How does Pectinex Ultra SP-L and its variants differ from straight up pectic enzyme

I'm a brewer, and a cider maker, so I'd love to be able to use some of the products I already have - namely pectic enzyme. I was looking at the Cranberry Soda recipe, which calls for this fancy pantsy enzyme. How much more awesome is it than the stuff I can get at my local brew shop?

Thanks

Ben

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Comments

michaelnatkin

I just heard the answer to this on Dave Arnold's show last week - Pectinex Ultra SP-L is very broad spectrum, whereas what you find at a brew shop may be more finely tuned to specific applications, so not guaranteed to work in our recipes.

adey73

I tried the home brew variety to make Dave's pectin fries.. ... It didn't work

Ben_Humphrey_18779

Thanks for the comments! Very helpful.

Tim_Roth_78505

Some further clarification: looking at Sigma Aldrich, Pectinex-Ultra SPL appears to actually be a prep of several enzymes involved in breaking down plant cell wall material. Additionally, the other "pectinase" sold by Sigma is purified from a different species of Aspergillus and has only one enzyme listed. What's even MORE telling is that the specification sheets provided for the non-Pectinex brands of Pectinase say that they have an activity of 5 Units/mg protein, whereas Pectinex has 3800 Units/mg protein (in this case, "Units" is a measure of how much pectin is degraded per unit time - divided by the milligrams of enzyme, the "Units/mg" effectively tells you how good the enzyme is at doing its job). In summary: Pectinex is ridiculously good at what it does, and you would require up to 1000 times more generic pectinase than Pectinex to get the same amount of work done in the same amount of time. It's very possible that you can use Pectinase (I'm assuming that's what your "Pectic Enzyme" is) in higher quantities instead of Pectinex, but you'll definitely have to make adjustments if the recipe calls for Pectinex and you're using something else.

For those curious, here are the Sigma catalog entries for each enzyme:
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/p2611?lang=en&region=US (Pectinex Ultra-SPL)
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/p4716?lang=en&region=US (Non-Pectinex Pectinase)

Ben_Humphrey_18779

Woo hoo! Thanks for your research. That's a fascinating comparison. If I can dig up my remaining "regular" pectic enzyme, I think I'll go ahead and give it a whirl, just to see what it does, then throw down for the Pectinex as a comparison. I'll report back on the results.

michaelnatkin

@Tim Roth - great info! Would you be willing to add it to the ingredient wiki? http://www.chefsteps.com/ingredients/pectinex-ultra-sp-l

Tim_Roth_78505

OK, added some details. I'll be sure to update with more if I learn anything else - @Ben Humphrey, please keep us posted if you try out any other pectinases!