sweet potato beer

gator_brewer · 09-04-2009, 01:35 PM

Hey, I'm making a sweet potato beer for thanksgiving this weekend and have a quick question.

Can I use canned 'Yams' as my sweet potato (instead of a sweet potato mash/pie filling)?

Should I use or drain the juice they come in?

Thanks

**Edcculus** · 09-04-2009, 02:01 PM

Are you doing extract, PM or AG? Where are you planning on adding the sweet potato? I think its common consensus that adding it in the boil creates an ungodly mess. Maybe if you could keep it contained in a grain bag. Yes, you can use canned yams. I used canned pumpkin for my pumpkin ale before. Just make sure that sweet potato, or yams are the only ingredient. Use everything including the juices.

gator_brewer · 09-04-2009, 02:17 PM

I'm doing an extract version (got the recipe off here, but can't find the link now)

I'm adding 1 can with seeping grains and the other can after about 3 days (during fermentation)

The ingredients of the canned SP are just sweet potatoes, water, sugar, spices (the last 3 from the juice they are packed in) so I'm safe there.

I have experience with pumpkin beers, so I know of the 4-6in of trub no matter what you do.

Thanks

Cap'n Jewbeard · 09-15-2009, 04:13 AM

I dunno if this is the recipe you were looking at, but I did do this a couple years ago and enjoyed it tremendously:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/i-yam-what-i-yam-sweet-tater-ale-21212/

I suggest using SP in the mash/partial mash, and my strategy has been to include some 6-row to try to convert the starches to sugar.

I also suggest caramelizing it first, rather than adding raw potato - but I've never tried it raw, so maybe it'll work...

Finally, I and the few other brave SP-users have tended to find that you can't taste any kind of sweet-potato-ness in the final beer. I don't yet know if that is a good or bad thing.