Effect of Different Rice Treatments on Fermentation Characteristics of Baikhaju (a Korean Traditional Alcoholic Beverage)

백하주의 발효 특성에 대한 원료 쌀의 처리 효과

Fermentation characteristics of Baikhaju (a typical Korean traditional alcoholic beverage) were investigated during fermentation with differently treated rice samples, which were steamed rice (SR), plain steamed rice bread (RB), rice porridge (RP) and roasted rice (RR). The RB sample showed an excellent fermentation efficiency with the highest alcohol production (20.84%). The SR and RR samples showed 17.79% and 17.31% of alcohol production, respectively. The RP sample was the lowest alcohol production (11.47%). The pH values of all the beverage samples were similar and were ranged from 3.6 to 3.9. The fermentation periods of RB and RR samples were longer than the SR and RP. The inner temperature and microbial growth in all the beverages increased at each of input steps of the rice and Nuruk (a Korean-style bran koji). Fusel oil content of the SR and RP samples (613.6 ppm) was higher than that of RR (482.7 ppm). The RB sample with the best fermentation efficiency had the lowest fusel oil content (341.8 ppm). The RP sample showed the highest score in sensory evaluation and RB sample showed the lowest. The results on sensory evaluation were contrary to those on the fermentation efficiency.