My girl roasted some sweet potatoes today for snacking. On the bottom of the baking pan was some syrup that caramelized from the potato.
I licked some and thought "this is kind of like malt extract"
then that evolved to "sweet potato beer?"
which ended up being "sweet potato casserale!"
With the holiday season coming up and people making pumpkin ales, we can't forget another sweet favorite, the sweet potato (commonly incorrectly called the yam).
anyone make beer with this before?
With the intent of making a holiday beer I recently did a sweet potato based brew that I took to my local home brew club meeting last night where it got very favorable reviews. The unique thing here is that you can taste the sweet potato.
We did a combo of some of the suggestions in this thread starting with 4# of yams and peeling them, then cubing and baking in the oven for about an hour to get carmelization. We mashed the potatoes and then put them in a mesh bag and into the mash. Then the mesh bag was transferred to the boil, where the potatoes all dissolved and escaped out of the bag. I wanted the starch from the mash and was hoping to catch flavor on the boil. Bottom line is the beer is very drinkable.
I actually judged Spice, vegetable, & herb category at a BJCP competition held over the weekend. I had wished I entered this beer because I think it would have gotten a medal, of course then I could not judge the category.
I was inspired to do sweet potato after trying Coedo Beniaka at a restaurant.
http://www.luckyrice.com/blog/japanese-microbrews-introducing-coedo-beer/ - article that mentions the beer
http://www.coedobrewery.com/e/swf/index.html - brewer's incredibly slow flash web site
Recipe: Mr Potatohead
Brewer: B & L
Asst Brewer:
Style: Mild
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)
Recipe Specifications
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Boil Size: 9.14 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.041 SG
Estimated Color: 17.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 62.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.7 %
Boil Time: 85 Minutes
Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3 lbs 8.0 oz Sweet Potato (3.0 SRM) Adjunct 1 29.8 %
6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 55.3 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.5 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4 4.3 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5 2.1 %
0.75 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - First Wor Hop 6 15.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) [35.49 Yeast 7 -
Mash Schedule: Bruce batch
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 12.0 oz
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Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 15.69 qt of water at 164.1 F 154.0 F 90 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 6.88gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
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