What does 'Diastatic power' mean

[twentyfootwilf]

I've read of Diastatic power and diastatic enzymes in relation to some of the grain descriptions. I'm not too sure what Diastatic Power is , can someone enlighten me please. Apologies for my ignorance.

[soupdragon]

The higher the diastatic power, the greater the ability to convert the starches in other ingredients into fermentable sugars. If I remember correctly, 1kg of diastatic malt will convert 1kg of other grain.

Cheers Tom

[Wolfy]

It's a measure of how much starch converting enzymes the particular malt has, and hence the ability to convert starch to sugar.
A good description can be found on Wiki here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashing#Diastatic_power

[twentyfootwilf]

I see, so am I right in thinking that a malt with a high diastic power will produce a lot of fermentable sugar when steeped in hot water?

[soupdragon]

No.
It just means that it'll convert a bit more grain that is unable to convert itself like flaked maize or rice. It has to be mashed ( steeped if you will ) at around 66c for between 60-90 mins to convert the starch to sugars.

Cheers Tom

[zgoda]

General rule is the paler the malt, the more diastatic power it has. Of 2-row pale spring barley malts pilsner has highest and munich has lowest. Other grains can yield higher diastatic power in pale malt, eg. rye malt has colour of light munich and diastatic power of pilsner, or even higher.

[twentyfootwilf]

Okay, I'm beginning to understand . I've got some aromatic malt and some crystal malt on order which I want to use to alter a Coopers draught kit made with 1.5kg Coopers light malt extract and using sonnet and wilamette hops. So to get an improved malt flavour and malt aroma from the aromatic malt I need to mash it at around 67c. Does aromatic malt need longer steeping/.mashing than crystal malt?

[greenxpaddy]

This thread:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51395&hilit=+lintner#p540543

has links to Linter value tables and some discussion about recipe formulation, which is the only reason you need to worry about diastatic power, if you are devising your own malt combinations

[twentyfootwilf]

By the look of it, the type of brewing I'm doing ie adapted kit recipes, I don't think I need to worry about diastatic qualities. It appears that I only need to know how much and how long I need to steep my aromatic malt and/or crystal malt to improve the quality of a kit. Can anyone offer any ideas?

[greenxpaddy]

Steep for twenty minutes