FACTORS CONTROLLING THE FERMENTABLE EXTRACT IN DISTILLERS MALT

Abstract

The relationships between the alcohol yield obtainable from different malts and some readily measurable parameters have been investigated. Gel filtration studies clearly show that melanoidin-type condensation products, which were previously suggested as a cause of low fermentability, are not produced in significant amounts in highly modified malts. These studies also show important details relating to the hydrolysis of dextrins in distillers' worts and washes. Measurement of the limit dextrinase activity of a range of distillers' malts has indicated that this enzyme is not a limiting factor in determining wort fermentability and its concentration does not correlate with the overall spirit yield. There may be a relationship between the whole amylase complex, as expressed by the diastatic power and wort fermentability. From a study of the reducing sugar contents of worts, it was confirmed that the major factor controlling fermentable extract in malt is the relative amounts of starch-derived sugars in the wort. It now appears possible to determine the fermentability of distilling wort by the standard extract and the reducing power of the wort obtained by the standard I.O.B. extraction.