sweet potato vodka

[junglejimmy]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if this is not the right sub.

Im an Australian expat living in Taiwan. I recently started working for a Taiwan alcohol manufacturer and my boss wants to experiment with some new, weird and wild spirits.

Taiwan has an abundance of sweet potatoes, so my idea is to make some sweet potato vodka. I've found a few recipes for potato vodka, but so far none for sweet potato vodka. Could anyone please help me out or maybe point me in the right direction. Thanks!

[Bushman]

I recently had some great potato vodka from a micro distillery near where I live. Because it takes a lot of potatoes to make vodka not many members here have gone into it. My recommendation is take a recipe you have and experiment with small batches making adjustments till you get something your happy with. You might also check a nutrient chart to see what differences sweet potatoes may have if any over regular potatoes.

[just sayin]

JJ,
Sound like a great assignment. Good luck with the sweet potato vodka.

My micro distillery experience was not a positive one like Bushman's. My brother in law picked up a 50ml bottle of featured local "gourmet" sweet potato vodka in a coastal North Carolina liquor store last summer. It was disgusting; we were not able to drink it. I am a cheap old SOB, so that was the only drink I have turned down the drain in my life. It tasted almost like someone mixed up their vessels and bottled their feints instead of their hearts. Terrible stuff!
I am sure you could make it way more neutral product than they did. Again, good luck!

Just Sayin'

[Bugflipper]

Probably about the easiest thing to do. Let's say a 5 gal batch. 10 lb sweet potatoes heated to 150-155 for 1.5-2 hours. Mash into mashed potatoes. Put in a sack as they are a pain in the butt to separate after ferment. Add 5 gallons of water. Let cool and pitch yeast in the bag. They will convert on their own. Most of the trouble folks have out of potatoes if filtering the solids from the liquid as they break down into a soup so just use a bag and avoid that headache all together. At the end let the bag drain for awhile to let the liquid out but don't squeeze.

[bigpat78]

I agree with bugflipper. Use a bag. Use a bag. Use a bag. I made sweet potato vodka twice last year with a friend of mine. We used 10#s to every 6 gallons of water and added a pound of sugar for every 5#s of potatoes. We also used a champagne yeast I think it was ec1118 I can't remember. We fermented the mash until it was dry (not sweet) then made or run as normal. Our 50 gallon mash netted us 7 gallons of 80 proof vodka. We also used a gin basket with slices of fresh sweet potato cuts it was very good. Can't wait to hear how you do.

[junglejimmy]

Thanks for all your input guys. I've been doing a little research and I think I am going to try this recipe here found here. http://homedistiller.org/fruit/wash-fruit/pot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow . It's the most comprehensive recipe and guide I have found so far.

I am going to swap out the potatos for yellow sweet potato and use the malted barley for its high amaylase content. You guys also mentioned using a vessel lineed with a hemp sack, so as to separate the solids from the liquids.

The one think I am still kind of stuck on is what yeast to use. Also, does anyone know of an online store where I can order yeast and get it shipped to Taiwan?

Thanks so much guys! I hope to be fermenting and distilling by next week. I'll keep you all posted.

[Bugflipper]

Ebay Taiwan should have yeast. Of course since you're in Asia, may want to consider yeast balls from the grocery stores instead of packaged yeast. If not ec-1118 is a good neutral flavored yeast that works well for a lot of things.

[just sayin]

Bugflipper said the sweet potatoes would convert themselves. I read a paper several years, ago about extracting amaylase from sweet potatoes, it may have been posted here. I thought I had it saved but have not been able to find it.

[DAD300]

There have been posts saying sweet potatoes come as close to tequila as anything they have tried.

[junglejimmy]

Just sayin... my coworker tried sweet potatoes by them selves, but he used the red ones. The taste wasn't that bad, but the smell was horrible. I don't think the red ones are suitable, also I don't think his method was ideal. He just cooked them and threw them in a container with yeast.

[Bugflipper]

Yes sir root crops can be viewed as germinated seeds. Sweet potatoes will convert themselves or unmalted grains just like malted grains do.

Would suggest a finer bag to keep it a little clearer. A pillowcase or sheet for larger scale has a very fine mesh and acts as a better filter. Just tie above to drain out when done. From there you can let it clear further, should take about 2 days to settle out. I believe that may be the nasty taste folks may have gotten ahold of. If you don't use a bag it can take months for it to clarify. Today folks seem to like to run wide open then cut the heat a little for stripping or a lot for running. With a slurry of suspended solids that would be bad news. I've always ran traditional copper stills off of indirect heat from a wood fire. Basically it's like creating an oven to heat a boiler. I'm betting between that, running a doubler which strips a little flavor and having all copper, even copper mesh in the beak is why it didn't turn out bad when I used to run it. But all I've ever done is Georgia jets that are orange, no idea if that makes a difference, never have had a red one.

[Hessian]

I just tried a small run using local LA sweet potatoes(10lbs). I roasted the potatoes in the oven then removed the skins. Cut them in to chunks. Added boiling water to the fermenter. Added sugar to 1.1ish.(about 2lbs) Yeast was DADY pitched @95 degrees. Allowed to ferment to complete strained and ran twice through pot and thump. I only got 1qt of 160 proof out of 4.5 gallons of wash. The overall flavor was good with no off taste. Taste like sweet potato and vanilla. Cuts were very tight. Not sure what this stuff is good for. What would you mix it with?

[Red Rim]

I tried a run early on in my hobby and it utterly failed. There were so much suspended solids, that I ended up with a vapor lock and then an explosion of sorts. Pretty funny when I look back and see all the things I did wrong. If I could have had a recording of the look on my face as two gallons of slime sprayed all over the deck. Oh what a mess. I might need to try this again just to prove I can. Good luck, do the research and all will go well.

[corene1]

I have heard of a few people on the forum here using a double boiler type set up so they don't have to strain the thick mash. They put the pot of the still in a second pot with a spacer between the bottoms and boil the water in the first pot to create the heat for the still. This prevents scorching of the mash. Then they pull off all the alcohol in a stripping type run to do a final spirit run when enough low wines are collected.

[Red Rim]

Thanks corene1 you are inspiring me to try this again. Of course I was using Idaho spuds and not sweet potatoes, but it was the worst smelling, worst tasting brew that I have made to date. Now I feel challenged to try again. The double boiler sounds good. I have also built an Apple press since then that I could use to squeeeeze the bejeeezes. Out of it.

[Brewfiend]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if this is not the right sub.

Im an Australian expat living in Taiwan. I recently started working for a Taiwan alcohol manufacturer and my boss wants to experiment with some new, weird and wild spirits.

Taiwan has an abundance of sweet potatoes, so my idea is to make some sweet potato vodka. I've found a few recipes for potato vodka, but so far none for sweet potato vodka. Could anyone please help me out or maybe point me in the right direction. Thanks!

I'm wondering how this turned out. I'm thinking of using sweet potato for enzymes in a corn mash. Hope all is well

[still_stirrin]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if this is not the right sub.

Im an Australian expat living in Taiwan. I recently started working for a Taiwan alcohol manufacturer and my boss wants to experiment with some new, weird and wild spirits.

Taiwan has an abundance of sweet potatoes, so my idea is to make some sweet potato vodka. I've found a few recipes for potato vodka, but so far none for sweet potato vodka. Could anyone please help me out or maybe point me in the right direction. Thanks!

I'm wondering how this turned out. I'm thinking of using sweet potato for enzymes in a corn mash. Hope all is well

Brewfiend,

You do realize that this thread is nearly 10 years old?? And junglejimmy’s last post was waaaaay back then as well?? Don’t expect an answer from him.

If you look through the Recipe Development forum you may find a little discussion on sweet potatoes. But, don’t get too excited over the experiments because there are a lot easier (more potential & less labor) ingredients to use to make liquor.

Happy trails 2U.
ss

[Tōtōchtin]

I want to try a yam from Mexico for a local flavor.This is a study using sweet potato,might find something useful in it.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 9012003500
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 9012003500

[Brewfiend]

Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if this is not the right sub.

Im an Australian expat living in Taiwan. I recently started working for a Taiwan alcohol manufacturer and my boss wants to experiment with some new, weird and wild spirits.

Taiwan has an abundance of sweet potatoes, so my idea is to make some sweet potato vodka. I've found a few recipes for potato vodka, but so far none for sweet potato vodka. Could anyone please help me out or maybe point me in the right direction. Thanks!

I'm wondering how this turned out. I'm thinking of using sweet potato for enzymes in a corn mash. Hope all is well

Brewfiend,

You do realize that this thread is nearly 10 years old?? And junglejimmy’s last post was waaaaay back then as well?? Don’t expect an answer from him.

If you look through the Recipe Development forum you may find a little discussion on sweet potatoes. But, don’t get too excited over the experiments because there are a lot easier (more potential & less labor) ingredients to use to make liquor.

Happy trails 2U.
ss

I went deep into the forum last night chasing sweet potatoes. A few things people said lead me to believe there isn't enough amalayse in sweet potatoes to make it worth while. Damn.

[SwillinDistiller420]

Uhhh just add some high temp amylase to yer sweet taters when u mash it in mate