the non-linear transformations and chemical reactions that occurred. The dry extract increased in all cases, but too much in the case of defective apple distillate. The defective distillate was successfully improved, while another distillate, with real initial qualities, which presented a superior estimate at the half of the interval (at 93 days), evolved differentiated at the end.