SerifSansSerif
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2015
- Messages
- 117
- Reaction score
- 25
First time posting in the gluten free section.
I don't have any problems with gluten, and, oddly enough, I'm not a beer aficionado either.
But playing around with unusual brews or unusual processes interests the hell out of me.
So that leads me here:
I've been toying with the idea of sweet potato as a main fermentable in a brew. I know there's some problems with converting the starches and sweet potato might cause issues. (or at least it seems that way from looking around).
Randomly enough, I thought maybe freezing starches might have an unusual effect on them.
So some internet searching ensued. Strangely enough, "freezing starches" turned up a few results talking about the effects that freezing has on potatoes (different species, I know).
Which has lead me to something that hit upon this:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1541-4337.12143/pdf
And now I'm getting a bit lost...
My GUESS here is that by freezing and thawing starches, the starches seem to lose water and compact, and then, when brought back to room temp, tend to regain the water. All this restructuring apparently, seems to have some affects on the enzymes present in these starches (if, in fact, they are present), and can cause some form of degradation of the starches (possibly causing them to break down into sugars???)
It's just got my mind reeling in a few different directions. Perhaps a few hours in a freezer might help my sweet potatoes to get sweeter?
No clue here, but that's why I'm asking if anyone with a science background might be able to explain some of this as though I was a five year old.
Thanks!
I don't have any problems with gluten, and, oddly enough, I'm not a beer aficionado either.
But playing around with unusual brews or unusual processes interests the hell out of me.
So that leads me here:
I've been toying with the idea of sweet potato as a main fermentable in a brew. I know there's some problems with converting the starches and sweet potato might cause issues. (or at least it seems that way from looking around).
Randomly enough, I thought maybe freezing starches might have an unusual effect on them.
So some internet searching ensued. Strangely enough, "freezing starches" turned up a few results talking about the effects that freezing has on potatoes (different species, I know).
The use of unmodified starches in frozen foods is severely limited by the undesirable textural changes that occur after freezing and thawing. Retrogradation of glucan chains leads to syneresis, a separation of the starch gel and water phases. Stabilization of the starch structure is normally achieved by chemical modification to prevent these changes from occurring. We have now created a freezethaw-stable potato starch by alteration of starch composition and structure by genetic modification. An amylose-free starch with short-chain amylopectin was produced by simultaneous antisense downregulation of three starch synthase genes. This starch is extremely freezethaw stable and shows no syneresis even after five freezethaw cycles. The use of this starch has potential for environmental and consumer benefits because its production requires no chemical modification.
Which has lead me to something that hit upon this:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1541-4337.12143/pdf
And now I'm getting a bit lost...
My GUESS here is that by freezing and thawing starches, the starches seem to lose water and compact, and then, when brought back to room temp, tend to regain the water. All this restructuring apparently, seems to have some affects on the enzymes present in these starches (if, in fact, they are present), and can cause some form of degradation of the starches (possibly causing them to break down into sugars???)
It's just got my mind reeling in a few different directions. Perhaps a few hours in a freezer might help my sweet potatoes to get sweeter?
No clue here, but that's why I'm asking if anyone with a science background might be able to explain some of this as though I was a five year old.
Thanks!