ANALYSIS OF SAKE MASH USING MULTICHANNEL TASTE SENSOR

The titrable acidity of and the ethanol concentration in sake mash wer e measured using a multichannel taste sensor system. A positively char ged membrane responded to ethanol and the electric response of the mem brane showed good agreement with those determined by gas chromatograph y in the measurement of sake mash. It was considered that the response s were induced by a change in the activity coefficient of anions. The titrable acidity of sake mash was measured using an electrode with a n egatively charged membrane, because the electric response of the membr ane showed a strong correlation with the titrable acidity of sake, The result showed good agreement with the value determind by titration, a nd the agreement was slightly increased by multiple regression togethe r with the electric response of the positively charged membrane. There fore, it is concluded that this method is useful for determination of the ethanol concentration in and the titrable acidity of sake mash. Th e results show that the taste sensor can be used for monitoring of tho se values in sake fermentation.