Complete breakdown of Gluten

[Dfirth22]

I've been doing some shallow research on glutenase and other peptides with the goal of degrading the gluten found in barley and wheat. The reason I want to break it down, is to create a barley/wheat derived ale completely safe for suffers of Celiac disease.

 

It is thought that even broken down gluten may still contain long peptides which will inflame the small intestines, so those peptides may also need to be broken down.

 

In brewing we do a procedure called a protein rest, at which we hold the grains at around 122-132F for half an hour with the goal of breaking down proteins, yet this process is supposedly inadequate. However, perhaps with the addition of certain enzymes held at these temperatures, it would be sufficient to create a Celiac-safe product.

 

Is it possible? Can it be done? A gluten free-beer without the use of sorghum or buckwheat?

[hermanntrude]

assuming your initial statement is true (that gluten is a problem only if it isn't broken down into it's component amino acids) it should be possible to do. hydrolysing proteins is usually simple enough... although perhaps there's something special about gluten?

[JARY]

Gluten-free is deffinitely a possibility, but in terms of industry that still might have a ways to go! Enzyme isn't cheap either, but that's another story ^.^

 

I work at Malt-o-meal in the lab, my knowledge is pretty limited still lol, but I work with wheat plenty of times, and if I recall gluten is made up of two different proteins.. glutenin, and something else that I can't remember atm

Anyways, its insoluble in water, something to do with the tight cross-linkage between the disulfides which makes it tough to breakdown.

 

Hey, check out "AN-PEP". Its a new thing I read about, it can break down gluten while surviving those acidic stomach conditions, might be a good place to start at least