Conversion of ginger starch

[IkiMano]

Hello I am interested in making ginger beer. I happen to have a abundance of ginger and starch from ginger. Ginger starch is very similar to corn starch in apperance. I would like to convert the starch into sugar to ferment. What is the simplest way to to do this?

 

[YoungEinstein]

I know this post was 5 years ago, did you find anything out about this? Or has anyone else tried or done something that relates to this? Was curious about the same thing in my Ginger Beer making process (the kind made with Ginger Beer Plant). It seems interesting, possibly not all that useful, but maybe worth exploring.

 

[doug293cz]

I found the attached paper on ginger root starch. According to the paper the starch is about 22% amylose, implying it is mostly amylopectin. Amylopectin is the branched starch structure, whereas amylose is the linear chain structure. Ginger starch also has a high gelatinization temperature compared to barley starch, so mashing (converting to sugar will be more complicated.) I would suggest boiling the starch in a large amount of water to gelatinize, then cooling the soup down to typical barley mashing temps (~150°F), and adding amylase enzyme.

The readily available amylase enzymes are alpha amylase which cannot break (hydrolyze) the branching bonds of amylopectin, so if you only use amylase enzyme, you will be left with a high level of dextrins. You could use glucoamylase (amylocglucosidase) instead of alpha amylase which would also hydrolyze the dextrins to fermentable sugars, resulting in a much thinner body.

Brew on

 

[doug293cz]

I know this post was 5 years ago, did you find anything out about this? Or has anyone else tried or done something that relates to this? Was curious about the same thing in my Ginger Beer making process (the kind made with Ginger Beer Plant). It seems interesting, possibly not all that useful, but maybe worth exploring.

The Old Einstein was better at math. The original post was in Nov 2023, so a little less than two years ago.

Brew on