Using rice STARCH as a fermentable sugar?

[njstaticuser]

I have extracted rice starch from rice and was wondering if I can use it to replace dextrose to increase the alcohol content in my beer without adding body? I know that it is a polysaccaride so I have to boil it first. Has anyone used this before? Or have I heard/read wrong?

 

[BigEd]

I have extracted rice starch from rice and was wondering if I can use it to replace dextrose to increase the alcohol content in my beer without adding body? I know that it is a polysaccaride so I have to boil it first. Has anyone used this before? Or have I heard/read wrong?

No, it's starch not sugar. Yeast cannot metabolize starch. Boiling does not covert starch, mashing does.

 

[usfmikeb]

To take it a bit further, you could either add the starch to your grain mash, or add amylase enzyme to it in order to convert it. If you add to your grain mash, keep in mind that there has to be enough grain to provide sufficient diastatic power to convert both the grain and the rice starch.

 

[njstaticuser]

OOO ok so I should stick with dextrose then right? I wonder how I can extract dextrose from corn meal or corn starch! To the research lab!!!

 

[dlarson2691]

After rice, cornmeal or ground corn is steeped to release the starchs you can use Amylase enzyme to convert the starchs to fermentable sugar. It needs to be added at a specific temperature range to do it's magic. To hot and you will denature the enzyme and to cold it just won't work. About 155°F is optimal. Corn sugar(dextrose) is easier and 100%fermentable. It shouldn't add sweetness or much body.

 

[dmtaylor]

Starch is a molecularly complex form of sugar, but it is not sugar. Enzymes can be used to break it down to sugars. That is why brewers do a mash, to convert starches to sugars. You *can* use starch to make sugar, but it requires enzymes as catalyst. Base malt (real grain malt, not extract usually) contains enzymes, so do other things like Beano or amylase enzymes which are available from shops.