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This month the lowly potato is the adjunct of the month. I have not used potatoes in any brew that I have made but the thought has been fairly intriguing. I have grown potatoes in the garden and have eaten my fair share of potatoes. How do you go about brewing with potatoes? The history of brewing with potatoes is fairly young. It has of course been used in the production of vodka for some time in Russia and Poland. During prohibition the potato was a cheap and available source for producing alcohol. This is also true about the use of potatoes in prisons where the availability is the key issue. Several attempts have been made in the past to brew with potatoes. These have usually come about at times where there is a crisis such as a war. At these times the lack of basic brewing malts forces the brewers to search for alternatives such as the lowly potato. The rise in small brewpubs, breweries and homebrewers has led to a rise in the use of potatoes as a brewing alternative. Potatoes are a good source of starch, contain not fat and very little sodium. The Russet potato is considered the best for use as an adjunct since it has the highest starch content and the red round potatoes are the worst ones since their starch content is the lowest. If you consider using potatoes staying with the actual potato will be better than using frozen or boxed potato flakes. These products contain preservatives that may adversely affect the taste of beer. Besides with all the trouble you take to make good beer I know that I would not want to add any extra chemicals.When using raw potatoes all sources agree that they have to be cooked. This will gelatinize the starches found in potatoes. The temperature needed to reach this gelatization is 133-156. When using potatoes one problem is that they tend to clog up the false bottom and also cling to the sides of the brewing kettles. A method used by Point Brewery is to cook the potatoes separately and then add them to the end of the mash. They typically add them to the top third of the mash and trying to keep the potato mixture on that top third only. So it seems to use potatoes in brewing you should peel, cut and then cook them prior to adding them to the mash. Do not mash the potatoes prior to adding them to the mash. This will definitely take you well down the path of a stuck sparge. Well, with that in mind if you decide to brew a tater beer let me know how it turns out.
