Anyone have experience brewing with potatoes?

[DrunkTrucker]

I am planning on making biermunchers 3.5 haus pale ale and I wondering if anyone had an idea on how many pounds of potatos I should add. The grain bill is for 8.5 lbs.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I can't find that recipe anywhere, but I do have a spud beer on tap at the moment. The one I made had about 8lbs of grain and I added 4 lbs of potatoes.

You need to pre-cook the potatoes ahead of time, and you need a looong mash time, with multiple rests to mash with spuds. And use rice hulls to keep the mash from sticking.........

The beer turned out good, though. I've had compliments on it from a couple people on this board. It's a good lawnmower beer.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I planned on boiling the potatos for about 30 minutes or so. I'll probably mash it for about 90 minutes. Would it be better to add the water from the potatos to the mash or just add the potatos?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I planned on boiling the potatos for about 30 minutes or so. I'll probably mash it for about 90 minutes. Would it be better to add the water from the potatos to the mash or just add the potatos?

I don't know if it's better or not, but that's how I did it. I did it while it was hot, it helped raise the mash temp a bit.

 

[mrk305]

That sounds interesting. How about posting the recipe!

 

[Bernie Brewer]

That sounds interesting. How about posting the recipe!

Which one do you want- the one I made, or the one Trucker is going to do????

This is the one I did:

Spud Beer

 

[eschatz]

my dad used to homebrew his own beer from the prohibition days. his recipie was really jacked out. after i read a few books we "fixed" it. but it used to call for half of a potatoe put in the wert. not cooked just cut in half and plopped in there! his brew always tasted like **** but it got the job done. haha

 

[mrk305]

Thanks Bernie Brewer. Tuesday will be my next brew day. Going to the LHBS tomorow for grains and yeast. This is the last Sunday that they will be open until after summer.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I'm just doing Biermunchers 3.5% haus pale ale and I am gonna add some potatos. I had bought ten gallons worth. Today I did the normal recipe and thursday I plan on doing the potato version. It seemed like a fairly cheap recipe to experiment with. My dad said he had drank some potato beer back in the day and wanted more. I told him it is probably not going be like the stuff he had but it will be beer and it will have potatos in it.

 

[mrk305]

I bought 5 pounds of taters at the grocery store this evening. I don't have a food processor, so I guess I will be hand grating. I was thinking of adding the grains to the water, stirring and letting the temp stabilize, then adding the taters and tater water to the top of this. Then I will mash extra long and gently sparge.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I don't have a food processor either. I just diced mine, kinda small pieces. Don't forget the rice hulls- I needed two pounds before the sparge didn't stick.

 

[mrk305]

After a year of brewing, I hate to admit this, but I don't know what rice hulls are.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I need to get some rice hulls this next week. I have never used them before. Do you just add them with the mash?

 

[EvilTOJ]

An entire thread talking about making beer with potatoes and not one joke about mashed potatoes? What kind of butter and chives do you add?

Rice Hulls are just that, hulls from rice. They're used as a filter medium just like the hulls of barley do. You can get them at the LHBS or online. For potatoes, I'd use at least a pound, probably more. Put them in a colander and wash them off before adding them right into the mash, as they are nasty sometimes.

 

[mrk305]

Just got back from the LHBS. They don't stock rice hulls. I got 8 pounds of two row, 1/2 pound of light crystal and 1/2 pound of rye. I use a rectangular cooler with a braided hose, so I am going to put the potatoes on the side away from the drain. When I stir I will try to keep them on that side as best I can and hope it drains okay. Tuesday is brewday!

 

[Jack]

An entire thread talking about making beer with potatoes and not one joke about mashed potatoes? What kind of butter and chives do you add?

Speaking of which, I've actually wanted to try making a potato beer with some diacetyl flavor and some chives late in the boil. Maybe some black pepper?

Should be a fun experiment some day.

 

[the_bird]

An entire thread talking about making beer with potatoes and not one joke about mashed potatoes? What kind of butter and chives do you add?

No chives, but you've got to use a yeast that develops a lot of diacetyl.

 

[morrighu]

Instead of doing all that hand shredding, why not just use the frozen shreds for hash browns?

Just asking...

M.

 

[scinerd3000]

After a year of brewing, I hate to admit this, but I don't know what rice hulls are.

"Rice hulls are a filtering aid that help improve the speed of lautering, and they also help to avoid a stuck mash. They are particularly effective when brewing high gravity beers with a large grain bill and beers made with a high percentage of speciality malts. Rice hulls are also helpful with wheat and rye beers, since those grains do not have husks. Rice hull usage should not exceed 10% of the grain bill."

basically they keep everything loose enough so the all grain mash doesnt get stuck...if it does liquid will drain very slowly from your mash/lauter tun

 

[scinerd3000]

can potatoes and beer really be a good thing?

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I have never had potato beer before but my dad said he tried it a long time ago and liked it. I figured I would give it a shot and see what I can come up with.

 

[killian]

I made a sweet potato esb for my thanksgiving beer last year. I think I used about 10 lbs of sweet potatoes for a 10 gallon batch. I had a lot of problems with the run off so I would definitely use rice hulls if I was going to brew that again

 

[mrk305]

'Tater beer is in the bucket. I took a rye pale ale recipe and scaled it back to 9 pounds of grains and added 4 pounds of grated and boiled potatoes. I used cooler than usual mash water since my potatoes were 190 degrees. Mash temp started at 154 and I let it sit for 90 minutes. Sparged twice with 180 and let those sit for 15 minutes each. Planning on three week primary.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I havent decided on how I plan on doing mine. I dont know if I want to do a single infusion or step mash. I have never done step mashes before. I'll probably just boil the potatoes and then add them with the mash. I am really interested on how this is gonna turn out.

 

[scinerd3000]

how dark is this? im trying to picture this working and im running a bit dry....sweet potatoes or regular potatoes? can someone post a pic of their finished beer in a glass when done

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I am brewing a light pale ale. I'ts only 3.5%. I am gonna use regular potatos. I called my lhbs today and he said he was out of rice hulls. Hopefully I dont end up with a stuck sparge.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

how dark is this? im trying to picture this working and im running a bit dry....sweet potatoes or regular potatoes? can someone post a pic of their finished beer in a glass when done

Finally found my camera:

 

[scinerd3000]

thanks! deffinitly cant tell there is potatoe influence in there. Can you taste it? i still think im missing the point of using the potatoes- is it just extra starch to get broken down to sugars by enzymes in the mash?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

It does add extra starch (spuds are used in some vodkas) and you can definitely taste it-I notice it in the finish.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Very interesting. I may have to give this a shot.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

I just started my sparge and you can definitely smell the potatos in it. I had some problems getting the strike temp going but I finally got it. I am definately looking forward to this beer.

 

[zoebisch01]

Hey you never know, stretching beer with less expensive ingredients could be a trend for many brewers in the future. Especially as we see many normal ingredients skyrocketing. I would imagine that if done properly, you could easily make good beer using some Potato as adjunct.

 

[DrunkTrucker]

That kinda why I went with the lighter recipe. If it doesnt turn out at least I didnt spend a whole lot for the recipe.

 

[Chriso]

Instead of doing all that hand shredding, why not just use the frozen shreds for hash browns?

I'm gonna bump this dude's question because I like lazy shortcuts. Why not generic shredded hash browns from the freezer section? Pre grated, just dump 'em in water, boil 'em, and then into the mash they go, right??

 

[EvilTOJ]

The only reason I can see for not using premade hash browns is they may use oil and salt during manufacturing. Read the ingredients to see if it only lists potatoes. Anything else and I wouldn't use em.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I'm gonna bump this dude's question because I like lazy shortcuts. Why not generic shredded hash browns from the freezer section? Pre grated, just dump 'em in water, boil 'em, and then into the mash they go, right??

The only reason I can see for not using premade hash browns is they may use oil and salt during manufacturing. Read the ingredients to see if it only lists potatoes. Anything else and I wouldn't use em.

I'm pretty sure they're pre-blanched- meaning they're soaked in water and maybe even boiled ahead of time. I'm thinking that this would rinse away a lot of the starch that would be converted. If I'm mistaken on this someone say so, I'm not 100% sure on this.

 

[Chriso]

Good call on pre-blanching, I hadn't thought of that! I'll just have to "recruit" SWMBO to do the "real" work

 

[Philip1993]

Thanks Bernie Brewer. Tuesday will be my next brew day. Going to the LHBS tomorow for grains and yeast. This is the last Sunday that they will be open until after summer.

You're going to the one in Lilburn right? If so, that's interesting. Just Brew It (Fayetteville) closes for the last week in April, the whole month of May, and sometimes the first week in June.

 

[nathan]

Do you still eat chips with your potato beer or is that just spud overload?

Sweet Potato Thanksgiving beer sounds good. If I get my lagering setup done in time maybe I'll work on a batch of that lagered to go with the pumpkin spice ale.

 

[Grimsawyer]

Do you still eat chips with your potato beer or is that just spud overload?

Sweet Potato Thanksgiving beer sounds good. If I get my lagering setup done in time maybe I'll work on a batch of that lagered to go with the pumpkin spice ale.

I have wondered what yams would taste like. Added bonus might be an orange color too!