I notice that Morebeer has recently started carrying Viking Malts (38 varieties), including no-lox versions of pilsner and pale malt. I’ve never heard of Viking before, but apparently they are a pretty large maltster in Europe.
Here’s a blurb from the website:
Viking Malt is also known for growing the malt varietal Charles, a null-lox malt. Null-lox malts do not contain the enzyme lipoxygenase (lox) which leads to trans-2-nonenal in aged beer. Trans-2-nonenal is responsible for beer staling and the associated flavors of cardboard and paper. Normally the null-lox varietals are sold at a premium in Europe, but our initial shipments of base malts will all be crafted from the Charles null-lox varietal at no extra cost.
Cool. This maybe a more elegant way than adding sulfates and ascorbic acid. Kinda like using acid malt vs liquid lactic acid. It’ll be interesting to see results from experiments.
The inclination if I’m reading the op’s intent, is that, if this enzyme is indeed an accelerator or agent of staling, that it’s absence may slow the rate of damage by the O2 in the tun, kettle, or bottle (not prevent it).
Hmmm. I thought the point of adding anti oxidants in low oxygen brewing is to reduce/ eliminate dissolved oxygen to limit/prevent staling. I thought this lox malt does that for you so you don’t have to add the anti oxidants.
The correlation of lactic acid to acidulated malt was based on that understanding.
Before the discussion unfolded, I was thinking it might benefit folks who are also working on their Low Oxygen techniques, but face particular obstacles. For instance, folks with Braumeisters might have a little extra time after dough-in (the bug-a-boo for these systems) to help the yeast catch up in scavenging or something for those using that method.
IF the malt has good flavor, that is. Nothing matters if not.
Kunze 3.2.1.6 explains that even if all O2 were excluded, degradation by LOX of fatty acids would still occur. (But LOX is temperature sensitive, so using higher kilned malts and mashing in in above 140°F already reduce it considerably.)
The point of the antioxidants is to act as an active scavenger against oxygen introduced after pre-treating the water. After pre-treating you are at ~ 0 ppm DO in the strike water. You add antioxidants to counter the ingress from mashing in and the intrusion of atmospheric oxygen. The main goal is the protection of a fresh grain flavor we find appealing and that likely comes from one of two low weight malt phenolic compounds in the grain, which are oxidized and lost rapidly without precautions. The fringe benefit is long term stability of finished beer. LOX is a staling precursor activated, not exclusively I might add, in the presence of oxygen. It falls in this latter stability category. LOX less malt won’t get you the fresh grain flavors and seeing that it is only one of many known staling precursors, might not even get you long term flavor stability. Flavor stability in itself is the product of many process improvements, not just the removal of LOX. Also, LOX is denatured in malts with kilning more intensive then say Pilsner malt, so really it’s a small piece of that puzzle.
With that said, people using normal brewing process might benefit from this malt the most, being that most subject the mash to upwards of 8 ppm over 60-90 minutes, so having no LOX is a start at least.
Yup. Knowledge is power in brewing and it introduces a measure of control over you’re variables. I would argue that paying closer attention to wort quality into the kettle and then into the fermenter will pay infinitely more dividends than trying to get LOX out of malt. From a flavor stability standpoint that is.
Big Monk, I can see this as another problem you can approach by reducing one or more elements of a triangle as it were. Oxygen the catalyst, LOX the agent and lipids the substrate. Reduce lipids (wort clarity,) minimize oxygen, thereby compensate for the presence of LOX. But I realize lipid degradation can begin at (let’s ignore before) mashing in, before you’ve run off clear wort. Is this where gallotannin comes in?