What Does Maltase Do in Brewing Beer?
What does maltase do in brewing beer? So much! This little enzyme is powerful, and though it has only one purpose, it is highly dedicated to that purpose, and it always delivers. How? Let’s begin at the beginning.
What Is Maltase?
To understand the role maltase plays in brewing, you must first understand what maltase is, where it comes from, and what it does in general.
Maltase is an enzyme inside ingredients that contain maltose.
An enzyme is a protein inside living organisms that act as catalysts. They essentially unlock functions based on chain reactions. There are enzymes in our saliva that help begin to break down food. Enzymes help convert the carbohydrates in our body to ATP, which provide us with energy. Enzymes are everywhere and critical to the function of all living things.
The role maltase plays in nature is to break down maltose into glucose so that it is easier to digest.
Maltose is a more complex carbohydrate, a disaccharide, which, in order to be digested, must be broken down into monosaccharides.
Humans have maltose in our saliva, which means we also have maltase. Maltase must be triggered to perform this breakdown function. Otherwise, it will lie dormant, essentially waiting to be unlocked.
What Role Does Maltase Play in Brewing?
Maltose is found in most grains, and particularly in barley, which is the most frequently and most abundantly used grain in brewing. Maltose also appears in wheat, cornmeal, and other ancient grains. A complex carbohydrate waiting to be broken down.
In general, these carbohydrates are broken down into fermentable sugars the more they grow, sprout, or ripen. As foods sprout out of the ground, they are exposed to sunshine and other elements which trigger photosynthesis. Photosynthesis, the conversion of sunlight into a food and energy source by plants, produces more glucose and can convert maltose to glucose through the enzymatic process led by maltase.
Germination
In brewing, brewers or barley malt producers trick the grains into this enzymatic process by germinating the grains.
They will soak the grains in water for a period of time and then dry them out, essentially mimicking the rain and sunshine process plants are subjected to in nature.
This germination causes maltase to jump into action and convert the starches into sugars, or the maltose into glucose.
Germination is beneficial for brewing because yeast responds better to fermentable sugars than complex carbohydrates.
Thus, wort rich with glucose is more easily fermented than wort thick with maltose.
The easier you make the process for the yeast, the less stressed out it will be, and the better your brewing process will go.
As such, brewers often germinate, or sprout, grains before grinding them and steeping them in hot water.
Then, the wort is full of fermentable sugars, or glucose, and the yeast can get right to work consuming the sugars and converting them into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Clearly, maltase is a necessary enzyme for the entire process. Without it, the yeast would struggle to consume a more complex carbohydrate, a disaccharide, in maltose, and beer would be an entirely different experience than the one we know and love today.
How Much Maltose Is in Beer?
While the wort can contain up to 60 – 70 percent maltose, it is widely believed that fermentation converts virtually all the maltose into carbon dioxide and alcohol. However, the amount of maltose in beer (if any) can vary depending on the type of beer, the brewing process, and the specific recipe used by the brewery.
Summing It All Up
Maltase, the enzyme responsible for breaking down maltose into “bite size”, fermentable sugars for yeast, is essential to the brewing process. Without it, the brewing process, indeed the digestive process, would be completely different from what it is.
Nature is indeed amazing.
Cheers!
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Sources:
- https://coloradobeer.org/tech-safety-posts/enzymes-in-brewing/
- https://homebrewadvice.com/maltose-guide
- https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/24/us/a-beer-company-responds-to-the-low-carb-crowd-saying-its-product-isn-t-at-fault.html
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