Determination of Brew Fermentation Rate Using Tithonia diversifolia Catalyst
Hellen Chebet *
Department of Biochemistry, College of Health Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O.Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
Johnson Kinyua
Department of Biochemistry, College of Health Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O.Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
Patrick Kareru
Department of Chemistry, College of Pure and Applied Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O.Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
Njiema Gitaari
Department of Chemistry, College of Pure and Applied Sciences, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P.O.Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The consumption of alcoholic drinks have highly risen recently to a situation whereby there is a deficit in the stores, this is due to the higher demand compared to supply. Due to the high prices of most of the industrialized brews, consumers have opted for locally brewed drinks. Although locally manufactured brews are not recognized and certified by law, most are of good quality and with low cost of production. The use of Tithonia diversifolia can be employed to aid in improvement of the rate of production of local and industrialized brews. The main aim of this project was to improve the rate of fermentation of alcoholic beverage using both Tithonia diversifolia leaves extracts and iron II nanoparticles derived from it. It was observed that the plant catalyst reduced the time taken to produce alcohol. Alcohol fermentation rate in presence of yeast and with a tithonia extract as catalyst was measured, Rates of alcohol production was measured by UV VIS at intervals of one hour and deduced from a calibration curve. From the data, the alcohol content was higher in the sample catalyzed by the complexed extract and the one containing extracts as the catalyst as compared to the one without a catalyst. The percentage ethanol was able to be detected by finding absorbances (beer lambert law A = e l c.).
Keywords: Tithonia diversifolia, brew fermentation, iron II nanoparticles