All-Grain - Crazy Betty's Sweet Potato Pie Ale (AG)

RandomBeerGuy · 09-19-2011, 05:41 PM

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WLP011 European Ale
Yeast Starter: No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter: No
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.009
IBU: 21.0
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 15.3 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7 @ 69-70
Additional Fermentation: None
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 @ 67-70
Tasting Notes: Sweet and Spicy.

Grains:

6.5 lbs 2-row US pale
1.5 lbs Munich 10L
1 lbs Caravienne
.5 lbs Caramunich
.5 lbs Special B

Hops:

1 oz Kent Goldings @ 60
.5 oz Fuggles @ 25

Misc:

Light Brown Sugar @ 60
2 Tbsp Cinnamon @ 5
1.5 tsp Powdered Ginger @ 5
2 Tbsp Pure Vanilla Extract (Primary)
.5 tsp Nutmeg @ 5
2 cans of Yams (Orange and Purple label) Forgot the name. 1 can of potato in mash 60 min, 1 can in boil.
1 Tbsp Irish Moss @ 10

Yeast:

WLP011 European Ale

Mash:

Mash Grains and 1 can of potato with 12.5 qt water @156F for 60 min, Sparge at 168F until reaching desired boil amount (I just fill my kettle until it hits around 6.5 or 7 gal), Bring to a boil add in the 2nd can of potato, brown sugar and first hop addition (Goldings), @ 25 add second hop addition (Fuggles), @ 10 add Irish Moss and add chiller to kettle to sanitize, @ 5 add in the spices, Flame out start cooling until 70F, add to fermenter, take hydrometer reading, Pitch Yeast WLP011 and vanilla, Primary 1 week, Secondary 2 weeks, Bottle or keg, Let sit until you want to drink it. I would suggest wait for a month to let flavors mature.

I will try to take a picture and add it so you can the final product.

Cheers,

**worstbrewing** · 09-19-2011, 11:06 PM

This is too wild! I just brewed an almost identical recipe (same hops, yeast, most of the same grain, steps, 2 cans, etc) and was even planning on adding vanilla extract. Any tasting notes? I'm pretty anxious to see how this one turns out!

RandomBeerGuy · 09-20-2011, 07:56 PM

I have to say that is super wierd. But great brewers think alike right? When I get home I'm going to pop one open to see hows the carbing/flavor going. I will let you know and post a picture.

RandomBeerGuy · 09-21-2011, 01:01 AM

Tasting Notes: I had a friend over to help.

So I get cinnamon and caramel flavors. Mouthfeel is moderate. This was an early tasting about 1 week. I'm going to try and leave it alone until october. Hope you like it. Pretty tasty

**worstbrewing** · 09-21-2011, 02:00 AM

Very nice! Definitely glad to see I'm not the only one crazy enough to try this either!

I'm pretty anxious to see how mine turns out but it's still fermenting away, just brewed it over the weekend. I'm debating, but I might try adding some sweet potatoes to the secondary just to see if I can push any more sweet potato flavor into it. Are you liking how it turned out so far? Anything like you expected? I'm guessing worst case scenario it will make a tasty, spicy brown/amber ale or something, so can't be a total loss either way!

RandomBeerGuy · 09-21-2011, 04:27 AM

So far its ok, I wish it was sweeter than it is. Next time I brew this I will probably add the spices during secondary and add the vanilla in the bottling bucket/keg. When yours gets done post a pic and lets compare just for fun. Hope yours turns out. Would you bake the potato to kill the bad bacteria/yeasts? Then I wonder if it just adds starches? Keep me posted.

Cheers,

**worstbrewing** · 09-21-2011, 01:38 PM

Yeah, that's the only thing I'm afraid of, that it won't turn out quite as sweet. I have it in mind as a dessert beer more than anything, but I guess we'll see. I chose that yeast because it is lower attenuating too, in hopes of leaving some residual sweetness. One thing I did do differently that I forgot to mention, is I also added lactose to the boil, which I'm hoping also comes through with more sweetness along with a creamy mouthfeel.

I do plan to bake the potatoes to kill bacteria, etc but I also figure it might carmelize some sugars and ideally leave some flavor, but who knows. There hasn't been much info on using sweet potatoes, so we're kind of in uncharted territory in a lot of ways! Since it's still in primary, I'm going to sample it once I'm ready to secondary it and I'll probably add some more spices accordingly too, but we'll see.

I'll be sure to keep you updated with pics and tasting notes, I'm hoping to rack it in another week or two and should at least have some initial details. Cheers!

imrook · 09-26-2011, 07:43 PM

Looks like I found this thread just in time. I am planning on doing a sweet potato beer this weekend. This recipe is right in the ballpark of where I already was. I suspected that sweet potatos might ferment down pretty dry, so was considering adding some lactose for sweetness and perhaps even some dextrine malt for extra body. What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?

**worstbrewing** · 09-26-2011, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imrook

Looks like I found this thread just in time. I am planning on doing a sweet potato beer this weekend. This recipe is right in the ballpark of where I already was. I suspected that sweet potatos might ferment down pretty dry, so was considering adding some lactose for sweetness and perhaps even some dextrine malt for extra body. What do you guys think? Any other suggestions?

Mine is still finishing up but I stole a sample the other day and it was very tasty! I definitely would recommend the lactose, I had the same idea in mind for added sweetness/body and can't say I regret it yet. I'll hopefully be kegging this sometime this week or next and should have some better feedback for here.

EDIT: Scratch that "kegging this sometime this week", I forgot that I'm planning to add a vanilla bean and a touch of spices to it before kegging, but I'll try to grab some more before/after samples for that too

imrook · 09-26-2011, 08:54 PM

Sounds great. I'll keep my eye on this thread.