Use of Amazonian species for aging distilled beverages: Physical and chemical wood analysis

Abstract

The process of storing liquor in wooden barrels is a practice that aims to improve the sensory characteristics, such as color, aroma and flavor, of the beverage. The quality of the liquor stored in these barrels depends on wood characteristics such as density, permeability, chemical composition, anatomy, besides the wood heat treatment used to fabricate the barrels. Brazil has a great diversity of forests, mainly in the north, in the Amazon. This region is home to thousands of tree species, but is limited to the use of only a few native species to store liquors. The objective of this study was to determine some of the physical and chemical characteristics for four Amazon wood species. The results obtained in this study will be compared with others from woods that are traditionally used for liquor storage. The species studied were angelim-pedra (Hymenolobium petraeum Ducke) cumarurana (Dipteryx polyphylla (Huber) Ducke), jatobá (Hymenaea courbaril L.) and louro-vermelho (Nectandra rubra (Mez) CK Allen). The trees were collected from Precious Woods Amazon Company forest management area, in Silves, Amazonas. Analyzes such as: concentration of extractives, lignin amount, percentage of minerals (ash) and tannin content, density, elemental analysis (CHNS-O) and thermal analysis were done. It was observed that the chemical composition (lignin, holocellulose) and elemental analysis (percentage of C, H, N and O) of the woods have significant differences. The jatobá wood presented higher tannin content, and in the thermal analysis, was that which had the lowest mass loss. © 2015, Federal University of Lavras. All rights Reserved.