amylase enzyme... A.k.a... beano

[MacBruver]

There is no enzyme activity after the mash is done. All of the conversion from starch to sugar happens during the mash. If you don't convert it all, you'll be left with starches.

During fermentation, the conversion is from sugars to alcohols and CO2, which is done by the yeast of course

 

[Bopper]

There is no enzyme activity after the mash is done. All of the conversion from starch to sugar happens during the mash. If you don't convert it all, you'll be left with starches.

During fermentation, the conversion is from sugars to alcohols and CO2, which is done by the yeast of course

This I understand.

Let me give an example to help clarify my question (I just read my original question and I don't think I was being clear): This weekend I mashed in too hot due to a faulty thermometer. The mash settled at about 165 degrees and stayed there for around 5 -10 minutes before I noticed and added cold water to bring the temp of the mash down. I expect that during this 5-10 minute time period I denatured some enzymes and, therefore, I am expecting that I have excess unconverted starch. I will not know how much starch until I check my FG. On the other hand, it could be just fine.

If I do infact have a high FG due to the bad conversion, I thought I read that I could add some amylase enzymes to the fermenter to help convert some of that excess starch to sugar for the yeast to consume. This doesn't make sense to me because I thought amylase enzymes need heat to convert starch to sugar. Is there something done chemically to the enzymes you buy at a LHBS to allow them to convert starch at fermenting temperatures? Am I just confused?

Thanks for the help!

 

[MacBruver]

Oh, duh. That makes more sense. The simple answer that is that Beano isn't amylase... it's actually alpha glactoidase, which is most active at 98F but will work below that.

That's the problem with it though. Since it's active at room temperature, if you put it in your beer... it will keep going until all the sugars are gone. You can stop it by basically pasteurizing the beer... check out the other link I posted above for some more info on that.

 

[Bopper]

Oh, duh. That makes more sense. The simple answer that is that Beano isn't amylase... it's actually alpha glactoidase, which is most active at 98F but will work below that.

That's the problem with it though. Since it's active at room temperature, if you put it in your beer... it will keep going until all the sugars are gone. You can stop it by basically pasteurizing the beer... check out the other link I posted above for some more info on that.

This is the reason why I don't want to use Beano. Although, I could use it then add camden/k-meta to stabilize when my gravity gets to where I want it.

The amylase enzyme I was referring to is this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=447 It's actually amylase and not alpha glactoidase. How does this stuff work at room temp? I thought it requried heat. Am I wrong?

Is the mash temperature needed to break down starch chains to something that the amylase can process as opposed to the temperature activating the amylase? Maybe the amylase is active the whole time and my reasoning was false. If this is the case, the starch chains should already be broken down and adding more amalyze enzymes should convert the excess starch to sugar.

 

[david_42]

Amylase enzyme works best in the mash, but if it didn't work at lower temperatures, you'd be dead. Or maybe just thinner. It's the primary enzyme your body uses to breakdown starches. It works at fermentation temperatures, fast enough to be useful.

The key mash temperature is 149F for full gelatinization of barley starches. If we were willing to mash for 48 hours, we could do it at room temperature. And get sour beer every time.

The starches are ready and waiting.

 

[Bopper]

Cool. Thanks for the explanation!! Makes sense to me now.

 

[bkov]

ive read reports of AE added to secondary and it lowering the gravity

 

[Schlenkerla]

ive read reports of AE added to secondary and it lowering the gravity

This is true, I does it in the secondary at room temperature. It can drop the FG from 1.008 down to 1.000 or lower. I don't know how high you can start it out but if you have a bad conversion give it a try. Its better than dumping it out...

BTW - I have never used beano, I have always used brewing grade AE.

I have done so about 6-7 times and each beer has been dry, very clean and crisp. I did this almost all of last summer. It got to the point that other beers seem to have too much mouth feel. This seemed to be the case when I had a Belgian ale sitting out in the hot sun. As I stopped brewing the light beers, I got back into liking malty again.

 

[android]

i was doing the same thing as schlenkerla. i never got one below like 1.003 and that was with a low mash temp. in my experience, the AE won't eat ALL the sugars, it'll leave a few behind so you have a relatively normal gravity.

 

[DPDISXR4Ti]

The amylase enzyme I was referring to is this: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=447

Is this the same stuff as this?
http://www.eckraus.com/Page_1/ENZ210.html#

Kraus charges a lot more but suggests a smaller dosage

 

[Schlenkerla]

Thats probably close enough. It for wine and brewing. Go with it!

 

[StMarcos]

This is true, I does it in the secondary at room temperature. It can drop the FG from 1.008 down to 1.000 or lower. I don't know how high you can start it out but if you have a bad conversion give it a try. Its better than dumping it out...

BTW - I have never used beano, I have always used brewing grade AE.

I have done so about 6-7 times and each beer has been dry, very clean and crisp. I did this almost all of last summer. It got to the point that other beers seem to have too much mouth feel. This seemed to be the case when I had a Belgian ale sitting out in the hot sun. As I stopped brewing the light beers, I got back into liking malty again.

Quite true. If you ferment a mash without boiling it, it will generally drop below 0. Which is quite a good thing if you're a malt distillery. But I'm not sure it is the alpha galactosidase (AG) doing the work - prob a and b amylase that were not deactivated during the mash. And something to do with limit dextrinase too maybe?