Juicing sweet potatoes

[danz]

I am new to brewing and while I have not been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance or celiac I have battled with fibromyalgia since I was 14. Over the past couple of months my fiancee and mother have seen a correlation to my gluten intake and pain, they are right. Time to brew some gluten free beer!

This site has been a wealth of knowledge and after many hours of reading I thought that I could use a recently inherited a juicer to aid in using sweet potatoes in the mash, do you know if this has been done? My thinking was to juice 1lb or so of sweet potatoes and processing the pulp using the following method: http://www.jbc.org/content/44/1/19.full.pdf

Thank again for everyones input to the site and hopefully I can brew a beer that wont lay be up for

 

[Osedax]

First off, hope going gluten free helps. Its not easy. And second off, welcome.

Search sweet patato on here. Some people have used them with varying results.

I would be interested in the results. Good luck!

 

[BrewCanuck]

Quick question: What are you planning witht he sweet potatoes? Are you going to use them as an enzyme source or are they the sugar source?

Personally I have a Cream Ale on the docket comprised of Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Flaked Rice, Flaked Corn and Rice Syrup with enzyme added to get conversion. Not sure if it's going to be any good but I could post the recipe I'm planning if you want.

 

[danz]

I was planning on using them as a the sugar source but also was hoping that I could extract some of the enzyme out of the pulp with a boil. To be safe I was also going to add some enzyme to be safe but figured if I juiced & boiled I could maximize the sweet potato. Please share the recipe And thanks for a great blog, its bookmarked.

 

[BrewCanuck]

If you boil the sweet potato you'll kill the natural enzymes. I'd suggest that you juice the sweet potato and the boil/cook the pulp for 30minutes. This will gelatinize the pulp (break down the starch/cell walls/etc) then cool to about 153F(60C) and add the juice back and maybe some artificial enzyme. This may get you some additional sugar from the pulp.

As far as the recipe I'm planning:

Mash
60C for about 60 minutes
1,50 kg Sweet Potato, Baked in skin
1,50 kg Corn, Flaked
0,75 kg Rice, Flaked
20,00 ml Beerzyme Multi
15,00 ml Beerzyme BG

Boil
0,40 kg Rice Syrup, Brown - 60,0 min

3,00 g Cascade [7,30 %] - First Wort 60,0 min
4,00 g Summit [15,50 %] - Boil 45,0 min
8,00 g Cascade [7,30 %] - Boil 10,0 min

10,00 g Irish Moss (Boil 10,0 mins)
75,00 g Malto-Dextrine (Boil 5,0 mins)
0,50 kg Bananas, Ripe, Frozen, Smashed

Rehydrate yeast for 30minutes as follows before pitching:
1,0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)
6,00 g Yeast Nutrient
30,0 g Brown Sugar
250,0 ml water

As I said, I have not actually made this yet, its on the calendar tenatively for early July.

BTW thank you for the compliments on the Blog. I've been lazy lately but I need to get back to it.

 

[danz]

Perfect that's what I will do and great recipe looks like it will be good. Question on the banana, is that for flavor or another purpose?

Here is what I was picturing for the batch

FERMENTABLES:
2 lb rice syrup solids
1 lb roasted oats
1 lb rice of some sorts
1 lb D-45 candi syrup
1 lb Sweet Potato (Juiced then boiled pulp + amylase enzyme)
0.75 lb unfiltered honey (need to source out possibilities) - flame out

HOPS:
0.75 oz - Chinook for 60 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13, IBU: 60.22)
0.25 oz - Chinook for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 13, IBU: 4)
0.25 oz - Citra for 30 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11, IBU: 6.16)
0.25 oz - Citra for 15 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11, IBU: 6.16)
0.50 oz - Citra for 5 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11, IBU: 3.39)
1.00 oz - Citra for 0 min, Type: Pellet, Use: Boil (AA 11)

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05

Other:
1/2 teaspoon Irish Moss - 10min
6 oz Maltodextrin - flameout

 

[Osedax]

Are you going to mash the oats, rice, and sweet potato? What mashing process will you use if you do?

 

[danz]

Yup everybody in the pool! I have been reading about decoction mashing and need to plan out my steps but imagine it will be ballpark of 120/145/153.

Thanks again Osedax for the welcome, looking forward to enjoying a beer or 2 and waking up lose and ready to go. Although the nice long hot showers in the am are nice

 

[BrewCanuck]

danz,

I've read a few things where the protien from the Banana help both with head retention, mouth feel and yeast nutrient. My Ginger beer seems to prove it out since it was mostly highly fermentable sugars but still has decent mouth feel & head retention. The banana doesn't come through, that I think is because the high activity of the carbon dioxide in primary fermentation basically pushes out any volitile flavours/aromas, and whats left behind is overwhelmed by the remaining ingredients.

 

[danz]

I am not a banana fan at all BUT if the flavor wont come though then I may have to experiment with it. Think its time to invest in some 1g bottles and start making mini batchs to see what works All the possibilities with rice, corn, amaranth, millet, buckwheat and quinoa. Time to goto shopping this weekend and see what available and experiment with malting.

With your Dunkelrot Kristallreisen 2.0, were you able to get that rice to convert over?

 

[BrewCanuck]

danz,

I think I got very little conversion on the rice. I should have boiled the ever living hell out of it to gelatinize but instead I just crushed it and threw it in. It provides great flavour and colour though.

 

[danz]

Have you seen this blog entry by Beyond Barley http://beyondbarley.blogspot.com/2013/01/how-to-mashing-and-brewing-with.html

I really want to try using that rice though looks like it would be tasty.

 

[Osedax]

That's igliashon's blog. If he shows up in this thread, he should have some good info.

Maltodextrin will also help mouthfeel and head retention. It really helps with extract brewing. It seems to give me all grain beers an "artificial" mouthfeel. I use it sparingly.

Bananas are interesting. They most likely help because of all the proteins and carbs.

 

[svenalope]

This is fascinating. I'm researching to do a sweet potato wine. I'd suggest country wine as a gluten free drink, and also mead. (Although the whole mashing thing is half the fun of making beer)
Here's my two cents on the awesome beer idea though. I've made banana wine, which was nearly undrinkable for all the body it had, so that'll give you some body, but be careful if you have any banana solids at all, that stuff foams like crazy and is like glue for an airlock - good way to redecorate your ceiling. Sweet potatoes i haven't tried, but potato wine, if sufficiently boiled, is totally fermentable without any enzymes, although you can taste the higher sugars in sweet potatoes, so the idea of mashing them is great.
I'd also suggest molasses as a possible adjunct; it has that real nice malty flavor, and the yeasts love it (in a starter at least). I'm excited to hear how this goes, and wish i'd looked at the date before i replied. Ok, good luck!
Oh ok it's not super old that's good! Also, regarding juicing: you get a whole lot more flavor and body by juicing vegetables than by just boiling them, so take that into account. You may not even need to worry about the body. Also it takes more time to clear.

 

[danz]

Thanks for the input, when I first started looking into this I had only done extract brewing with my mr.beer keg in an apartment. I have been brewing all grain since using BIAB to understand the mashing process so I can ultimately go all grain GF. I have a pilot system setup (6x64oz growlers and 2 clear 1g bottles) so will be trying and experimenting with various combinations in the near future.

I found a new LHBS which so happens to be Mother Earth Brewery and they have been awesome in answering questions and hopefully can assist me in obtaining the various supplemental enzymes and additives I will need.