Brad
Well-Known Member
Im looking for a recipe like Finnegans Amber its made with potatos. I am really intriged by this beer and would love to try to make a clone of this potato beer! Any info???
Finnegans amber???
- Thread starter Brad
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Welcome to the board.
Never had the beer, and can't find much info on it (Finnegans Irish Amber is brewed with potatoes and three varieties of imported two-row malts. The beer is pale amber in color but light in body. A gentle hop bitterness compliments its complex malt character.)
To use potatoes you will have to boil them (this will gelatinize the starches) then mash them with basemalt. This could make for a sticky mash, so I would add some rice hulls. Never used them, but it doesn't seem like they would add much flavor.
You might try contacting them to see if they will give you any extra info.
Never had the beer, and can't find much info on it (Finnegans Irish Amber is brewed with potatoes and three varieties of imported two-row malts. The beer is pale amber in color but light in body. A gentle hop bitterness compliments its complex malt character.)
To use potatoes you will have to boil them (this will gelatinize the starches) then mash them with basemalt. This could make for a sticky mash, so I would add some rice hulls. Never used them, but it doesn't seem like they would add much flavor.
You might try contacting them to see if they will give you any extra info.
OP
OP
Brad
Well-Known Member
HMM I was hoping there would be a little more info from anyone who had done this type of beer before but I guess its just gonna be a trial and error thing thanks for the info.
You could certainly just take a recipe for an amber and swap out some of the pale malt for potatoes. Amber ale is a pretty board category, and I haven't had the beer in question, so I won't suggest a recipe though.
norwegiangeek
Well-Known Member
I don't know about other regions but the Finnegans they sell in MN is brewed at the Summit Brewery (which is a fun tour). You could try contacting them, but I'd be surprised how much info they'd share on another companies recipe.
stedtale
Well-Known Member
+1 Summit is very helpful
Made potato beer twice in the past. Together with beer based on birch sap, it was one of my better beers ever.
I pressure-cooked the potatoes, then put them through a meat grinder.
Used about 50% potatoes and 50% pale malt.
I remember using the small potatoes that are used to feed animals, didn't peel them.
Makes a cheaper, but excellent beer. Strongly recommended!
I pressure-cooked the potatoes, then put them through a meat grinder.
Used about 50% potatoes and 50% pale malt.
I remember using the small potatoes that are used to feed animals, didn't peel them.
Makes a cheaper, but excellent beer. Strongly recommended!
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Brad
Well-Known Member
When you made a potato beer did u add any special stabilizer or anything to? I still have not tried making a beer like this yet.
I generally am not keen on additives, so didn't use any.
You won't regret giving it a try. I definitely will make more again in the future.
Potatoes should also be a good ingredient for people who are gluten intolerant.
You won't regret giving it a try. I definitely will make more again in the future.
Potatoes should also be a good ingredient for people who are gluten intolerant.
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Brad
Well-Known Member
So when you do this did you do it in the version of an extract bactch? How would you go about doing it extract if you went with all grain.
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Brad
Well-Known Member
When you made this was it an extract version? Most people have mentioned doing it all grain. In that case how would you go about doing it in the form of an extract version?
You would have to do a partial-mash at a minimum. The potatoes contain starch that needs to be converted to sugars by the enzymes in the base-malt. So as long as you have ~2 lbs of pale malt for each lb of potatoes youd be fine, and you can get the rest of your fermentables from light extract (the amount will depend on how much gravity you get from your mini-mash).
bringing this back as i now want to brew an all grain with part of the grist as potoatos. All i found is people using ground or sliced potatos. Why couldnt you use potato flakes in the mash maybe just 2 or 3 pounds with 9 pounds of grain. .....I think im going to give this a try...
Did you brew it? I'm tryin to come up with a Finnegan's-ish amber ale, wondering how and what kinda potatoes to throw in the mash.
Doctor
Member
There's actually no potato in Finnegans any longer. It started off with a nominal amount for fun, but it didn't add anything worthwhile, so the brewers decided to take it out.
It's 2 Row, Cara 20 and Special B for the Malt Bill.
The hops are Fuggles and Northern Brewer.
Shoot for 20 IBUs and a final ABV of 4.57.
It is the only beer in the world that donates 100% of its profits to charity, so make sure to pick it up when you can and do some good in the world.
It's 2 Row, Cara 20 and Special B for the Malt Bill.
The hops are Fuggles and Northern Brewer.
Shoot for 20 IBUs and a final ABV of 4.57.
It is the only beer in the world that donates 100% of its profits to charity, so make sure to pick it up when you can and do some good in the world.
Thanks man. Appreciate the info. And we do buy it alot. It's my buddies favorite. And you can't help but love the local charity appeal.
Doctor
Member
No problem. I like it a lot too. A better Fat Tire in my opinion.
Yeah, a good lawnmower brew.... Nothing fancy, just tasty beer.
Emailed with a girl at Finnegans. They don't use potatoes anymore. I'm gonna see if she'll give me an answer as to if the above listed ingredients are accurate.
Doctor
Member
Who did you e-mail with? I promise you they are because it came right off of a training item they give to servers to be able to talk intelligently about the beer. I'm just outside of Downtown to the West. We should do a brew exchange.
I did not, but the above listed grains and hops are close. 2 row (or extra light/golden extract), cara 20, special B and fuggle. Shoot for ~20 IBU and an OG of 1.052 (13 degrees plato). Any clean, well attenuating yeast should work. I will play around with it a bit in BeerSmith and post back a recipe in a little while. It won't be an exact clone, but a good start.
This is a very basic first draft that should make a nice amber ale that is similar to Finnegan's. When formulating a clone, it'll usually take a few tweaks and a few brews to hit it spot on, but this should get you started. I haven't had a Finny's in quite some time, probably since I was last posting on this thread, but I remember a bit of late hops character and a bread-y yeast character. A small 20 min hop addition and English ale yeast should help capture that.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.99 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.03 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 13.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 10.0 %
12.0 oz Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) Grain 2 10.0 %
6 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 80.0 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 15.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 4.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 6 -
-
Follow your normal steeping and boil procedure. This recipe is for a full boil of 6.75 gal, 6 gal of post boil wort, 5.25 gal into the fermenter. If you're doing a partial boil, top up to 5.25 gal in the fermenter. Should get you ~5 gal of beer at bottling time.
I'd recommend fermenting this at 65-68 degrees F for a clean fermentation. Your target FG should be in the 1.012-1.014 ballpark.
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.99 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.03 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 13.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 20.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
12.0 oz Caramel Malt - 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM) Grain 1 10.0 %
12.0 oz Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) Grain 2 10.0 %
6 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 80.0 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 15.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 4.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 6 -
-
Follow your normal steeping and boil procedure. This recipe is for a full boil of 6.75 gal, 6 gal of post boil wort, 5.25 gal into the fermenter. If you're doing a partial boil, top up to 5.25 gal in the fermenter. Should get you ~5 gal of beer at bottling time.
I'd recommend fermenting this at 65-68 degrees F for a clean fermentation. Your target FG should be in the 1.012-1.014 ballpark.
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