Content and molecular weight of water‐extractable arabinoxylans in wheat malt and wheat malt‐based wort with different Kolbach indices

BACKGROUND: Arabinoxylans (AXs) are partially water-extractable polymers that cause problems of viscosity and filterability during beer brewing. This study investigated the effects of Kolbach index (KI) on water-extractable AXs (WEAXs). RESULTS: KI had positive correlations with extract (r = 0.845) and free amino nitrogen (FAN) (r = 0.958). The contents of malt WEAXs (WEAXsm), total AXs and wort AXs (WAXs) were 10.8-11.6 g kg⁻¹, 57.5-60.8 g kg⁻¹ and 137.5-140.5 mg per 100 mL respectively and the corresponding arabinose/xylose (A/X) ratios were 0.52-0.56, 0.55-0.62 and 0.48-0.50. The molecular weight (Mw) ranged from 4.92 × 10⁴ to 6.93 × 10⁴ Da for WEAXsm and from 1.24 × 10⁴ to 2.90 × 10⁴ Da for WAXs. KI had negative correlations with the average degree of polymerization (avDP) of malt (r = -0.877) and wort (r = -0.978). Wort viscosity showed a positive correlation with the Mw of WEAXsm (Mwm) (r = 0.821). CONCLUSION: Increasing KI can promote the degradation of the xylan backbone, while it cannot affect the branching of the polymer chain and the content and Mw of WEAXs.