Analytical Study of Proteolytic Enzymes for Beer Stabilization

To optimize beer stabilization the following enzymes were studied: bromelain, ficin, papain, and pepsin. For each enzyme electrophoretic methods on cellulose acetate were used. After electrophoretic separation, chemical and enzymatic determination showed the crude industrial extracts to be highly complex. Refined papain for instance, contained 10 components, bromelain, 13, ficin, 10, and pepsin, 10. Electrophoresis makes it possible to identify the components of a mixture of enzymes and to analyze industrial preparations sold to brewers. Column electrofocusing defines the isoelectric pH of refined papain constituents and peroxidase evaluation is instructive with regard to conditions for harvesting and treating the crude latex from the papaya tree. Although the presence of proteases in beer is easy to determine by estimating residual proteolytic activity, only the use of antipapain and antipepsin immunsera makes it possible to identify the nature of the proteolytic enzyme added to beer, even if it is pasteurized.