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More ways to a better Brew: Brewing with Enzymes

Barley, rice, maize, millet, sorghum, grits, sugar: Brewers have many raw materials to work with. Enzyme technology can help brewers unlock the great taste in these materials, brew to a high quality, and save on energy, water and other resources.

“Beer sales in India are expected to witness strong growth over the next few years, as growing middle class with high disposable income will lead to higher spending. Enzymatic solutions help brewers optimize their process when working with various adjuncts, malt and barley of varying quality. This way they can stay ahead of the demands from consumers, microbrewers and specialty pubs that are mushrooming across Bangalore/Delhi-NCR,” says Lakshmi Narasimhan S, Head, Food & Beverage Business Operations-India at Novozymes South Asia Pvt. Ltd.

Novozymes Enzymatic solutions for the brewing industry Novozymes brewing solutions combine profitability, quality and sustainability. They reduce cost, optimize production processes and achieve consistently high beer quality. The brew company can ensure consistent quality of customers’ brands by producing most of its brewing enzymes in compliance with BrewQ specifications

These specifications relate to:

  • Cost effective cereal cooking
  • High adjunct brewing
  • Faster throughput and effective wort separation and beer filtration
  • FAN levels optimization
  • High RDF beer with low calories
  • Reduction of off flavors
  • Productivity enhancement

Cost effective cereal cooking

Brewing cereals gelatinize at temperatures between 75-85oC. As malt enzymes get deactivated above 75oC, brewers need to add enzymes to process cereals in cereal cookers. Thermostable enzymes such as Novozymes Termamyl®, aid the process of cereal cooking to produce cost effective liquefaction and generate target DE (dextrose equivalent) levels.

High adjunct brewing

India is an emerging market and the need for a wide variety of beer is shooting up. ‘High adjunct brewing’ enables brewers to use a wide variety of raw materials and produce strong beer − as much as 8% alcohol by volume − with different flavor profiles.

“High adjunct brewing is one of the best ways to produce cost effective beer while allowing brewers to produce beer with same quality as high malt recipe beer,” says Srikanth BM, Sales Manager at Novozymes

Faster throughput, more effective wort separation and beer filtration

Some hemicelluloses andpolysaccharides can hinder Lautering or mash filtration and green beer filtration performance.

In combination with the right enzymatic formulation, Novozymes Ultraflo® Max enzymes help improve the wort and beer throughput, while simultaneously improving the savings on the filter aids consumption.

FAN (Free Amino Nitrogen) levels optimization

Free Amino Nitrogen is the major component required for the growth of healthy yeast. Achieving required levels of FAN using feed grade barley malt is a big challenge for the brewers.

Novozymes Ceremix® Plus MG helps in achieving required levels of FAN from the feed quality malt and high adjunct brewing recipes. Sufficient levels of FAN also help to avoid yeast suppression which may lead to off-flavor notes in the final produced beer. Ceremix® enzymes helps to maintain consistent quality beer without off-flavors.

High RDF beer with low calories

A growing number of health-conscious consumers opt for low calorie beer which require brewers to brew with high RDF levels.

A regular beer contains 220-350 kcal, which scares away health conscious beer consumers, or at least makes them limit how much they drink. Low-calorie beer has low calorific levels (25-40%) as compared with regular beer. But with Novozymes Attenuzyme enzymes, brewers have the liberty to achieve targeted levels of high RDF, which spells low calories for consumers.

Reduction of off-flavors

Di-acetyl is treated as off-flavor, which beer drinkers don’t want. In the beer fermentation process, yeast develops di-acetyl and re-absorbs it; and a small variation in the process can lead to high notes of di-acetyl. Novozymes Maturex® enzymes help to reduce the di-acetyl off-note and improves the fermentation vessel utilization, which enhances productivity.

Novozymes helps its customers to enhance productivity by means of tailor made enzymatic solutions which fit the individual customer’s brewing kitty.

Technical services for process improvement

Novozymes provides technical services globally to its customers.

Brewing customers in the Asia-Pacific region are supported by Novozymes technical service, including the lab in Bangalore and Kuala Lumpur, where technical experts can analyze and evaluate the following:

  • The quality of raw materials like malt, rice, wheat, millet and other cereals.
  • Sugar profiling spectrum-fermentable sugars percentage.
  • Optimize cereal cooking process mashing process.
  • Free Amino Nitrogen, beta-glucans and Arabinoxylan analysis.
  • Evaluate Protein, lipids and moisture percentage.
  • Helps in new product development.
  • Supports with trainings on brewing process and new concepts.

Stay ahead of the market

Staying ahead of the dynamic beer market requires the best technology and knowhow to become even more flexible, efficient and profitable. With the right enzymatic solutions and the right technical expertise, brewers can transform the quality and sustainability of their beer and their business.

Date
08 January 2018
Author
Editorial-Brewer World