Abstract
Electroanalysis is applied to study reactions that involves oxidations and reductions. Currently, there are different studies that report electroanalysis used to determine food quality, classification, and evaluation of different types of contaminants or adulterants as well as to quantify different nutrients and functional compounds of interest; however, there are few applications of these techniques for the evaluation of productive processes over time. Mead is one of the oldest and most traditional alcoholic beverages and its production is regulated according to the initial must (water content, honey and other raw materials) and final product physicochemical characteristics. Normally alcoholic honey must fermentation is usually monitored by using traditional techniques such as pH, acidity, Brix, density, and others such as liquid and gas chromatography, Proton Transfer Reaction – Mass Spectrometry as well as electronic nose and tongue. There are different studies related to mead fermentation that report yeast selection, effect of nitrogen sources, immobilization, addition of different flavour enhancers such as spices and fruits, among others. In this work some of traditional techniques and electroanalysis were applied to evaluate mead fermentation process during time for mead production at 25°C for 30 days. It was found that it is possible to follow during time alcoholic fermentation by using commercial sensors and techniques such as cyclic and square wave voltammetry, because there is a relationship to sugars consumption during fermentation, as well as to organic acids generation, converting electroanalysis in a useful tool to evaluate fermentative processes.
