Consistent, cost-effective production of highly attenuated beers

Predictable and targeted attenuation

In brewing, attenuation is a measure of the degree to which sugars (i.e. glucose, fructose, maltotriose) in the wort can be fermented into alcohol. Measuring attenuation is important because it is an indicator of yeast health, and because specific attenuation levels are important for certain styles of beer.

The challenge for brewers is that it can be difficult to achieve predictable and targeted attenuation specifications. This is due to the inherent variability in raw materials and the mashing process.

25% fewer calories - same alcohol

An example of targeted attenuation is the production of light, or low-calorie beers. This requires an increase in the degree of attenuation of the wort, which decreases the proportion of non-fermentable and short-chain dextrin material.

The result is a highly attenuated beer. A beer made this way will have 25-30% fewer calories than a normally attenuated beer, assuming the same alcohol content in both beers.

Simple and cost-effective

Novozymes offers a broad range of attenuation enzymes that give brewers a simple and cost-effective way to create highly attenuated beers, as well as managing attenuation fluctuations due to deficiencies in raw materials.

With these solutions, brewers can produce highly attenuated beers in a cost-effective manner. It’s possible to increase the attenuation level by 4-5% with the same amount of raw materials. Brewers can produce a super-attenuated malt base for flavored alcoholic beverage production. They can also maintain consistent fermentability - despite raw material variability.

New degree of control

The basic premise of controlling attenuation of wort is to increase, or maintain at a specific level, the percentage of fermentable sugars derived from starch. Attenuation enzymes are useful to achieve a predicatble result, and can be used in the brewhouse, or possibly during fermentation.

The degree of attenuation is governed by these factors: The choice of enzyme (glucoamylase, alpha-amylase, pullulanase or combination), enzyme stability at various temperatures and pH, conversion temperature and time.

Shorten mashing times by up to 50%

With Novozymes enzymes, production of highly attenuated beers is easier and super-high attenuated beers are possible. You can shorten mashing times by up to 50%, increase brewhouse capacity and save time and energy.

ADF vs RDF

Malt worts produced under standard brewing conditions with traditional raw materials typically yield a real degree of fermentation (RDF) of 67-72% or apparent degree of fermentation (ADF) of 80-85%. Both RDF and ADF are used to describe the “degree of attenuation” of the wort.

The difference between RDF and ADF is that ADF does not take into account the lower density of alcohol compared to water in the final gravity of the fermented beer.

A family of solutions

Attenuation control is just one of the many solutions that Novozymes offers for brewing.

Breweries can use enzymes to optimise the use of raw materials, improve wort separation and beer filtration, optimise cereal cookin, and gain new flexibility in adjuncts to control FAN and diacetyl.

Your solutions for attenuation

Novozymes Attenuzyme® Pro is a high-performing, fast-acting combination of glucoamylase, α-amylase and de-branching enzyme (pullulanase) that enables production of highly attenuated beers with greater ease, including shorter mashing times, lower enzyme dosages and the ability to produce super-high attenuated beers.

Benefits:

Shortern mashing times by up to 50%
Increase brewhouse capacity
Save time and energy

Attenuzyme® Core is a straightforward glucoamylase with limited α-amylase activity. It’s used to produce highly fermentable glucose-based worts.

If the brewer wishes to address attenuation adjustment in fermentation, the best solution is Novozymes Fungamyl® BrewQ, which is a classic fungal α-amylase used to increase starch breakdown, facilitating higher alcohol output.

Attenuzyme® CLIP is also sometimes useful. It’s a heat-stable pullulanase that accelerates production of highly fermentable worts when used in conjunction with a glucoamylase.

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