Potato Starch

[Goofinder]

Has anyone used potato starch as an adjunct? Obviously it would need to be mashed with some base malt to provide the enzymes to convert it.

I saw some while I was down at the shops this afternoon and it got me thinking could it be used as an adjunct in the same way as flaked maize or rice to provide a bit more fermentables without the body?

The only thing I can find about using potatoes is this: http://brewery.org/library/Potato.html

 

[Adamt]

Troydo just bottled a potato beer recently... hopefully he'll see this.

 

[Muggus]

Wow! That sounds really interesting!
I'd be very willing to give that a go...especially like the sound of a Sweet Potato Stout, that would be awesome!

 

[geoffi]

Dunno about using it in a brew, but it totally kicks arse as a thickener in stir-fries...

 

[muckanic]

I haven't tested this idea, but I believe potatoe starch is unusual in that it may be hydrolysed thermally. In other words, boil it up, preferably under acidic conditions, and it should convert into dextrins. I think this may be why spuds have such a high glycaemic index, closer to sugar than other vegetables. So the starch could be used to provide body without flavour (a bit like corn syrup) unless it was exposed to beta amylase from the malt.

 

[newguy]

A guy I know brewed a potato pilsner. He told me that he chopped up the raw potatoes and boiled them. He then added that, water and all, to the mash. He did say he did a stepped mash - protein rest, sacch rest, mashout. It was a wonderful beer. No potato character that I could actually taste - it tasted like an ordinary pilsner.

 

[bonj]

As Adam said, Troydo recently did a potato beer and I believe he did a step mash on his too.

 

[Bizier]

I think I remember my grandfather making some ungodly concoction using boiled and mashed potatoes, doubt he mashed them at all - and fermented the sloppy result.

Also potato vodka - I didn't think that there was any mashing as such necessary for the yeast to access fermentables.

 

[~MikE]

STUCK SPARGE FTW!!!

 

[Goofinder]

Ok, sounds like it has been done and should come out with something not too potato-y. Since I've got a few weeks off work over Christmas I reckon I might whip up a small batch using some and see how it goes.

 

[Fourstar]

Considering pumpkin beer was the way the Americans attempted to replicate beer in the 1st instance i'd say give it a go! (this was before thay got their hands onto malted grains.)

Obviously using potato is not the same as the pumpkin beers made today and the flavour/composition tween potato's and pumpkin are slim. It never hurts to experiment. All i can forsee by using potato starch is it will act like an adjunct (rice, corn, sucrose) and thin the body with little to no flavour impact. Alternatly it could give you a stuck mash or a flavour issue of some sort.

Going by Newguys comments, it seems do-able with no ill effects. Would be interesting to know the results if you go thru with it.

Edit: Splelnig

 

[Bribie G]

I read somewhere that some Brazilian beers contain potato, which would make sense as potatoes come from South America.

 

[bradmcm]

I think I remember my grandfather making some ungodly concoction using boiled and mashed potatoes, doubt he mashed them at all - and fermented the sloppy result.

Also potato vodka - I didn't think that there was any mashing as such necessary for the yeast to access fermentables.

Nope, you still need an external supply of amylase. All the traditional recipes (that work) I have seen include a proportion of barley malt in the mash to break down the starch into dextrins.


Oh, and back to beer, yes, you can use potato but it has a neutral flavour, and it's relatively tricky to actually work with, so it's never really used as there are much better, easier and cheaper sources of fermentables out there.