Kelpdog
Well-Known Member
I'm in the midst of a brew session making an autumn-ish amber with yams, healthy bit of rye, maple syrup, cardamom, and lemon balm. I thought I'd share my mistakes in case anyone else is interested in using yams.
I used the BBQ to cook the yams, wrapped in foil, indirect heat @400F for one hour. I cut/mashed the yam with a knife. Placed half the grain in my mashtun, then added the yam, and capped with the rest of the grain.
My big mistake, that kept on giving, was forgetting how much of a heat sink yams/potatoes can be. At least this is my best guess as I usually hit my temps really well. My beta glucose rest went high and I had to add cold water to bring it to temp with a whole lot of stirring and rechecking temp. Same issue but inverse in bringing the mash up to sacc. rest. I ended up having to boil an extra gallon of water and add it slowly while stirring like a mad man and rechecking the temp to get the mash up to temp (shooting for 150F).
So now I have a very loose mash with an extra 1.5-1.75 gallons of water than I'd intended. My thought in the future would be to cook the yams in advance and have them at grain dough-in temp and plan on shooting for the upper side of sacc rest temps.
I used the BBQ to cook the yams, wrapped in foil, indirect heat @400F for one hour. I cut/mashed the yam with a knife. Placed half the grain in my mashtun, then added the yam, and capped with the rest of the grain.
My big mistake, that kept on giving, was forgetting how much of a heat sink yams/potatoes can be. At least this is my best guess as I usually hit my temps really well. My beta glucose rest went high and I had to add cold water to bring it to temp with a whole lot of stirring and rechecking temp. Same issue but inverse in bringing the mash up to sacc. rest. I ended up having to boil an extra gallon of water and add it slowly while stirring like a mad man and rechecking the temp to get the mash up to temp (shooting for 150F).
So now I have a very loose mash with an extra 1.5-1.75 gallons of water than I'd intended. My thought in the future would be to cook the yams in advance and have them at grain dough-in temp and plan on shooting for the upper side of sacc rest temps.
