I found a USDA paper that might be useful for bean fermentation

Conversion of starch from dry common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) to ethanol

I was trying to find some information on HBT about mashing and fermenting beans (black, specifically), but found there wasn't much on the subject and the few people who tried it didn't report their results. Ever persistent, I managed to dig up this research paper from the USDA regarding the "mashability" and fermentability of eight common varieties of beans. The publication seems to be geared toward bean ethanol as a fuel source, but as far as I can tell, the thoroughly described process is just as relevant to beverage-making.

I'm no beer-scientist, so it would be great if some of the more knowledgeable of you can weigh-in.

From what I can tell, they mashed dry beans at 90F for an hour and had yielded pretty high efficiency and fermentability. They even name the variety of yeast used for fermentation.

Could this be a break through for bean-brewing?

I don't know... my gut has a strange way of converting beans to methane, and using beer as a catalyst seems to amplify the reaction. Usually, these are the nights I'm forced to sleep on the couch.

I think the paper only looks at fermenting the bean starch. I bet it would be a mess using beans because they have such a high protein content. The flavor might be interesting. Isn't miso fermented bean paste? That is pretty tasty stuff. I'd look at Asian foods to get inspiration for how to use beans because some of the bean pastes I've had are pretty interesting (but I'm not sure how they fit in a beer).

DrHop said:

I think the paper only looks at fermenting the bean starch. I bet it would be a mess using beans because they have such a high protein content. The flavor might be interesting. Isn't miso fermented bean paste? That is pretty tasty stuff. I'd look at Asian foods to get inspiration for how to use beans because some of the bean pastes I've had are pretty interesting (but I'm not sure how they fit in a beer).

Click to expand...

Yeah, from what I understand, the protein content (~40%) would be pretty goopy. There is probably some way of filtering this though. Where there's a will, right?

Anyway, I thought it would be neat to make an all-bean "beer" without any grain (hence the scare quote). Add some coffee and chipotle to it and you've got an... intriguing brew.