can I put potatoes in the primary?

[megaman]

can I put potatoes in the primary?

they are a starch and the yeast should be able to eat them.

 

[Gmrpr7]

Why would you do that

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Yeast don't eat starch, so no.

You can mash them though.

 

[ifishsum]

The yeast eat sugars, not starches.

 

[Jaybird]

In the primary? NO! in the mash? YES!
What are you brewing?

 

[EvilTOJ]

Like everyone else said, no, yeast eat sugar, not starch.

 

[Revvy]

If you want to play with trying to convert the STARCH in potatoes to SUGAR in order to produce a beer with them, you might find this thread helpful.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/gap-grocery-produce-beer-experiment-69313/?highlight=Grocery

I believe that Sweet potatoes are a MASH ingredient in certain African indigenous beers though...

 

[eschatz]

When I was a kid my dad brewed some "homebrew". It was an old prohibition recipe that involved a 1/4 cup of salt and 1/2 of a potato in the primary. That's how I started brewing. I came home from college one summer and tried a bottle. It tasted like crap! So I went back to school and read Chuck P.'s book and brewed up an ass kicking pale ale. The gauntlet has been thrown and now my dad just brewed a IIPA for a family outing. :rockin:

 

[conpewter]

When I was a kid my dad brewed some "homebrew". It was an old prohibition recipe that involved a 1/4 cup of salt and 1/2 of a potato in the primary. That's how I started brewing. I came home from college one summer and tried a bottle. It tasted like crap! So I went back to school and read Chuck P.'s book and brewed up an ass kicking pale ale. The gauntlet has been thrown and now my dad just brewed a IIPA for a family outing. :rockin:

Did he still put a potato in it?

 

[simpleton]

Last night I talked to a guy at the bar who mentioned his grandfather using a potato in his prohibitioin era beer recipe, so your not the only one who has heard this. The family no longer has the recipe but I bet someone here can dig one up.

 

[Edcculus]

Remember that you have to cook the potato before mashing. Just prepare them like you would make mashed potatoes. Boil, then mash them up (minus the dairy and salt of course).

 

[DubbelDach]

Crannóg Ales - Our Ales

This guy makes his Hell's Kitchen Irish Red with russet potatoes... There was a great article about the place a few BAs ago.

If I do an Irish Red next year, that's my strategy.