Enzymes in Juice and Wine Industries

Enzymes play a major role in the beverage industry.They are are involved in processing and extraction of fruit juice from ripe and juicy fruits .Enzymes can be used in wine-making to increase the preliminary extracted juice quantities and to obtain high-quality wine. Pecto-lytic (pectin degrading) enzymes ensure that the necessary clarification and filtration of wine can be carried out. In manufacturing of red wine, enzymes help in release of color and aids in color extraction from fruits. They can also influence the taste of wine.enzymesAnother field in the manufacturing of beverages where enzymes are employed is the cleaning of ultra-filtration membranes. In case of UF membranes which are heavily used in the fruit juice industry, a combination of cellulose and protease has excellent cleaning effects.Even for an old industry like beer brewing.enzymes developed from microbial sources are now being put into use. Enzymes are used to brew high amounts of inexpensive raw materials like barley as well

Barley contains starch that has to be broken down to ferment-able sugars before yeast can make alcohol. Some enzymes are already present in the barley, e.g. β-amylases, but majority of enzymes are produced during germination, e.g. α-amylases and proteases.

Barley

But these malt enzymes do have some limitations as well. They can only work at certain temperatures and pH values.Sometimes due to unfavorable conditions,an enzyme’s activities might be too slow to do a proper job in proper time. Commercial exogenous enzymes can be designed to work at preferred temperatures and pH values.Addition of exogenous enzymes at various steps during beer brewing can make the process easier, faster and more consistent.
The traditional source of enzymes used for the conversion of cereals into beer is barley malt. If small amounts of enzyme activity is present in the mash, there will be several undesirable consequences.Some of them are listed below:

  • The Yield will be too low
  • Wort separation will take a lot of time.
  • The fermentation process will be too slow
  • Small amounts of alcohol will be produced
  • Beer filtration rate will be reduced
  • The flavor and stability of the beer will be inferior in quality.

Exogenous enzymes are used to supplement a malt’s own enzymes in order to prevent these problems. Industrial enzymes are used to ensure :

  • Better adjunct liquefaction
  • Production of low-carbohydrate beer (‘light beer’)
  • Shorter Beer Maturation Time
  • Production of beer from cheaper raw materials.

Enzymes in Juices 

Enzymes increase processing capacity and improve economy in fruit juices and wine industries. The most commonly used enzymes in these industries are

  • Pectinase .
  • Cellulase/Hemicellulase

These enzymes increase juice yields and accelerate juice clarification. They produce clear and stable single-strength juices, juice concentrates and wines, from not only core-fruits such as apples and pears, but also stone fruits, berries, grapes, citrus-fruits, tropical fruits and vegetables like carrots, beets and green peppers.

Enzymes in Wine

Winemakers supplement naturally occurring grape enzymes with commercial enzymes to increase production capacity of clear and stable wines with enhanced body, flavor and bouquet. When added to grapes or musts,Pectinase increases the volume of juice extracted, color, fermentable sugars and flavor components.It also helps in reducing the pressing and fermentation time. β-glucanase containing Pectinase depectinize grape-musts or young wines during fermentation prior to fining and filtration. Grape musts and wines treated with B-glucanase containing Pectinase are less viscous to health. They ferment, settle and mature more quickly.A beta-glucanase containing pectinase is also used to degrade Botrytis-glucan. Wines made from overripe grapes infected with Botrytis cinerea mold (these are often difficult to clarify and filter due to high concentrations of Botrytis-produced by glucan polysaccharides). The use of B-glucanase containing Pectinase can speed up clarification and filtration as well.
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How to produce Apple Juice through Enzymes?

  • Visual Inspection– Look for mold, spray residue etc in the fruits you pick for juice extraction. Cut or misshapen apples are okay for juice

Potato sorting table / visual inspection Miedema

  • Washing– Apples are then water-washed by various methods for 10 – 45 minutes.  Industries add chlorine dioxide, hypo-chlorite or other chlorine compounds to control microbial buildup in re-circulated water.  Washing includes physical scrubbers, which can actually reduce wash time.  The extensive washing procedures effectively remove external surface dirt and topical agro-chemical residues (pesticides)

  • Enzyme Use in The Mash:After the washing, apples are chopped up by a grinder, apple mill or a hammer mill and turned into apple mash.  To produce a highly pres-sable mash, it should not be ground to fine, stirred or heated above 35 C (95 F).  When treated with PECTINASES the temperature range is kept mild, from 20 – 30 C and the reaction time is typically 30 – 120 minutes.  This is done to limit the hydrolysis of protopectin.  Protopectin binds to the the cells of the fruit, and its hydrolysis weakens the fruit tissue, reduces its press-ability and increases viscosity.  The addition of PECTINASE to a mill is very beneficial especially for apples with a soft texture.  PECTINASES developed for apple mashes contain a high percentage of pectin esterase and polygalacturonase (aka pectin glucosidase).  These enzymes dramatically reduce viscosity and the stickiness of the pomace without affecting protopectin or reducing its press-ability.  Enzyme blends that include CELLULASE and HEMICELLULASE activity can break down the cell wall and increase the over-all juice production by 5 – 10 %.
  • The mash is then sent to hydraulic presses that squeeze the mash to extract the juice.  A single press usually yields only about 60 – 70% of the juice from fresh apples.  Stored apples produce less juice and their untreated pomace tends to stick to the edges of the press. This is caused by protopectin hydrolysis that occurs during ripening, which separates cells and softens the fruit.
  • Water is added to the pulp reside and it is completely pressed, usually with a horizontal press.  The increase in juice volume isn’t great but the increase in sugar levels is significant.  Normal juice is about 12 Brix.  The second press sugar can raise the juice to 12.3 – 12.5 Brix.
  • The apple juice is then pumped into holding tanks where it is filtered to remove sediment.
  • If PECTINASE was not added during mash, it can be added to the holding tanks.  The use of a product like PECTINASE will reduce viscosity, prevent or reduce clogging of the filters and increase filtration rates.
  • LiquiSEB can also be used when the tanks are clean to help unclog filters
  • The final juice is then filtered and bottled and labeled to go out to the consumer .
Shivam Kumar
Shivam Kumar
B.Tech (Bio-Tech) + M.Tech (Food-Tech)

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