Brewing Enzymes

The technology of beer production took place six thousand years ago and has been done by the world’s oldest civilizations. Nowadays, brewing is one of the lead food industries in the world in general and especially the west. Enzymes utilization is one of the main pillars of brewing industry, and weather the enzyme is endogenous in the kernel itself or been added from external sources, a deep understanding and research of those enzymes is mandatory for the sake of better production and higher quality. Brewing is defined as the process of beer production in which the sugars in starch are fermented to ethyl alcohol through the action of yeast.

Enzymes utilized in brewing industry are diverse their action and properties. The main enzymes used in beer brewing industry can be divided into four main processes which are germination, mashing, fermentation, and clarification. The four most common enzymes used in brewing are beta glucanase, protease, alpha amylase, and beta amylase. Enzymes can be ether endogenous or external. Commercial enzymes can be used for extra quality attributes such as, clarification, color, texture, or flavor and sometimes it is mandatory to use the enzymes from external source when the barley mashing is not producing enough enzymes to breakdown and hydrolyze the starch which can lead to low quality beer and less yield.

During malting β-glucan, fibers and proteins are broken down by the action of proteases, glucanases, and xylanase. After the gelatinization of starch by the hot water the amylases enzymes start to act on the wort producing sugars through the liquefaction and scarification processes, yielding sugars to be fermented. Later on, fermentation process takes place where α-amylase and β-glucanase can be reused again in order to improve the fermentation yield and filteration. Usually other enzymes can be used for extra quality such as alpha acetolactate decarboxylase (ALDC) which improve fermentation by reducing the fermentation time and other commercial types of proteases that keeps the beer clear during cooling and chilling of beer.

Creative Enzymes provides enzymes for brewing industry. Please find our enzyme products in the list below:

Except for these enzymes, Creative Enzymes also provides multiple enzyme blends used in various applications. To get more information about these products, please use our Contact Page.