....mabrungard....Bamforth has written a good article on enzymatic affects on starch. His article is easier for a layman to understand, than the 1982 experiments performed by the IOB. Bamforth's article is in the MBAA 1993. A-amylase is experimented on more so than beta as it is native to starch, beta comes along during malting, along with other enzymes. Bamforth is experimenting with beta glucanase. During his research he has found that certain types of malt are retaining beta glucanase after kilning. I recently began to use Crisp Euro Pils, low modified for decoctions. There is no evidence of beta glucanase surviving kilning. I rested the decoction mash at 122F for 20 minutes, before going to conversion temp. I ran the main mash temp up to 125F using the 1st decoction. Then, I fired the mashtun to hit 135F and rested for 30 minutes allowing proteolytic enzymes break down the jell, converting beta glucan to glucose. It worked well. The malt is tricky to work with. The malt pH with RO is 5.61 after a 30 minute acid/beta glucan rest at 105F. That was the pH of the 1st decoction. I added sauer malz during the main mash protein rest, lowering pH to 5.13, before pulling the 2nd decoction. Evidently, phytase is kilned out, too. My Kingdom for a pallet of Moravian Budvar. Thanks for the article from IOB.
Alpha, basically, turns starch (a polysaccaride) into carbohydrate stew. It liquifies starch. It, also, cuts the long starch chain at certain points. Even though, the optimum temp is around 155F, alpha will work at lower temps, only slower. When alpha cuts the long starch chain, a reducing end and a non reducing end are formed. Beta works on the non reducing end. It chops off two molecules of starch and combines them with one water molecule, forming maltose, a disaccaride. Beta, also, can chop off three starch molecules forming maltriose, a trisaccaride. Maltriose is what lager yeast works on during the lagering phase. There's another thing called amylopectin that goes along with starch and conversion phases. Some sugars that are produced, ale yeast won't ferment. However, they will convert them to non-fermentable sugars. The English infusion method limits a brewer when it comes to taking advantage of enzymatic activity. Methods like programmed or decoction take enzymes through their optimum pH and temps a few times. Those methods take hours to perform. So, how does the brewmaster ensure enzymes are not denatured by temp and time. It's done by controlling mash thickness at certain temps, controlling point of gelatinization, controlling pH suitable for enzymes being utilized during the rests, utilizing enzymes such as maltase, dextrinase, proteinase, beta glucanase, phytase, if they haven't been kilned out and probably by adding some calcium.
Certain malting firms will put on the malt data sheet, beta/alpha ratios, viscosity and conversion time. There is one malster claiming conversion, in a lab, in ten minutes. Most malsters claim 20 to 30 minutes depending on the testing method used.
Regarding FWH. It was never indended for use in wort bittering and pellet hops were never intended to be used. The brewer that had problems with pellet hops creating boil over, probably tossed them in loose, when he/she normally bags them up and tosses in the bag or hangs it off the bottom of the boiler after hot break. A very small portion of the bittering leaf hops are added to the boiler as soon as the wort covers the bottom. The hops reduce the surface tension of the wort. The method has been around a few hundred years. I use .25 oz. leaf in a 22 gallon boil, that has 6 to 8 ounces of leaf dumped into the boiler for bittering a Pils. A couple of ounces of crushed black malt will do the same thing. If you saw no reduction in hot break, one or two things happened. It wasn't done correctly or the brewing process needs to be cleaned up, as too much gunk is being carried over.
Over night mashing. Premashing is usually done with cold water or warm water when the brewmaster was certain of the time it would take for lacto to be active in reducing pH. The longer that mash stays gelatinized, the longer it takes to convert. Starch begins to gelatinize around 149F. The reason that a rest somewhere between 140 and 145F is used with the program or decoction method, is so that enzyme activity isn't hampered by gelatinization. Then, a rest is usually performed at 149F for 20 to 40 minutes, enzymatic activity is slower due to gelatinization, allowing a and b limit dextrins to be formed and reduced before denaturing of beta occurs. Then, another rest at 155F, held for 10 minutes (alpha II enzyme rest). Then, a rest at 160F, held for 10 minutes (alpha I enzyme rest).
. So the way to do that is to crush the hell out of that grain.
