Impacts of malt protein removal on yeast fermentation efficiency

The effects of malt protein removal by Neutrase using Canadian and French commercial malts (Malt 1 and Malt 2) on mashing efficiency, and production of violate compounds during fermentation were determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), headspace-solid-phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis (HS-SMPE-GC-MS). HPLC results showed that for Malt 1 containing lower free- and total-β-amylase but higher α-amylase enzyme activity, Neutrase significantly increased the content of maltose, glucose and maltotriose, whereas for Malt 2, only glucose content increased. For Malt 1, the increased glucose/maltose ratio after Neutrase addition led to higher ethanol concentration than that with no Neutrase (4.06% vs. 2.09%), whereas for Malt 2, no significant differences were observed (2.92% vs. 3.09%). HS-SPME-GC-MS showed that for Malt 1 and Malt 2, Neutrase not influenced the violate compounds composition, whereas reduced their contents. This suggests that malt protein removal by Neutrase impairs the production of volatile compounds.