Processed
Cereal Beta-Amylase
B tier
Cereal beta-amylase, abundant in malted barley and some ungerminated grains, clips maltose from the non-reducing ends of starch. It cannot bypass branch points, so it works in tandem with alpha-amylase to build fermentable sugar rather than thinning a paste on its own. Brewers and maltsters live by it; bakers meet it mainly as a component of diastatic malt, not as a neat fungal-style powder. A well-modified malt already carries enough beta-amylase for most mashes. Extra isolated cereal beta-amylase is a tool for under-modified grists or syrup work that wants maltose, not glucose. It is heat-shy compared with bacterial alpha—mash too hot and you have killed the maltose engine.
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Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Payen and Persoz described diastase in malt, later understood as mixed cereal amylases including beta-amylase.
Brewing science separated beta-amylase as the maltose-producing activity of malt.
Maltsters selected barleys for beta-amylase that would finish a modern mash.
Isolated cereal beta-amylase found a niche in maltose-syrup and specialty-mash formulations.