Milk contains amylase....

[manticle]

I'm still a little unclear on what you're aiming to achieve Tim. If you want to see if milk amylase is capable of breaking down long chain sugars or starches, you'd surely be better off not using malt that has the capacity to self convert. Why not try and activate the amylase within some unpasteurised milk then ferment the milk itself or activate the amylase and try converting starch in a malt like biscuit?

With this brew, it just seems like you added whey with no way (pun partially intended) of telling what effect the amylase may or may not have.
On a side note re pasteurisation - I bet my underwear pasteurisation is more than enough to destroy milk amylase.

 

[TimT]

No - I wasn't testing what the milk amylase was doing, just hoping it would add a little something to the brewing process. The main aim in the end is to have a brew that's a little creamier, and a little sweeter than it would otherwise be because of the presence of whey and lactose.

 

[TimT]

How much permeate did you add in total, its about 4.8%w/v Lactose, from there you can work out exactly what the effect will be on the FG.


Thanks for the figures Mark! I had searched before to try to find out how much lactose you get in whey, though hadn't been able to come to a final conclusion.

Added about 2 L whey, in a brew about 13 L in size. So it would have been about 15 per cent of the final brew.

 

[TimT]

Would have used twice that but I ran out of whey!

 

[Mardoo]

MHB I'm a bit curious why you chose to use the term "permeate" here instead of "whey"? Were the figures you used based on permeate? Granted it's largely a difference in process between the two (ultrafiltration vs separation by coagulation of solids), but I'm curious about why you chose your terms.

 

[TimT]

Though by the looks of things the whey may not have made much difference to the brew, there's still a lot of unknowns. Do the sugar levels and enzyme levels vary much? I have a hunch that right now there might be more lactose, galactose, and enzyme in the milk because it's spring - calving season. Milk *tastes* sweeter at the moment. And since I'm not buying milk in industrial quantities or using it to produce mass market product like Kraft Tasty, I'm guessing it may be less bland and generic than the stuff the big dairy factories work with - ie, more natural variability.

The galactose is another intriguing ingredient; I'm assuming that will ferment out.

 

[MHB]

Mardoo - Largely to highlight that there isn't much difference between the two, and to wind Tim up a bit As far as I can tell they are functionally the same.

So 2L of whey at about 5% Lactose gives you roughly 0.1 Kg of Lactose
Assuming that it all wound up in the fermenter and that's a big assumption.

0.1/13 = 0.769% Lactose (very roughly) so its adding 0.003 points to your FG.
If based on your experience with your system you anticipated an FG of 1.011, the Lactose might be pushing that up to 1.014 at the highest.
Really is too close to call. but I am tempted to suggest that you got a less attenuateive wort by mashing with whey.
If you are looking for a creaminess from the whey, I suspect most of the protein wound up in the bottom of the kettle and there isn't enough Lactose to make a real difference. better off using some Flaked Barley or Flaked Oat, gives beer a lovely velvety texture.
Mark

 

[TimT]

I wonder if the remaining curds (I didn't reheat to make ricotta) would have gradually precipitated out, drawing some other solids with them, as the brew got more acidic? Not that I've looked much into the topic but substances used to clarify brews all seem to operate on a similar principle - as they go solid they draw other solids towards them.

 

[TimT]

Thanks for your ongoing feedback Mark, it really does help me figure out just exactly what is going on in this here brew (and others)....