Can You Make Beer from Potatoes?

We’ve all heard of the potato famine in Ireland, of vodka made from potatoes, and even, perhaps, of how potatoes are one the most nutrient dense foods a human can eat, but can you make beer from potatoes?

Yes!

It is a little known fact that you can make beer using virtually any ingredient that has starch or sugar, or both, and potatoes, especially sweet potatoes, have plenty of both.

And the truth is that people across civilization from the beginning of the history of the potato have figured that out.

The History of the Potato

Anthropologists place the birth of the potato somewhere around 8000 BC in South America among the indigenous people there.

It was cultivated and developed into various dishes and beverages, and acted as a staple for many households.

Indeed, reliance on the potato as a staple food has historically been both a blessing and a curse.

Nutritionists have provided evidence that the potato is so packed with nutrients that it is one of the only foods that humans can survive almost exclusively on.

The potato is packed with vitamin c and potassium, two nutrients critical to human survival, as well as protein, fat, and fiber, offering support for muscles, blood sugar, and the gut and digestive system as well as the nervous system.

This reality is why it became such a popular food in Europe when early explorers brought it home to share.

Impoverished Irish communities became potato farmers and were able to feed their family through lean times.

However, the downside came when a single pathogen entered the potato crops across the country and wiped them all out, plunging more than a million people into starvation, disease, and death.

Thus, a single crop that provided the bulk of nutrition for families became the single predictor of a grisly outcome.

Many communities before and since have learned to diversify their crops, even within the potato family.

As of the latest count, there are over 4,000 varieties of potatoes, mostly found in the Andes in South America, and eating from a wide range of these varieties helps prevent against too heavily a reliance on a single crop again.

Further, making different culinary choices for different potatoes is also a critical piece of adding variety to the diet.

The indigenous people of South America use potatoes as bases for soups, as creams, as pies, as cakes, and yes, as the foundation for alcoholic beverages.

And they are not alone.

Potatoes Used in Liquor

Of course, everyone knows that Russians utilize the potato for vodka, and there exist other brands across the world that draw on the potato to make vodka.

For vodka, distillers typically draw on Yukon gold or russet potatoes, a lighter color, thinner skinned, higher starch potato.

Though, some may not realize that not all vodka is make with potatoes. Indeed, potatoes only make up 1% of vodka in the world.

Over in South America, native cultures make a drink called chicha, which also relies on potatoes as a base, as well as yuca, which is a cousin to the potato.

And while vodka is thought to be a little more than 500 years old, chicha goes back to 5000 BC.

So it is no wonder that if liquor has been made from potatoes that beer would be, too.

Beer Made from Potatoes

After all, the process used to make liquor is used to make beer. In fact, beer is easier to make. Liquor takes beer one step further.

To make beer from potatoes, brewers will follow the same steps they do with any other grain.

Boil potatoes for about 15 minutes and then steep, allowing wort to cool. Add yeast, or allow yeast to naturally attract to the sugars in the wort. Decide if you want to add hops before fermentation, at the same time as the yeast, or after fermentation for a dry hop effect.

Test Your Yeast

The nice thing about potatoes is they convert their starches to sugar themselves during the boil, so you don’t have to roast and grind like you do with most grains.

Sure, you should cut your potatoes up into smaller cubes, but you really don’t have to.

Another benefit of potato beer is that it will serve as a nice base if you want to integrate other grains.

Potatoes have a similar protein content to malted barley, so you won’t have to worry about haze or cloudiness if you are trying to prevent it, and they do not create a potato flavor in the beer.

If anything, potatoes serve as an excellent complement to the hops added, providing a foundation for the flowery and herby hints of aroma and flavor.

Best Potato Beers

If you’re interested in trying some potato beers to see what might be in store for you as a brewer, you can check out any of the following potato beers that have received rave reviews.

Kartoffel Bier

Kartoffel Bier out of Germany draws on hard times and chefs and brewers working with what they had – in this case, white potatoes.

The beer has a creamy, silky texture and highlights the hops nicely.

Puhaste Poteito Potato

This white potato beer out of Estonia includes cardamom and is a brown beer that has received outstanding critical acclaim.

Town Hall Gold Potato Stout

Town Hall Brewery out of Minneapolis offers a dry Irish stout that uses Yukon gold potatoes as its base to rave reviews.

The Bruery Autumn Maple

This California brewery is playing on the pumpkin spiced everything trend, using sweet potatoes as a base and adding in pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and all spice.

And of course, the people love it.

There are so many potato beers to choose from, but this list is a good start.

Give it a try, and maybe start putting the potato to the test in your own brewery!

Cheers!

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