Saccharification method in craft beer equipment process

Using various hydrolytic enzymes (or external enzyme preparations) contained in malt, under suitable conditions (temperature, pH value, time), the insoluble high molecular substances in malt and malt shaft material are gradually decomposed into soluble low molecular substances, This breakdown process is called saccharification.

The substances dissolved from the malt and malt adjuncts are called extracts. The extract is mainly composed of various fermentable sugars (maltose, maltotriose, glucose), non-fermentable dextrin, protein, gluten and minerals. The content of sugars in wort has increased compared with the original sugars (oat sugar, fructose) of barley. In the wort of 11~12"P, these fermentable sugars account for 61%~65% of the total extract , determines the final degree of fermentation of the wort. The percentage of the ratio of extracts to the amount of feed in the wort is called the leaching rate. During the saccharification process, about 75% to 80% of the raw material content can be leached, and the undissolved residue will be Discharged together with the grains. The purpose of saccharification is to facilitate the action of various enzymes to dissolve insoluble substances, so as to obtain as much dissolved substances as possible, and to make the composition of wort suitable.

Malt saccharification methods can generally be divided into two categories: leaching saccharification and cooking saccharification.

The characteristic of the leaching saccharification method is that the saccharification mash is not boiled from beginning to end, and various substances are leached solely by the action of enzymes, and the wort still retains a certain amount of enzyme activity before boiling.

According to the saccharification process and adding auxiliary materials, it can be divided into single mash leaching method and double mash leaching method. Among them, the single mash leaching method can be divided into two types: constant temperature leaching saccharification method and heating leaching saccharification method.

single mash constant temperature leaching saccharification method

The feeding temperature (namely, the saccharification temperature) is around 65°C, and after saccharification for 1-2 hours, the temperature is raised to a filtration temperature of 78°C for filtration. There is no proteolysis stage here, so it is only suitable for malt with relatively complete proteolysis.

single mash heating leaching saccharification method

Feed at 35~37°C, directly heat up to 50°C for protein decomposition, then slowly heat up to 65°C and 72°C for segmented saccharification, and then heat up to 78°C for filtration. Extraction mashing requires the use of well-dissolved malt and is particularly suitable for golden ale, top-fermented beers. 70% of British beer is top-fermented beer, all of which use leaching and saccharification.

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