sweet potato beer

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?

I've thought several times that the sweet potato would make a great substitute. Most of the flavor people associate with pumpkin and sweet potato are the spices that are added.... They do contribute a mild flavor in themselves but roasting them will definitely caramelize them and bring out more flavors.

I've thought about this, and it should be simple, just cube and roast sweet potatoes (I think it would be better to remove the skins to avoid tannins?) then add the sweet potatoes to the mash. You could add it to the boil, but then you'll lose a bunch of wort due to sludge. I've been wanting to try this for a while but it never seems to make it to the top of my list.

You are actually better off cubing, steaming, mashing and then add it to the boil in a muslin bag to avoid it going everywhere. Steaming helps break out the starch. Then use Amylase on it, as this will then break the starch down to fermentable sugars. Other wise you will just be stuck with starch that does nothing. Or you can do as above, but instead of adding to the boil, add to the fermentation bucket. I did a sweet potato pie mead that way in the summer. It actually tasted a little like a beer, too. Check out the mead section or the GF section for more sweet potato recipes and how to use them.

I think i'll mash some and boil some. and i use amylase always so that's going in for sure. gotta think what adjuncts would lend a marshmallow flavor. my friend said to toss marshmallows in a bag into the keg. ...?

It might be incredibly sweet? Worth a try though. I guess you could use them as if you were dry hopping? Is there not a flavouring or something for marshmallows that could be used instead though?

i don't know, that's what i'm wondering

Found a marshmallow extract might work for flavoring.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00792SAZ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

ooh what a find. maybe keg with that or ferment? or secondary?

Hmmm, I may have to try this one now. I hope they ship that extract to Britain...

GilSwillBasementBrews said:

Found a marshmallow extract might work for flavoring.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00792SAZ4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Click to expand...

Those looking for flavor extracts should also try Capella. They are even listed as a vendor here on HBT.

Here is a link directly to their mashmallow flavoring.
http://capellaflavordrops.com/MarshmallowFlavoring.aspx

I made a 100% Sweet Potato beer. It smelled great in the boil kettle, but it didn't transfer over post fermentation.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/sweet-potato-mash-experiment-211386/index2.html#post3640991

See, mine was the opposite. It had a distinct smell of vom whilst fermenting, but then tasted amazing once done. But mine was a mead too...

Sweet Potato Casserale
Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer


Type: All Grain
Date: 10/6/2012
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Brewer: Kyle M
Boil Size: 5.72 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0 Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes:

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 55.56 %
3.00 lb Sweet potato (3.0 SRM) Grain 22.22 %
2.00 lb Caramel Malt - 60L 6-Row (Briess) (60.0 SRM) Grain 14.81 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 3.70 %
0.50 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3.70 %
0.75 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 10.3 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (30 min) Hops 3.2 IBU
0.25 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 1.7 IBU
1 Pkgs American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) Yeast-Ale



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.072 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.018 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.09 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 15.3 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 15.9 SRM Color: Color




this is what I worked on. However, i dont know the sugar yield for sweet potato, so BS just made it potential 1.035 like barley.

Autumn Maple by The Bruery is done with yams (sweet potatoes) and is very good.
http://thebruery.com/beers/seasonalcollection.html
They add theirs to the mash. Last month's issue of BYO has a pumpkin saison recipe that would probably lend it self to sweet potatoes as well.

GTG

Tired Hands Brewery in Ardmore, PA's recent Oktoberfest beer was brewed with sweet potatoes. I really enjoyed it. I know they used 50lbs of sweet potatoes and cascade hops, but I'm not sure the size of their batches. I know their equipment is from the old Pittsfield Brewing Co. in Pittsfield Mass if that helps.

http://books.google.com/books?id=0p...a=X&ei=DbF8UM7cAqmH0QGi1oCoCA&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAQ
Set out to make a pumpkin beer last fall, stumbled across that article from 1920 and made a sweet potato beer instead. You don't need to add amylase!

Potatoes and beer. MMMMMM, I am full

Sethalex said:

http://books.google.com/books?id=0p...a=X&ei=DbF8UM7cAqmH0QGi1oCoCA&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAQ
Set out to make a pumpkin beer last fall, stumbled across that article from 1920 and made a sweet potato beer instead. You don't need to add amylase!

Click to expand...

Holy cow! Thank you for sharing this!!

mendozer said:

ooh what a find. maybe keg with that or ferment? or secondary?

Click to expand...

I would definitely let it sit in the beer for a while to allow it to mellow in with the sweet potato flavor. You definitely don't want just a "marshmallow" beer, and extract is easily overpowering. A hint makes the potatoes perfect, I could only assume the same thing for the beer.

Being a gluten free brewer I use sweet potatoes quite often. I found the easiest way to brew them is to just bake them for an hour or so and the skin comes right off. I mash them with hot water and amylase. OG is usually around 1.020 so a little light. I use either dextrose to bring it up or sorghum. Taste is very beery. Quite surprising.

I have used sweet potatos before, cubed, roasted and added to the boil. I can't tell the difference between it and Pumpkin. It makes a very nice autumn ale.

Made a simple Sweet Potato Stout this summer.

Roasted halved sweet potatoes in the oven for 1.5 hours at 375. Mashed them up (skin and all) and threw them in the mash with a fist full of rice hulls.

Very nice beer. Sweet Potatoes brought more of a chocolate flavor to the beer than I expected. Much more subtle than pumpkin.

Good stuff.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/all-grain-sweet-potato-ale-fall-ale-207671/

here is my attempt at a sweet potato beer. Couldn't find pumpkin at the time due to some shortage so swapped out for some sweet potato.

There is a local brewery here that makes a sweet potato beer which is quite good - it's the Carver 69
http://www.fullsteam.ag/beer/workers-comp/

Check out this post, we both made similar recipes at the same time and had good results: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/crazy-bettys-sweet-potato-pie-ale-ag-269624/

It's become a major holiday hit for me with friends and family. I'll try to dig out my recipe, it's slightly different but seems like we both had similar results. Cheers!

mendozer said:

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?

Click to expand...

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
--------------------------
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:
------------
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
----------------------------
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:
------


Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com

GTG said:

Autumn Maple by The Bruery is done with yams (sweet potatoes) and is very good.
http://thebruery.com/beers/seasonalcollection.html
They add theirs to the mash. Last month's issue of BYO has a pumpkin saison recipe that would probably lend it self to sweet potatoes as well.

GTG

Click to expand...

I've worked on cloning their Autumn Maple a couple of times and have produced results that are almost identical. It's a fantastic sweet potato seasonal regardless.

http://www.blackalleybrewing.com/2011/11/autumn-maple-clones-tasting.html

Sonicalligator said:

I've worked on cloning their Autumn Maple a couple of times and have produced results that are almost identical. It's a fantastic sweet potato seasonal regardless.

http://www.blackalleybrewing.com/2011/11/autumn-maple-clones-tasting.html

Click to expand...

I am going to have to try that one.

GTG