Mashed potatoes

So, you can put corn or rice in your mash and the barley enzymes will convert it. Would the same thing work with potatoes?

I've heard of people using sweet potatoes (treating them like pumpkin for pumpkin ales), but I don't see a reason you couldn't do the same thing for russets. They make vodka out of them, after all. Probably just peel and bake them, then small dice them for the mash. Rice hulls would be a must to avoid a stuck sparge. As far as a gravity contribution I have no idea.

I would imagine it would result in quite a cloudy, thick beer though, due to the starch? I've heard (although never made it) rice is very well washed to remove starch before using as a base, but potatoes can't really be?

The starch is supposed to convert to sugar. I'm not sure how convertible potato starch is compared to rice starch, or corn starch, or if there is even such a thing as different starches.

You would probably need to use 6-row for the bulk of the rest of your base for its high D power. I think that may be the only way to convert the starches from the potato's.

There's probably a reason BMC isn't throwing a cheap readily available ingredient into their beer.

I have a recipe from my great-grandad that used boiled potatoes, malt (2- or 6-row, not sure), raisins, and bread yeast that definitely indicates the starch in the potatoes would convert to sugar and then ferment. I don't know how it would taste without an extra step that can't be discussed on this forum, but by all accounts, once run through the special process out behind the barn, it tasted okay.

Hermit said:

There's probably a reason BMC isn't throwing a cheap readily available ingredient into their beer.

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You're probably right - but that reason might be more abut perception of what a BMC should be and marketability rather than potatoes not working in fermentation.

Cloudy, strangely flavoured beer might await a brewer who tries potatoes - but the starches will convert, at least mostly, and the resulting sugar will be eaten by yeast. I'm playing with other adjuncts right now, but have been thinking about an experimental potato brew sometime this year.

BorealBrewer said:

You're probably right - but that reason might be more abut perception of what a BMC should be and marketability rather than potatoes not working in fermentation.

Cloudy, flavoured beer might await a brewer who tries potatoes -

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You had do many adjectives in that sentence so I fixed if for ya.

Thx, Hermit!

BorealBrewer said:

Thx, Hermit!

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The BMC guys only care about flavor cuz they don't want that crap in their beer. That's why they use rice. But, everything that is old is new again on the net. That's why I take long breaks from this place. There are those that do have the ability to bring something new to the table, but they are far and few between.



http://***********/stories/wizard/a...rd/2043-potato-beer-scaling-recipes-mr-wizard

Check this out: http://www.brewery.org/brewery/library/Potato.html