Add wheat starch?

So I've been reading through 'Brew Like a Monk' and in the section on Chimay, they talk about using wheat starch (wheat flour in its White) as an adjunct in their recipes to improve head retention. Apparently Chimay uses 6-Row malts to convert the extra starches.

Does anyone have any experience with the stuff? The dubbel I brewed recently does not have the massive, sticky head that I had hoped for (I used 2-Row Pils, Special B, dark candi sugar). I'm tempted to try another one with 6-Row and some wheat starch, but I'm not sure what proportions to use, or if there's a special process involved. Do you just add the starch as you dough in?

Thoughts?

I just finished reading the book and was wondering the same thing. I plan on making a dubbel soon and I will add wheat starch to the mash and see what happens. In theory the enzymes from the two row should convert the starch to sugars. I'll give you an update when its all done.

Glad somebody saw this... Definitely keep me updated!

Its in the bucket now. We will see how it works. here's the recipe for 5 gallons. I had to go to the asian market to get the wheat starch. I mixed the wheat starch in with the crushed grains before the mash.

6.5 lbs two row
.5 lbs special b
2 lbs wheat starch
1 lb table sugar
1oz cluster 60min
1oz hallertauer 30 min
mashed at 145 for 90 min
sparged at 165
og 1.068

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Well I'm drinking one now and it tastes great. I'm not sure what effect the wheat starch had on flavor though. It has a FG of 1.008. Give the wheat starch a try if you can find it.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I just want to clarify something cause I have been reading Brew Like a Monk and its made me wonder. When you are referring to wheat starch, what kind of form are you referring to? are you referring to wheat flour? or flaked wheat? or raw wheat? or are you referring to some other kind of form?

I added 10% wheat flour -- just plain ol' Gold Medal unbleached all-purpose -- to the last beer that I brewed. Efficiency was unexpectedly low, so maybe I should have done a cereal mash or a decoction. (So I'm glad I didn't start out with the 30% to 40% flour witbeir; that project has been put on hold)

It's still in the carboy, so I haven't tasted it yet.

It would expect it would work better if it was gelatinized. I cant see how it would be superior to flaked wheat except in cost.

Wheat is supposed to gelatinize at mashing temperatures, and I gave it a pretty long mash time. The iodine said it all converted. Protein might have been the problem.

I never said it would work better. I didn't know what it would do and I wanted to find out. (I just hope it tastes okay; I'll find out in a couple of weeks)