Predominant yeasts of two cachaça distilleries were isolated in the cities of Betim and Rio Manso, in the State of Minas Gerais and characterized using WLN agar, according to colony morphology, after 8 days of imcubation at 32ºC. The sample from Rio Manso presented 4 dominant yeasts with concentrations between 2.0 x 10(7) and 4.0 x 10(5) CFU/mL. At Betim distillery, three dominant yeasts were isolated with cell density between 1.3 x 10(8) and 2.0 x 10(4) CFU/mL. The values of the maximum specific velocity for growth (µmax) and the conversion factor for substrate into cells (Yx/s) were determined for two isolates. The μmax values were 0.24 and 0.4 h-1, being RM01 strain the one with the highest value. Regarding to Yx/s, the results obtained by strains RM01 and CV01 were 0.179 and 0.185 g.g-1, respectively. Resemblances of results were observed between strains RM01 and CV01. It was concluded that, as far as μmax and Yx/s are concerned, the best strain to produce cachaça is RM01.
Cachaça; yeast; cell yield; growth velocity
