Factors Affecting the Breakdown of Starch

When a brewery uses beer equipment to brew craft beer, the mashing process plays a key role, in which the decomposition of starch is the main material change during mashing. However, which factors affect the decomposition of starch.

Among them are the following points: malt grinding degree, malt variety and quality, mashing temperature, mashing time.

Malt Grinding Degree

Proper crushing is conducive to the decomposition of starch. If the malt is crushed too finely, it is easy to produce agglomeration, which is not conducive to the decomposition of amylase. Coarse malt should strengthen the crushing operation, so that the husk is broken but not broken, which is conducive to the filtration of wort.

Malt variety and quality

The enzyme content of light-colored malt is usually higher than that of dark-colored malt, and the prepared wort contains more sugar and less dextrin. the lower the degree. Well-dissolved malt not only has high enzyme content, but also helps to decompose endosperm cell wall, amylase is easy to play a role, fully decomposes starch, and the obtained wort is rich in foam and clear and transparent; poor solubility is the opposite.

Mashing temperature

Temperature has a great influence on saccharification, so mashing should be carried out at the action temperature of amylase. In this process, the optimal temperature of α-amylase is 72℃-75℃. If the time is too long, more dextrin will be produced, so as to make beer with low fermentation degree and rich dextrin; The optimal temperature is 60-65 degrees. If the time is too long, a large amount of maltose will be formed, which will make the beer fermented higher.

Mashing time

During the mashing process, the action of enzymes is not uniform and can be divided into two time stages: after 10-20 minutes of mashing, the enzyme reaches its maximum activity; after 40-60 minutes, the enzyme activity decreases rapidly, and then the rate of decline becomes slower.

Therefore, as long as these factors are strictly controlled in the brewing process, it is conducive to the decomposition of amylase, and high-quality beer can be brewed.