Causes of Excessive High Ethyl Lactate Content in Luzhou-flavor Daqu Liquor and Its Solutions

The excessive high ethyl lactate content in Luzhou-flavor Daqu base liquor was a common problem. Ethyl lactate was mainly brought from starter and lactic acid bateria in pits. Then the rapid growth and proliferation of lactic acid bacteria under proper conditions could produce lactic acid through metabolism and further developed into large amount of ethyl lactate by enzyme actions, which finally caused the unbalance of caproic acid and lactic acid. The solutions to decreasing ethyl lactate content included the followings: improvement of Daqu quality, use of aged Daqu, strengthening pit mud culture, improvement of pit mud quality, use of bio-techs to reduce lactic acid content, and strict management of technical operations etc. (Tran. by YUE Yang)