A number of factors can influence the behavior of yeast during fermentation. Some of these factors (initial wort concentration, initial pH and percentage of corn syrup in the composition of the wort) were studied in order to determine their influence on the productivity of fermentation. Fermentations were carried out at 25ºC utilizing a 2³ factorial design of these factors. The results showed that the percentage of corn syrup had no influence on process productivity, whereas initial pH and especially initial wort concentration did. It can be concluded that using pH and initial wort concentration values higher than those utilized in this work (5.5 and 20ºP, respectively) will result in a higher productivity.
factorial design; fermentation; high-gravity process
