Potatoes

[badflash]

Did a search and didn't come up with much here. I have access to lots of potatoes. I've tried doing conversion using barley, alpha amylase, and lastly NOVOZYMES CONVERTASE AG300L. I adjusted the pH and kept the temperature below 140F. I got some thinning, but nothing close to complete conversion.

Looking for folks with 1st hand experience. Thanks in advance.

[HDNB]

perhaps it is expectation?
Potatoes are only about 18-22% starch. grain may range from 65-95% starch.

try pound for pound 4X the potatoes and see how you make out.

[badflash]

I did 20# of potatoes in 3 gallons of water. It looked like thin mashed potatoes, there was obviously loads of starch left. I could not even use my refractometer on it.
Have you succeeded using potatoes HDNB?

[fizzix]

From all my reading here you can expect low, poor conversion from potatoes despite all your effort.
Historically, people using potatoes did so because that's all the had or could afford so they made do.
Odd that potatoes are considered a starchy food when pound for pound they have little to offer.

[Saltbush Bill]

There is a reason why very little of the worlds alcohol is made from taters.

[badflash]

I get about 150# a week free, so I will continue to see what can be done. I've been an all grain brewer for a long time, so I am up for a challenge.

[Pikey]

Made wine with them once - only once - Splitting headaches and poor flavour.

So be careful with your cuts, if what you've read above hasn't put you off

[badflash]

I am actually more interested in yeast production to boost protein for my pigs, so no worries. Alcohol is secondary at this point. I plan to ferment with oxygen to get yeast.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Taters get a bad rap, and it does take a lot of them, but they make a good spirit.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 38&t=50835" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Because they’re mostly water, they’re not that much different to work with than fresh sweet corn.

[HDNB]

I did 20# of potatoes in 3 gallons of water. It looked like thin mashed potatoes, there was obviously loads of starch left. I could not even use my refractometer on it.
Have you succeeded using potatoes HDNB?

i tried. it made booze but not much and it was awful. Can't say i'd call it a success. the whole thing was a mess and too thick so couldn't get gravity readings. the still acted like about a 3% charge.
didn't produce anything drinkable and not enough to bother trying to clean up on a spirit run.
that de-motivated me suffciently from trying MCH's baking method.

[badflash]

Looks like the way to go is to grind the potatoes raw to a fine pulp and add no water at all. Add your alpha enzyme and slowly raise the temperature to 120F, adjust the pH to around 5 and wait a few hours, then raise to 140F and add the beta and hold for a few more hours. Worth a shot.

[still_stirrin]

Or....shred them to “shoe strings” and boil in a pot of water. That will gelatinize the starches quickly so you can convert them to sugars with the glucoamylase enzymes. Baking potatoes also releases starches, but boiling in water is much more effective. Also, cubing or slicing to “french fries” will help with conversion.

Regardless, as stated, the amount of available sugars in potatoes is low when compared to other cereal grains. You’ll work hard for what you can get out of them. But, you’ve got them.....
ss

[Bushman]

What I remember reading is more people have had success with potato flakes than potatoes mainly due to the cleaning processes that is envolved. Not sure where you are located but a distillery in Idaho Teton Distillery is probably one of the most successful in producing potato vodka. When they first started out they were very open on several forums sharing information. Don't here much from them since they have become successful but I am guessing if you contact them they would be willing to help.

[Squint]

Chase Distillery has cracked the Potato Vodka.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LP23FK_4r0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

maybe the variety of the potato makes a difference,

[cede]

Here too @ Skip Rock Distillers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnP9HpCuN4

They pass the potatoes trough a hammer mill to make a paste.
They do not show the whole process.

[badflash]

They claim to cook the mash for 8 hours. I wonder why so long.

[badflash]

The potatoes definitely must be cooked a long time or you won't get it smooth enough for good conversion. I have a very sweet mixture at this point, but it is way too thick to do anything with.

[badflash]

Think I will try steaming in a pressure cooker to see if I can get the starch grains to break up. It seems like the enzymes just can't get at all the starch. You would think this would be easier than corn, but it sure doesn't appear to be.

[Squint]

I've said it before somewhere, that if a potatoe is frozen it will turn sweet when you cook and eat it,

so my thinking is, that the starch must change to sugars when the potatoe is frozen, thawed and cooked.

[badflash]

Freezing may indeed help break up the granules, which seems to be the issue with potatoes, and why they have to be cooked so long. Freezing definitely makes the potato mushy when it thaws and makes it easier to grind.

[badflash]

I have a stand alone garbage disposal mounted in a sink on a wood stand. I've used it for pulping apples to made cider in the past. I tried potatoes in it today. No added water needed, just cut the spuds up enough to fit in the hole and zip, out comes pulp. This will save a ton of effort when I get my next load of potatoes.

[Teddysad]

May I also point out that all potatoes are not equal. There is a whole gamut of strains and the starch level can vary greatly.

I suspect that those locations using spuds as a source of fermentable sugars have an availabilty of high starch types

[badflash]

I'm working with free potatoes, so I can't pick and choose. At this point I am just working towards complete conversion and not working too hard to get it. I imagine the difference between the two types is yield and not the ability to convert. Do you know otherwise?

[badflash]

OK, this seems to be working well. I have 12 gallons of potatoes converting as we speak. I steamed 10 gallons of potatoes for 2 hours and let cool over night. Probably should have peeled them first, don't know if that would have been more or less work. I ran them through my stand-alone disposal and added only enough water to keep it running. That was about 2 gallons. I mixed in 3 tablespoons of citric acid and 3 tablespoons of gypsum, and added 15 cc's of AG300L, mixed it in well and let it sit for a few hours. This liquified it pretty well. I screened it to remove the peels as it was clogging up my pump. Once I got the peels cleaned out and my pump circulating the mash I added 15 cc of the alpha amylase and am now heating to 190F. At that point I will cool to 140F and add the beta and see how it comes out.

[badflash]

Disappointing. SG is only 1.025. Tomorrow I will check for starch. I can always boil it down.

[Swedish Pride]

try roasting em as MCH did in his thread, it's the only thread I've seen so far where anyone roast their spuds and also the only one where the outcome was good.

[badflash]

It was interesting to see the effects of the enzymes. Going from true mashed potatoes that would stand the mash spoon up to liquid runny enough to pump in 2 hours was pretty cool. That low temp enzyme really does a good prep job. No big deal boiling it down some before pitching though.