Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Metal Maniac]

OK...feeling the need to generate some activity in here.

I'm toying with the idea of brewing an ale with sweet potatoes. I've sifted through some other forums in the ether and have come across others that have done this. I need to search those discussions again and actually take notes about their recipes.

Has anyone here tried something similiar? I'm thinking of cooking the sweet potatoes in the oven with some spices before I add them to my mash...get them carmelized and soft. I have a can of sweet potatoes left over from Thanskgiving and for some reason it is calling me to ferment it. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome. Off to searching about this nutty idea.

[Izzy]

If they're in a can, they're already cooked, right? Never done it, but I'd steam or roast fresh ones. Like the pie similarities, it'll sort out much like a pumpkin ale, I guess.

[Metal Maniac]

After a bit of searching and reading I have decided to treat this experimental batch like a pumpkin ale. I have a Frankenstein recipe that should be an ok beer even if the flavors I'm looking for aren't pronounced. I'm going to brew this the morning of February 25th. Here it is:


Spiced Sweet Potato Ale

Batch Size: 3 gallons
OG estimate: 1.054 (actual 1.061 temp corrected)
FG estimate: 1.013 (actual 1.021 temp corrected)
IBU: 24


29 ounces  Canned Sweet Potatoes

3.00 pounds Amber Dry Malt Extract
0.25 pounds Dark Corn Syrup

2.00 pounds Pale Malt 2-Row
0.50 pounds Crystal 20L
0.25 pounds Cara-Pils
0.25 pounds Vienna
0.25 pounds Special Roast

0.50 ounces Kent Golding 5.8% (14.7 IBU)
0.50 ounces Hallertauer 4.2% (5.8 IBU)
0.50 ounces Kent Golding 5.8% (3.2 IBU)
0.50 ounces Hallertauer 4.2% (0.3 IBU)

0.50 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon (secondary)
0.50 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (secondary)
0.50 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice (secondary)
1.00 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice (mixed with puree)
1.00 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract (secondary)

1.00 teaspoon Irish Moss

1.00 packet Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast


Puree the sweet potatoes with liquid from the can
along with 1.00 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Bake for
25 minutes at 400F or until lightly caramelized.

Steep grains and sweet potato puree (in nylon bag)
with 2.5 gallons water at 150F for 30 minutes. Remove
grains and sparge with one gallon 150F water.

Add Dry Malt Extract and Dark Corn Syrup. Bring to boil.
Add 0.50 ounces Kent Golding hops. Boil for 30 minutes.
Add 0.50 ounces Hallertauer hops and Irish Moss. Boil
for 10 minutes. Add 0.50 ounces Kent Golding hops. Boil
for 5 minutes. Add Add 0.50 ounces Hallertauer hops and
remove from heat.

Primary ferment for seven days at 68F. Rack to secondary
with vanilla and spices. Ferment to completion.



Edit: Accurate specific gravity reading
Edit 2: I decided to only add 0.50 teaspoons of spices to the secondary fermentation

Alcohol by Volume is 5.5%

I kept the sweet potatoes after pulling them from steeping. I used them to make some cupcakes (a variation of a pumpkin cupcake recipe) as they still had sweetness. The cupcakes taste good btw.

[Metal Maniac]

Here is a photo of the final product. I bottled this on March 7th and opened this today for a first test. The spices are noticible but not overpowering. The flavor was sweet and malty but balanced. I think it turned out good. I'll try some more in a month or so to see if the spices have mellowed out.

[beerinator]

That's a pretty beer.  Do you bottle a couple of clear bottles just so you can see the color/clarity?  I did that for one batch, but I had a hard time finding clear bottles to consistently have 1 or 2 to use when bottling time came around.

[Metal Maniac]

I have 15 Newcastle bottles that I use for my visual test. I use three per batch and usually crack those first. I scrounged them from a local pub.

Thanks for the compliment about the beer color. I actually wanted more of a deep orange so I'd use darker crystal malt next time and perhaps more sweet potatoes. Was fun for something different.

Prost!