Effect of dilution and de-acidification on physico-chemical and sensory quality of seabuckthorn wine

Amongst different products that can be prepared from seabuckthorn, wine is one which is difficult to prepare due to high acidity of the pulp. So, efforts were made to prepare seabuckthorn wine by diluting the pulp with water in the ratios of 1:5, 1:6, 1:7 and 1:8 in one set and de-acidification of pulp with sodium bicarbonate at different concentrations (0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2%) in the second to reduce the acidity. The pulp was ameliorated with sugar (24° B), 100 ppm SO₂ and 0.5% pectinase enzyme and with or without DAHP (0.1%) and fermented with pure wine yeast culture Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. ellipsoideus (5% v/v) at 22±1°C. Seabuckthorn must prepared by dilution had better fermentation behaviour than that prepared by NaHCO₃. Addition of DAHP in general, enhanced both the rate of fermentation as well as ethanol content. Highest rate of fermentation (RF=0.80) was recorded in 1:5 dilution with 0.1% DAHP. After fermentation, wines prepared by diluting the pulp had the ethanol content of 9.3 to 13.18% v/v while that by NaHCO₃ ranged between 8.06 to 10.2% (v/v). The highest alcohol content was recorded in must made with 1:6 dilution with 0.1% DAHP followed by 1:5 dilution with 0.1% DAHP. The wines prepared with DAHP @ 0.1% had higher ethanol content than those without DAHP. Among the physico-chemical characteristics, TSS ranged between 6.8 to 10.2°B, whereas titratable acidity (as % citric acid) ranged between 0.96 to 2.48 depending on the level of dilution employed or de-acidification carried out by the use of NaHCO₃. The total sugars in different wines ranged from 1.5 to 3.35 per cent while ascorbic acid content was recorded between 400 to 800 mg/100 ml. Sensory quality of the wine prepared from seabuckthorn pulp by diluting (1:5) with 0.1% DAHP and alcohol content of 11.6% v/v was adjudged the best on the basis of characteristics like colour, aroma, body and overall acceptability.