Does Beta Amylase Break Down Lactose?

Jewrican · Oct 13, 2009

I have a stout that was too sweet and so i threw beta amylase in there. Since it was too sweet, i did not add the lactose, but really would love to have it for the mouthfeel. The stout is finally not nearly as sweet as it used to be and I was wondering if I added the lactose, would the beat amylase break it down?

Would it remove the sweetness? how about the mouthfeel?

Thanks for any help.

remilard · Oct 13, 2009

No, lactose lacks the type of bond that beta amylase is active on.

Jewrican · Oct 13, 2009

cool!

i will take a gravity reading of the way it is currently to get an idea and then add some. Because it finished high, i most likely wont add all the recipe stated to add, but i will certainly add some.

Thanks!

david_42 · Oct 13, 2009

Lactase cleaves the lactose molecule into its two subunits, the simple sugars glucose and galactose.

You might consider adding maltodextrin to improve the mouthfeel. It's about half as sweet as lactose.

hexmonkey · Oct 13, 2009

Talking apples and oranges here. Lactose is a sugar, which is to say it's the output of that reaction, not the input.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amylase

An amylase is an enzyme that breaks starch down into sugar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose

Lactose (also referred to as milk sugar) is a sugar that is found most notably in milk.

remilard · Oct 13, 2009

Lactose is not the product of beta amylase mediated hydrolysis, maltose is.

hexmonkey · Oct 13, 2009

remilard said:
Lactose is not the product of beta amylase mediated hydrolysis, maltose is.

Sorry for that, I didn't actually read what I wrote.

What I meant to write was, sugar (however not specifically lactose) is the output of an amylase reaction, not the input...

Clayton · Oct 13, 2009

wheres that research cat when you need him

hexmonkey · Oct 14, 2009

Heh, research cat might wanna actually read what I wrote. It was my summary that was inaccurate, not the research.

Does Beta Amylase Break Down Lactose?

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