Using Amylase Enzyme to reduce starch in beer

Mashing enzymes such as Amylase powder convert the starch in beer malt into soluble sugars

With this knowledge, the home brewer can manipulate enzyme activity to can control the fermentability of their wort.

Amylase enzymes are proteins. Their specific role is to 'catalyze biochemical reactions', which means that they enable a reaction to occur quickly and crucially at the temperature of living organisms (talking yeast here).

While we are talking about brewing, it should be understood that enzymes are vital for human life as they significantly speed up the rate of virtually all of the chemical reactions that take place within the body's cells. Along with lipase, they are crucial for having a healthy digestive system and for metabolism. 

There is amylase in human saliva - digestion starts in the mouth after all!

So, brewers use amylase to ensure an efficient breakdown of the malt into maltose and sugars - meaning there is more food for the yeast to eat, meaning you get more alcohol - this is called attenuation.

I'm a hungry enzyme...

The one-two punch of alpha and beta amylase in starch digestion

In a brewer’s mash, we are concerned with the activity of two main enzymes, alpha and beta amylase, and their effect on starch.

A starch molecule, as a basic description, is a group of glucose molecules linked together. Enzymes will break those links allowing yeast to better ferment.

Alpha-amylase contributes to the digestion of starch by breaking internal bonds between the glucose molecules. As the starch molecules are opened up, they break into a range of intermediate sizes.

In comes beta-amylase which further digests these newly sized molecules mostly into maltose—a sugar of two glucose units—but also to glucose itself and to the three-glucose molecule maltotriose. You can add glucoamylase instead of beta as it does the same job on starch.

This will occur effectively when the wort is properly pH balanced and the ideal temperature has been realised.

These two compounds are also great for breaking down corn-type adjuncts when making spirits (just watch that methanol production eh?)

When to add amylase enzyme to the wort

The temperature of your mash is key to how effective amylase.

In terms of timings, some brewers will add amylase immediately after adding strike water or about 30 minutes or so into an extended all-grain mash taking longer than 60 minutes.

If you increase the temperature immediately after adding amylase you're working against yourself.

Amylase works best at 150-155°F. Much higher than that and the enzyme is destroyed by the heat. 

A common practice is to hold it at its activation temperature for an hour to allow full conversion of starch, then cool it rapidly to your fermentation temperature once the gelatinization of the malt/starch is complete.

This wiki advises:

The ideal situation you want is to attain is one in which your mash rests at a temperature between 66° and 70° C (150°-158° F) to allow the amylase enzymes to do their work. The colder the rest, the more fermentable sugars will be available for fermenting, and therefore the higher alcohol content in the final beer. The hotter the temperature, the more unfermentable sugars will reach fermentation, and thus the fuller the mouth-feel. This is, of course a comparison of otherwise duplicate mashes. Remember, the enzymes will work outside their optimum temperatures, so given an adequate amount of time, all starches can be converted to fermentables.

We suggest you read the whole wiki as it gives a very sound scientific description of mash temperatures and the various methods use you can use enzymes with. This page is a great read too.

Why ph of the mash is important for enzyme action

The pH level of your beer (both mash and wort) affects the way your beer turns out in several ways. Enzyme function is affected by an out-of-whack pH level, the efficiency of your hops can be manipulated and it affects how well your yeast ferments your brew.

Brewers test for pH using meters - a sample is taken from the work and an electrode is used to take the reading - pH is then adjusted accordingly using chemicals like calcium chloride or lactic acid.

This video gives a really great introduction in to using alpha and beta-amylase and its relationship to beer mash:



Extra for experts: Does adding enzyme to the mash influence the taste of the beer?

Leave a Comment amylase, enzyme, glucose, malt, mash, starch, wort

When to add 'rice hulls' to the mash

Have you ever had a stuck sparge when there's simply no wort exiting the tun? 

What a way to slow down your brew day! 

Sure, you can give your mash grain a bit of stir and try and remove the blockage and get going again but what if you could add something to the mash to prevent another stuck sparge?

Enter the use of rice hulls to prevent a stuck mash.

Rice hulls are the exterior layers of grains of rice.

When rice is harvested, the hulls are cast off because they are not for eating.

Once the hulls have been washed and dried (which removes flavor and color) they can be used as a filtration agent for getting the wort out of the mash.

They work by creating some space around the gritty and grisly mash particles so the wort can flow out of the mash tun. Given they do not add any flavour to the wort and are pretty cheap to buy, rice hulls are an excellent solution to a brewer's need to prevent a stuck sparge or lautering process.

Rice hulls offer a natural, easy way to help prevent a stuck mash!

Use rice hulls when sparging a high gravity beer

High gravity beers are beers with a higher concentration of fermentable sugars in the wort, which results in a higher alcohol content in the finished beer. These beers require a larger amount of grains to produce the desired gravity, which can lead to a thicker mash that is more difficult to filter.

Specialty malts, wheat, and rye are commonly used in high gravity beers to add complexity and flavor to the finished product. However, these grains also have higher levels of protein and beta-glucan than compared with barley grains. Beta-glucans are long-chain polysaccharides that contribute to the viscosity of the wort, which can make it difficult to filter.

Rice hulls, being an inert material, can be added to the mash to help prevent the grains from clumping together, thereby improving the filterability of the wort. Rice hulls act as a filter bed, creating channels through which the wort can flow freely. This helps to reduce the viscosity of the wort, making it easier to filter, while also ensuring that the wort is well-aerated during the lautering process.

How much rice hulls should I add to the mash?

Many brewers seem to use hulls at a percentage no greater than 5 per cent of the total grain bill. In reality, a common measure is 1/2 lb per 5 gallon batch.

When do I add the rice hulls to the mash?

When using rice hulls in brewing, it is important to add them at the appropriate time in the brewing process to ensure maximum effectiveness. Generally, rice hulls are added to the mash before the hot water infusion, along with the dry grains.

As the dry grains and rice hulls are mixed together, the rice hulls will help to create channels within the mash bed, which will improve the flow of water through the grains during the infusion process. 

This will help to prevent clumping and ensure that the water is distributed evenly throughout the mash, allowing for proper conversion of the grain starches into fermentable sugars.

Adding the rice hulls before the infusion also ensures that they are evenly distributed throughout the mash, which will improve filtration efficiency during lautering. 

This is because the rice hulls will create a filter bed at the bottom of the mash tun, which will help to prevent the grains from compacting together and creating a stuck mash.

Therefore, when brewing a high gravity beer with a big grist, it is recommended to add rice hulls to the dry grains before the infusion with hot water. This will help to ensure a smooth and efficient brewing process, as well as improve the quality of the finished beer.

Can I sparge with oat hulls instead of rice?

You sure can. 

Like rice hulls, oat hulls are the shell of the oat grain. 

Given they are pretty much inedible and no good for making porridge with, they have found other uses as filters. They act in just the same manner as rice hulls and do not any impart anything into the wort.

They are commonly used when brewing rye or wheat beers, the same as rice hulls.

Do I have to worry about rice hulls absorbing water?

Worry? 

Perhaps that's the wrong word but if you are the kind of brewer who likes their beer exactly as the recipe demands, then yes, the hulls can absorb water. 

So, what do to? Soak them in water prior to use so you don't have to even think about it.

Given there can be the odd bit of dust in them, give them a rinse in a colander before soaking.

Do I need to sterilize the rice or oat hulls before adding to the mash?

Some people do but I really can't see the point as the wort is about to be boiled within an inch of its life in the brewing kettle on top of a gas burner with masses of BTU which should kill any bugs that were hiding on the grains or hulls. 

Leave a Comment mash, rice hulls, sparge, wort

Best mash paddle for brewing day

Any 'professional' homebrewer needs a mash paddle for paddling mash for brewing day!

Wood, plastic, or metal, it doesn't matter as long as it does the job when mashing with tuns.

Ensure you have a sturdy paddle or it will snap when using it. 

Some brewers like to make custom jobs with their own designs as the 'holes' on the paddle.

Also, we suggest you also get the large paddle and if you are going with the metal, then we suggest you will get the best benefit from a stainless steel unit.

If you are looking for a wooden paddle, then those fashioned from maple are known to be quite sturdy and will give a long service life.

If a paddle is not for you, then a spoon may be for you.

Leave a Comment brewing spoon, mash, mash paddle

>> Best mash tuns for sparge & lautering

Tuns.

Not tons.

Nor tonnes.

But tuns.

Mash Tuns.

Though it's pronounced ton.

What the heck is a mash tun and why do I need one for brewing beer?

The mash tun is the vessel in which the mashing of the grain is conducted. The 'grain bill' is heated with hot water.

This process of mashing causes the enzymes in the malt to break down the grain's starch. The starch is reduced into the sugars which form the malty liquid we all know as 'wort'.

So how is important in preparing a good wort is a mash tun?

If you want the efficient extraction of the wort from your grains, you need to be able to sparge efficiently, and a well set up mash tun will do just that.

Many brewers like to make their own mash tun from manufactured coolers and simply add a false bottom to assist with the lautering process (removing the wort from the mash) but if you just want to get on with, here's a few mash tuns that we recommend:

• Northern Brew's lauter ton  
• Igloo mash tun
• Brewer's Edge Mash and Boil

Northern Brewer's tun

• Argiuably the most affordable mash/lauter tun in all-grain brewing
• Loaded with brewing power for superior sparging and exceptional efficiency
• Featuring Fermenter’s Favorites™ Cooler with an expanded full capacity of 11.7 gallons
• Includes the new Titan Stainless Steel 11.5" False Bottom
• Includes Bronze Ball Valve Cooler Kit with Barbed Hose Fittings, plus tubing

Reviews of the Northern Brewer tun:

"This is a nice product for the money. I've moved from extract brewing to all grain and didn't want to break the bank when it came to purchasing a mash tun. This one fit the bill! The size is decent and it's easy to put together and tear down. This makes cleaning a snap. It's light and easy to more around, and it holds its temperature quite well. I've brewed four batches of beer with it and look forward to using it for the next batch."

"Just finished my first brew. Everything was straightforward to assemble and easy to use so long as you know what you're doing. Excited to brew more with these."

"Got to use this for the first time last weekend while brewing my first all grain batch with my brew club. I have never produced a better beer than what I have with this. I would highly recommend this for anyone looking to take the next step in their brewing adventure."

If you think these reviews from real brewers have merit, check out more on Amazon.

Igloo Mash Tun

An almost iconic mash tun, due to the Igloo's almost universal recognition amongst brewers and Powerade drinkers alike and maybe the fact it kind of looks like a Baywatch lifeguard?

The Igloo comes as the following specs:

• 10 gallon mash ton
• Perfect for 5 to 10 gallon batches
• All metal is stainless steel
• 12" false bottom
• Upgraded leak free design

While it's no Pamela Anderson, Igloo boast you "will notice barely any temperature loss throughout your 1hr+ mash" which seems the whole point of having a quality mash tun and this reviewer confirmed it "It works perfectly. I've used it twice with no temperature loss in a 60 minute mash at 152 degrees."

Check out the price on Amazon.

Brewer's Edge' Mash and Boil

Listen up fellas, Big Jim just rode into town so pay attention.

The Brewer’s Edge Mash and Boil transforms brewing day, making all grain brewing easy and affordable. If you want to compare this to

No need for an outdoor gas burner, a complicated brewing stand, or a 220 volt special circuit - the unit plugs into any 110 volt GFI household outlet.

Constructed with a double wall stainless construction, it is designed to conserve heat to achieve a rolling boil with only 110 volts and 1600 watts.

The precise thermostat and internal sparging basket let you mash and boil in the same vessel saving you a fair whack of time in your brew day. The thermostat may be switched from Fahrenheit to Celsius and features an adjustable run time preset at 3-1/2 hours to allow for safety in case you get distracted by the Big Game!

A handy function is the delayed start timer, which allows you to program the Mash and Boil to turn on up to 24 hours after setting. For example, load it with strike water, and have it set to be hot when you come home from work to save even more time!

Here's some reviews from actual brewers who have used the Mash and Boil:

"Son and I wanted to step up to all-grain home brewing and this looked like a perfect way to do it: It is. So much easier from start to finish. Wort chiller fits in kettle and temperature display shows when ready: We’ve done 3 batches and love it!

"The time it takes to get to brewing temperatures is rather good. I use the low wattage setting to get to mash temperatures and the time it took was to my liking. To get to the boil temperature was rather slow but I am accustomed to a propane burner."

What are you waiting for, permission from your partner? Check out the price and delivery arrangments on Amazon.

Why do mash tuns need to use false bottoms?

If you simply extracted the wort from the tun using the exit valve the spent grain would quite likely collect at the exit point and block the extraction.

A false bottom is effective acts a filter or sieve to prevent the crushed grains from causing a blockage. The wort drains through the mash, past the sieve and into your draining vessel.

What are some good mash tun tricks?

• Limit your outflow from the tun to a trickle.
• It can take an hour to properly sparge your wort. Be patient.
• To help avoid a stuck sparge, make sure you mill your grain properly.
• Adding rice hulls can assist with preventing a blocked sparge.
• Fun fact: a hot sparge will kill any weevil in your grain

Leave a Comment all grain, beer brewing, lauter, mash, mash tun, sparge, wort

How to sparge your mash to collect the wort

Sparging

A lot of beer brewing is intuitive, you know you need malt and grains and you need to cook them up and you can sort of follow your nose from there.

But when I came across words like sparge and lautering I had no idea what on earth that means.

Once you know it's as simple in concept cracking open a well-earned beer.

Sparging is the process of separating the wort from the mash. Hot water is rinsed through to that as much of the sugars can be removed from the 'grain bed'.

And lautering? It's the same concept but is more a reference to the whole process itself and the movement of water. How about that eh?

While it is a simple idea, it's actually a three-step process if it's to be achieved properly.

Get ready to fire up those BTU on your gas burner!

But first, how do I know if my mash is ready to be sparged?

Your mash should have rested for an hour. This is so that the malt enzymes have had an opportunity to digest the starch into sugars. And Iodine test can be done for this. Take a sample from the mash and add a drop of iodine. 

If it goes black or purple, your mash needs more time.

If the iodine stays the same colour, your mash is ready.

Step 1 -  The Mashout

This is when you raise your mash to 170 degrees Fahrenheit or 77 Celcius. The reason for this temperature is that both stops the enzymatic conversion of starches to fermentable sugars, and makes the mash and wort more fluid and thus easier to sparge. 

To set this up, one pours the heated water into the mash tun. Slowly add the grist (crushed grain) to the water in the mash tun. You'll need to stir well the mash to prevent clumping. The temperature should stabilize at around 153 degrees.

You should then let the mash rest for an hour as the sugars are released from the grains and your wort forms.

If you undershoot the target mash temperature by more than 5° F, you may raise the mash temperature by adding heat. Stir the mash constantly while you are applying heat to avoid scorching.

Step 2 - Recirculation of the wort

The idea behind recirculation of the wort is to clear it of debris.

At first, it may seem odd that the idea is to put this cloudy liquid back into to the mash - well this is the beauty of recirculation,  the grain bed will begin to act as a filter and reduce the cloudiness of the runnings. This is why proper milling of the grain is so important so the husks can perform this task.

You may find your initial drawings from the lauter tun are cloudy and filled with what's known as  'draff' - these are small solid grain particles but repeated filtering through the grain will clear the wort.

To recirculate, your lauter tun should have a handy valve. Use it to collect the runoff in two clean intermediate vessels of say 1 quart or more in size.

As you are filling one vessel,  you are pouring the other gently down the side of the lauter tun. Keeping switching back and forth until the wort appears clear of debris.

This can take some time and you need to be patient and pour slowly.

You can now drain the wort into your kettle.

This process is sometimes called vorlauf.

Step 3 - The actual business of sparging

You can now 'rinse' the grain with fresh boiling hot water to collect any residual sugars. The water should be no more than 170°F to avoid tannins being released by the grains.

The trick is to work out the water required for the boil that matches your recipe.

Carefully add this second round of water to the grain mash and slowly drain it into the first wort you prepared.

Once fully drained, you are now ready to boil the wort as per your recipe.

This instructional video by the American Homebrewers Association is really well done and shows how straightforward the process is:

Do I have to sparge?

You do not, however, you will miss out on some efficiencies - a good deal of the potential fermentable sugars are not extracted from the mash,

If you are not sparging, you can simply drain the grain bed and get it ready for boiling by adding the required water.

Why should the sparge water temp not be higher than 180°F/82°C?

This is in order to avoid the extraction of tannins from the grain which is a chemical you simply do not want in your beer. Tannin can give your beer a kind of astringent taste and it simply ruins the drinking experience.

That said, a large factor is the ph level of your wort (which many suggest should be in the range of 5.2-5.8) as to whether you're gonna have a bad time with tannins or not.

Here are some ph meters that you may want to consider using.

Does milling grain technique affect the sparge?

A well milled and crushed grain will give you a good extraction efficiency.

A fine, but not too fine crush will offer more surface volume for the mashing process to release the sugars from the grain. If grains are crushed much then the grain bed can compact during the sparge which just disrupts the whole process.

If it's done just right, the grain better will act like its own filter and the lautering process should be straightforward. 

Can I simply cold water sparge?

Yes, you can. There are many brewers who swear that hot water sparges offer no greater utility than cold water efforts. Some brewers have done identical brewers, save for a hot or cold sparge and found when offering punters a blind taste test, they were unable to determine the difference. Go figure. 

I have also seen brewers suggest that a lower temperature will result in a lower body beer. Given body is quite a crucial party of the drinking experience, this is probably why most brewers sparge with hot water. 

I'd also suggest a higher temperature will mean you wort is more fluid and thus is more easily extracted from the grain bed - certainly, it will be a quicker process if your wort is not so viscous.

Your personal safety

When lautering and sparging you are using a lot of hot water, gas burners, mash tuns and kettles.

There are plenty of means and avenues for things to go wrong and you could literally end up getting burnt or scalded by hot water or wort.

Be careful. It's best to do your beer making in an area that gives you enough space. This is why many brewers often like to brew on an outside deck or sturdy table.

It's, of course, handy to teach children about the dangers of getting too close to gas burners and hot kettles. Better yet, you might want to keep the little ones away while the boil is on and when you are pouring hot water.

You yourself may wish to consider using some protective gloves and perhaps wear a waterproof apron and shoes!

While this may be teaching you to suck eggs, a new first-time brewer should be very mindful of these things. 

And for goodness sake, if you do burn yourself, get some cold water on the burn site pronto! Your skin is more important than your beer!

If I am doing a boil in a bag, do I need to sparge?

If you want to get all those sugars that might still be lurking in the bag, then it's wise to sparge.

Help, my mash has got clogged!

You may have over milled your grain and now the grain filter is too compact. This can also be caused by running the water off too fast. If this happens 's stop what you are doing and give the grain bed a gentle stir. Adding sum sparge water may help.

If things have gone really wrong, you may have to remove the mash, clean your tun and start again.

Leave a Comment grain, lauter, mash, mash tun, milling, sparge, vorlauf