Abstract:In order to develop a litchi craft beer, the effects of original gravity, level of litchi pulp addition and hop addition on the fermentation characteristics and sensory score of litchi beer were investigated. The brewing conditions were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) with a Box-Behnken design. The results showed that the degree of fermentation, alcohol content, form-stability, bitterness of litchi beer were significantly affected by original gravity and level of litchi pulp addition (p<0.05); the form-stability and bitterness of litchi beer were significantly affected by level of hop addition (p<0.05). The optimum fermentation conditions to obtain desirable sensory score ≥78.00 were found at the original gravity of 9~11 oP, litchi pulp addition of 11~15% (V/V), hop addition of 0.39~0.44 g/L. The average sensory score (78.10) from the verification experiments at original gravity of 10 oP, litchi juice addition of 15% V/V, and hop addition of 0.40 g/L were in good agreement with the predicted value. The results suggested that adding litchi to traditional brewing process could increase style of beers and improve the sensory characteristics of beers.
