What You Need to Know
°WK or degrees Windisch-Kolbach is a unit for measuring the diastatic power of malt, named after the German brewer Wilhelm Windisch and the Luxembourg brewer Paul Kolbach. It is a common unit in beer brewing that measures the ability of enzymes in malt to reduce starch to sugar (maltose). It is defined as the amount of maltose formed by 100 g of malt in 30 min at 20 °C. Degrees Lintner is a unit used in the United States for the same purpose. The conversion is as follows:
Steps
- 1.
German Pilsner (Germany): Critical for achieving proper fermentability and attenuation
- 2.
Belgian Tripel (Belgium): Ensures complete conversion for high-alcohol beers
- 3.
British Barley Wine (United Kingdom): Determines sugar profile for long aging potential