Home Distiller

I would like to talk about Amylase enzymes, and the types. I have been brewing beer professionally for years and understand the malting process, Diastatic Power of the Amylase enzyme with in the malts, starches with complex carbohydrates, simple sugars,and full ranged of mashing in Amylase enzyme productive ranges of 147-156F with 150F being my target, & yeast.

I have decided when getting into this craft to buy BSGs Amylase powder enzymes. The dosing rate calls for 1 teaspoon for 5 gallons. I have noticed that even when I use 35g at 150F to 110 over night, I have only been getting 51 to 64% corn starch to fermentable sugars.

Here is my receipt and numbers:
Equipment: 4gallon wash copper pot still with 1 gallon copper bath with condenser coiled through.
Wash: 9gal water, 10# corn meal (37ppg), 10# Sugar (46ppg), 50g Flieshmans Bread/bakers yeast, 15g yeast ex brewers yeast nutrient, Amylase powered BSG Brewers enzymes 14 then 35g at 150F, natural cool till next day then pitched yeast at 65F. For gelatinizing the starches I boiled water and doughed in in a insulated cooler, stirred out all dough balls and let naturally cool to 150F before adding Amylase enzymes.

The original gravity I get is 1.070 to 1.75 but my calculations for 100% efficiency is 1.092.
With white table sugar being 100% fermentable
it seems like close to 60% is the maximum range this powder has with using no malt. Also I do not have iodine for a starch test.

I have seen that there are high temperature enzymes and are usually used by distillers. When distilling traditionally it is appropriate to use 6-row barley (37 PPG, DP 160), distillers barley (34PPG, DP 220),& some times brewers 2 row barley (36ppg, 120 DP).

What are your favorite methods of obtaining Amylase & why? Also if chosing all natural malts, how much DP per pound of malt is recommended to successfully convert all the starches. I see often it is around 10% of the grain bill is excepted.

Thanks in advance for any replies and information.

I haven't done the math homework and honestly I won't unless I have a colossal foul up.
But the Brewhaus powders have been very handy and will turn thick globs to thin soup.

The hi-temp powder has a 152°F to 158°F (one tablespoon for 6 gallons) dose range --(goes in first, then my malt grains).
The lo-temp is a one tablespoon dose at room temperature.

About $30-US for the pair (1-lb. bag each). Lasts a lo-o-ong time.

For my all-grains, the airlock starts bubbling within 1/2 hour of yeast pitch.

i prefer liquid enzymes and have been using SEB from enzyme specialties. i use HT and GL on everything including malt. also use SEBFlo on Rye. (it is ineffective on barley mashes) .35mL per pound, so it too goes a long way.

if you are just using malt you need 30P/P (points per pound min) depending on the malt, it is usually close to 20% of the grain bill, 25% to be safe. example if you have 120pp malt, divide by 4 for 30pp, meaning 25% malt, one pound malt out of four pounds total. (i know i do math weird)

HDNB wrote:i prefer liquid enzymes and have been using SEB from enzyme specialties. i use HT and GL on everything including malt. also use SEBFlo on Rye. (it is ineffective on barley mashes) .35mL per pound, so it too goes a long way.

I wouldn't say that seb-flo is ineffective on barley mashes. I've done all unmalted barley mashes and the seb-flo helped thin it out. More so than the sebstar-HTL, at least initially. And supposedly you can get a couple of extra points of attenuation using it. But to each their own.

HDNB wrote:i prefer liquid enzymes and have been using SEB from enzyme specialties. i use HT and GL on everything including malt.

+1 on the Gluco and the High Temp alpha.

I like the HTL enzymes as well, I like mine cheaper so get em from poland

Swedish Pride wrote:I like the HTL enzymes as well, I like mine cheaper so get em from poland

Got a link?

Mikey-moo wrote:

Swedish Pride wrote:I like the HTL enzymes as well, I like mine cheaper so get em from poland

Got a link?

should be good for 300l, but I've found that it works better if you use a bit more of it, still a bargain
https://destylacja.com/pl/p/Enzymy-do-z ... zowych/531" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

1. Your hi-temp amylase references a temp at which the amylase is most active which is only part of the process. I don't know at which temp that amylase denatures and loses effectiveness.

2. But while 150-156 may be more than sufficient for barley I don't think you can get efficient gelatinization/release of starch from corn until mash temps of ~180. And the amylase can't get to the starch for conversion to sugar until the starch is in in solution and out of the kernel even if the kernel has been cracked. I don't know if the high temp is needed for ground corn but I think it is still true.

3. the high-temp amylase I get from EnzyMash is still enzymatically active at higher than 160.

RedwoodHillBilly wrote:

HDNB wrote:i prefer liquid enzymes and have been using SEB from enzyme specialties. i use HT and GL on everything including malt. also use SEBFlo on Rye. (it is ineffective on barley mashes) .35mL per pound, so it too goes a long way.

I wouldn't say that seb-flo is ineffective on barley mashes. I've done all unmalted barley mashes and the seb-flo helped thin it out. More so than the sebstar-HTL, at least initially. And supposedly you can get a couple of extra points of attenuation using it. But to each their own.

yeah sorry, poor wording on my part. I meant that i have not found need for it, it does not seem to up my potential alcohol and doesn't really thin the mash as noticeably as it does with a high rye mash.
With Rye it significantly thins the mash and gives like 0.005 more booze pound for pound. (maybe even more).
I have tried using it step up, with rests and the best results by far are on the way down at 148*-150* when used at mash in or shortly after.

HDNB wrote:

RedwoodHillBilly wrote:

HDNB wrote:i prefer liquid enzymes and have been using SEB from enzyme specialties. i use HT and GL on everything including malt. also use SEBFlo on Rye. (it is ineffective on barley mashes) .35mL per pound, so it too goes a long way.

I wouldn't say that seb-flo is ineffective on barley mashes. I've done all unmalted barley mashes and the seb-flo helped thin it out. More so than the sebstar-HTL, at least initially. And supposedly you can get a couple of extra points of attenuation using it. But to each their own.

yeah sorry, poor wording on my part. I meant that i have not found need for it, it does not seem to up my potential alcohol and doesn't really thin the mash as noticeably as it does with a high rye mash.
With Rye it significantly thins the mash and gives like 0.005 more booze pound for pound. (maybe even more).
I have tried using it step up, with rests and the best results by far are on the way down at 148*-150* when used at mash in or shortly after.

When I have done 100% unmalted barley @ 2lbs/gal ground to flour, after mixing, the result would make a very good wallpaper paste. I used HTL and it it thinned it a bunch but still had a stickiness somewhat like mucilage. I used a couple of ml of sebflo as a sacrificial and it cut the glue consistency significantly. The full dosage of sebflo I add at 140°F and it thins it right out. I then add the sebaml-GL. I got pretty good attenuation. I won't be doing any more of 100% unmalted barley as I find it to be pretty bland. I like malt in my whiskey. But it was an experiment.

I've been using the exact same powder enzymes/procedure and feel like my conversion would increase slightly if I added a higher temp(180 degreeF) enzyme and another 30 lbs to my grain bill into the process.

My last 3 batches have been AG! With about an average of 5% on all 3.

Currently using 50lb grain bill in about 35 gallons of water. I'd like to bump it up to 80lbs grain/40 gallons of water though (tends to be plenty of room for more liquid)

Still Life wrote:I haven't done the math homework and honestly I won't unless I have a colossal foul up.
But the Brewhaus powders have been very handy and will turn thick globs to thin soup.

The hi-temp powder has a 152°F to 158°F (one tablespoon for 6 gallons) dose range --(goes in first, then my malt grains).
The lo-temp is a one tablespoon dose at room temperature.

About $30-US for the pair (1-lb. bag each). Lasts a lo-o-ong time.

For my all-grains, the airlock starts bubbling within 1/2 hour of yeast pitch.

enz HI.JPG

enz LO.JPG

rain distillate wrote:I've been using the exact same powder enzymes/procedure and feel like my conversion would increase slightly if I added a higher temp(180 degreeF) enzyme and another 30 lbs to my grain bill into the process.

I've used powdered enzymes, and liquid enzymes
Here's where I get liquid enzymes.
https://enzymash.biz/index.php?route=common/home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

shadylane wrote:

rain distillate wrote:I've been using the exact same powder enzymes/procedure and feel like my conversion would increase slightly if I added a higher temp(180 degreeF) enzyme and another 30 lbs to my grain bill into the process.

I've used powdered enzymes, and liquid enzymes
Here's where I get liquid enzymes.
https://enzymash.biz/index.php?route=common/home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Shady, if you're spending more than 100 USD on liquid enzymes than you're better off buying from ebay man.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Sebstar-HTL-Sebam ... Ciid%253A1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

At 180 USD you're getting a 64oz kit with free shipping!! Compared to your price you've been paying that's buy one get one half off! These prices only apply to USA! If buying larger than an 8 oz kit internationally you MUST CONTACT HIM AND ARRANGE IT FIRST!!! Can't stress that enough! Hope this helps and saves you guys a few bucks.
Rain