What's wrong with potato beer?

I don't see many (any?) AG recipes using potatos. I can't imagine they would add much taste to a beer, but does anybody have experience with mashing potatos? (pardon the pun) Just a thought. I went into my fridge today and looked at my 5 pounds of slowly rotting spuds and thought: starch turning to sugar (that's what potatos do when they start going off)... and I thought: potato beer! could it be much worse than rice/corn in beer? Will they add any flavor other than alcohol? More body like unmalted barley, or oatmeal?

Hmm, that's what vodka is traditionally made out of. I'd say try it? Maybe mash some, and see how many PPG you're getting first? I'd only use it for a small part.

They sell potato starch at the local farmer's market here (used in Asian foods). Every summer I want to get some a try to make a light lager using it. Haven't yet. Everything that I have read says it is perfectly good for making beer. Needs to be mashed, of course. Probably won't need to pre-boil it, it gelatinizes around 150F.

Beerrific said:

Needs to be mashed, of course. Probably won't need to pre-boil it, it gelatinizes around 150F.

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cool... at least I don't have to pre-cook potatos like I would barley, or rice. I'm assuming some rice hulls would be in order?

beretta said:

cool... at least I don't have to pre-cook potatos like I would barley, or rice. I'm assuming some rice hulls would be in order?

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Yeah, I am imagining a lot of hulls. If you are using whole potatoes you might need to boil them to break them up....so your enzymes can get to the starch.

A member of our club that passed away last year used to make a pretty descent potato beer.
I remember him mentioning that the potatoes need to be sliced up thin.

I think it has to do with the amount of potatoes needed possibly. There is so much water weight to a potato I believe I read you need 5lbs of potatoes to equal one pound of grain. I've only seen it as an additive like you would use pumpkin.

If the potato taste comes thru and you get a little bit of diacytly....

Good Luck
-OCD

I really have no knowledge on this, but I'm thinking you would want to slice / dice the potato for maximum contact with the enzymes. I also think the time would be extended for conversion due to the density and complexity of the starches.
I don't think it would take as long as sake with rice that is well over 30 days.
I think someone who has done it needs to chime in. I don't think it will be as easy as just adding them to the mash, but maybe in the primary.
I'm just wondering how much and how long.

Like the above posters suggested, I would imagine that the major problem would be getting the sugars out of the potatoes. Best method would be to mash them up pretty good (like with roasted pumpkin flesh) but that could easily lead to a stuck sparge if you used much at all. Maybe slicing it on a madalin slicer extremely thin would get a decent amount out...still would probably want to use a good amount of rice hulls.

I would guess the major problem is just getting enough sugar out to make much of a difference. Either you use a lot of thinly sliced to get relatively little sugar out, or use less mashed but end up with a stuck sparge. Then again, if you are just looking to get rid of 5 lbs, slice them up thin and don't stir your mash much. Probably won't get much sugar out, but at least you used them and can say you made potato beer!

If it were me, I'd bake them, then mash them up like I was making mashed potatoes. Add that to the mash with a LOT of rice hulls.

Do you think it would make a difference with them being cooked or raw?

Someone - maybe RichBrewer? - was experimenting with a potato beer here a long while ago. I never got around to doing anything with it.

I make a beer with potatoes. It's not that hard. I slice and chop the potato really thin. (Think hash brown strips) And then add it directly to the mash. It seems to add 5-7 points grav. per whole potato in a 4-5 gal batch. I'm not really sure what to call this beer. Probably a cream ale but this last recipe I screwed up and put the hops in waay to early.

5lb- 2row
1lb- vienna
1lb- flaked maize
1lbish- whole potato (usually just chop up a reg. sized idaho potato)
1oz cascade leaf (8.7AA) 30min (screwed up and boiled for 60 this time)
.5oz cascade leaf (8.7AA) 5min (35min this time)
.5oz crushed coriander seed 5 min

mash at 150F for 75min
double sparge at 165-170F
60 min boil even though only 30 min of hop additions
I've used US-05 and nottingham in this. Kinda prefer the 05. Next time I make it I'm going to try a wit yeast and add flaked wheat instead of maize.
Secondary after fermentation for 2 wks with fresh zest of 1 whole orange
O.G. 1.046-50
F.G. 1.004-08

It's a good transition beer for BMC drinkers. Everybody likes this recipe. A good standby. Excellent after 3 wks in bottle.

I've seen a few white potato recipes...But I've seen a few more Sweet Potato recipes.

White potatoes won't do much except add fermentables, much like rice.

But what about if you were to slice them thin, bake them (like making baked chips almost) to remove moisture and to toast a little, and then add to the mash? Seems to me like the baking might bring out more potato taste, and it wouldn't dilute the mash as much. But, I'm just conjecturing here...

I do like my spuds on the "over" ripe side, when they start to naturally sweeten. I'm hoping this will add some flavor to the beer. I think I'll shred them with a grater.

I think my grain bill will go somthing like this:

7# 2 row pale malt
1# light caramel malt
2# shredded potatos (ripe)

60 min 1 oz Cadcade
30 min 1 oz Kent

wlp001

any comments?