Clarity Ferm in Commercial Brewing

[Owly055]

I visited with my friend who runs his own microbrewery last evening, and we touched on a number of good topics. Probably the most interesting to me other than his issues with managing ferementers, inventory, and his supply lines was his use of Clarex .... also known as clarity ferm.
The main reason for using
Clarex was to reduce gluten content. He was under the impression that it broke gluten down into simple sugars........ which clearly is NOT the case. It does however break down gluten to the extent of enabling a normal beer to legally be classified as gluten free ( less than 20 PPM).

The product is beginning to be used in commercial brewing as it greatly reduces clarification time. It is not technically a "fining" like gelatin or whirlfloc, etc. It actually breaks down the proteins down that cause haze.

Interestingly it is derived from some of the components of black mold of all things!! How do they discover these things?

I've been reading the threads on this, and definitely will try it......... sounds like a good product.


H.W.

 

[ColoHox]

Molecular biology and proteomics. The enzyme is just a protease (read protein cutter), which are pretty ubiquitous and easy to isolate and purify.

It would take an hour of reading to understand the action of this enzyme. I am really surprised that this brewer was so ill-informed. Also, to legally be labelled as gluten free, a product must not be made from ingredients containing gluten, per the FDA. So while the enzyme certainly reduces the gluten content of beer, it does not actually legally qualify as "gluten-free."

That said, I have used the enzyme quite a bit, and between split batches to compare profiles. It definitely works well and I couldn't distinguish a difference in flavor, but could slightly in body between beers.

 

[Owly055]

Molecular biology and proteomics. The enzyme is just a protease (read protein cutter), which are pretty ubiquitous and easy to isolate and purify.

It would take an hour of reading to understand the action of this enzyme. I am really surprised that this brewer was so ill-informed. Also, to legally be labelled as gluten free, a product must not be made from ingredients containing gluten, per the FDA. So while the enzyme certainly reduces the gluten content of beer, it does not actually legally qualify as "gluten-free."

That said, I have used the enzyme quite a bit, and between split batches to compare profiles. It definitely works well and I couldn't distinguish a difference in flavor, but could slightly in body between beers.

According to the manufacturer of this product, to be labeled "gluten free", the standard is less than 20 PPM, a level that this product can achieve. This brewer is NOT labeling these beers as "gluten free".


H.W.

 

[vNmd]

I use it in my lagers & ales. On the batches I enter competitions, they always comment on how clear they are. I don't know what gluten is but for clearing my beer - I luv it.

 

[FarmerTed]

Clarity Ferm makes beers that are gluten reduced, not gluten free. It also breaks down proteins to smaller peptide chains (not sugars) by cleaving peptide bonds to proline residues. The gluten proteins are high on proline, for whatever reason.