Lipase activities during malting and fermentation of sorghum for burukutu production

Local red and white and SK5912 varieties of sorghum grains were malted, and assayed for amylase, diastatic and lipase activities. The 5-day malts from the red and white varieties were fermented for 48 h to produce burukutu, during which, lipase activities were monitored. Malt values peaked on day 5, and the red malts had the highest diastatic activities while the white variety had the lowest. Lipase activity in the malts peaked on day 4 with the red having the highest activity. The pH of the fermenting gruels decreased from 5.33 and 5.35 and levelled off at 3.88 and 3.85 for the red and white malts respectively. During fermentation, lipase activity peaks were detected at 0 h, 21 h and 45 h for the red malt with the highest peak at 45 h. The peak fermentation times for lipase activity in the white malt was at 0 h, 21 h and 48 h with the highest peak at 48 h. Lipase activity within the first 39 h was higher in the white gruel. Sorghum malt lipase from the red and white varieties may consist of three isoforms, two of which may have activity optima in the acidic pH range.