Stainless steel distillery
stainless steel distillery to the country's small-scale liquor
producing industry.
Brazilian stainless steel maker Acesita has introduced the first stainless steel distillery to the country's small-scale liquor producing industry, company spokesperson Jose Antonio Bicalho said.
"The big advantage of stainless steel in comparison to distilleries made of wood and plastic is cleanliness, guaranteeing a better asepsis, and the reduction of contamination from microorganisms since non-oxidizing steel does not corrode," he said.
Belo Horizonte, Mina Gerais-based Acesita introduced the new product in association with local distillery makers last weekend at the Brazilian fair of producers of 'cachaca' - a distilled liquor derived from sugar cane that is the main ingredient in the popular lime and sugar drink capirinha.
Bicalhao said the company has no sales estimate for the product but said there is a large market for cachaca equipment just in the southeast state of Minas Gerais, which is home to around 8,500 cachaca producers with annual output of 270 million litres of the potent spirit. Brazil's liquor producers, which are increasing exports of their products, also need better equipment to insure quality control.
"Stainless steel is common in the food and hospital industries but not so much in the liquor industry since many cachaca makers are small-scale artisan producers that use wood, plastic or even bricks and cement in the distilling process," he said.
Bicalho said the product will be sold at a competitive price of around 15,000 reais (€5,400) for a small-scale distillery - less than half the price of a distillery made of regular carbon steel. Although a tonne of stainless steel is more expensive than other steels, the Acesita spokesperson explained that its distillery is cheaper since stainless steel plates are much thinner due to the alloys they incorporate.
"The good thing about steel is how you can manipulate it, but the effect that stainless steel will have on the taste of cachaca remains to be seen," said Dominque Daman, a bio-hyrdometallurgical researcher at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, and a cachaca connoisseur.
Acesita, part of the Luxembourg-based Arcelor steel group, is South America's largest producer of stainless steel.
