Online Resources

2003 Annual Meeting - Hyatt Regency Tamaya, New Mexico

Enzymes in Brewing Seminar summary

A seminar that addressed the major functions and applications of the enzymes that are directly utilized in the brewing process was held at Santa Ana Pueblo on Monday, June 6. A panel of brewing professionals that included Charlie Bamforth, Warren Quilliam, and Noel Bautista (of the University of California Davis, Coors Brewing Company, and Novoenzymes, respectively) conducted the seminar. The session was moderated by Dave Thomas, also of the Coors Brewing Company, and was attended by approximately 30 members of the ASBC.

Dr. Bamforth delivered a mini-lecture on the basic function of enzymes in a conversion process and their role as a catalyst for chemical reactions. This included basic definitions of type as well as descriptions of structure, general mechanism(s) in regard to the "lock and key" analogy, kinetics, and factors that influence enzymatic reactions and their stability such as pH, temperature, and time. Dr. Bamforth also discussed the types of reactions that are of importance in brewing and the biochemistry of yeast, such as hydrolysis (hydrolase), dehydrogenation (dehydrogenase), oxygenation (oxydase, oxidase), and removal of carbon dioxide (decarboxylase). A brief description of endo- and exoenzymes as they pertain directly to the solubilization of nitrogen in mashes was also given. Dr. Bamforth also discussed the importance of understanding the role that inhibitors, inactivators, and activators have with regard to understanding the larger picture of biological systems. For example, inactivators tend to be irreversible, as is the case with the interaction of copper and mercury ions with sulfur compounds in the enzyme structure, while inhibitors tend to be competitive with product and/or substrate removal or production. Endogenous inhibitors were also briefly discussed in order to show mechanisms of enzyme control, for example, the action of bound protein Z with regard to beta-amylase activity. Activators such as certain metal ions-zinc (alcohol dehydrogenase) and calcium (alpha amylase)-as well as other key factors that influence enzyme activity, such as the role of co-enzymes and prosthetic groups, were also discussed.

Warren Quilliam delivered a presentation that brought the world of enzymes back into the brewing process, specifically, "Enzymes, Their Role in Brewing Processes." Warren's discussion built on the basic understanding of enzymes as delivered by Dr. Bamforth and focused on "what a brewer wants" with regard to these biological catalysts. Warren described and discussed the key influences that barley variety, malting, wort production methods, and bacterial/microbiological contamination have upon the critical component of final product quality with regard to the enzymatic systems present in each process. As a summation, "a good quality malt with appropriate enzyme activity to meet the needs of the brewer" is the sought-after goal and must be the focus for the practical brewer. All of these factors contribute to providing an optimal environment in which a "healthy" yeast fermentation process can be achieved. Warren also discussed the critical point of understanding the "balance" as it pertains to materials and processes that provide consistent products and outputs.

Noel Bautista delivered a presentation titled "Industrial Enzymes for Brewing" that showed the larger picture of what can be achieved in a brewing process with the use of exogenous microbial and fungal enzymes. Mr. Bautista described the functionality and applications of these products as they relate to process and outputs. For example, the process of starch liquefaction can be enhanced by the use of a thermostable alpha-amylase. Additionally, exogenous amyloglucosidase (AMG), as well as pullulanase, can influence attenuation. Filtration can be optimized or enhanced by thermostable beta-glucanases (such as Viscoflow MG) and xylanases. Enzymes that are used to influence the maturation process such as alphacetolactate decarboxylase were also discussed.

-Toby Eppard

HTTP/1.1 404 Object Not Found Server: Microsoft-IIS/5.0 Date: Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:55:22 GMT X-Powered-By: ASP.NET Connection: close Content-Type: text/html