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Hey all, wondering if anyone has experience with pureed sweet potato in the mash? Before you tell me I'm mad, I already know... About to to a 1bbl test batch that looks like it is going to be pretty sticky... Grist is to be 50% Rye malt/50% Munich10. I would typically use 1#/barrel rice hulls on a rye or wheat beer with this grist ratio and have no issues whatever with run off. Now, we are also going to be adding one #10 can (6.6lbs) of sweet potato puree to the mash, and that is the wild card! Was wondering who has used the stuff in this way, what experiences might have been had, and any suggestions for how much I should up the rice hulls? I am thinking an additional 2 or 3 lbs, but that is a shot in the dark.
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You're not crazy. I've brewed my pumpkin ales for years with canned pumpkin (puree) directly in the mash. It works out fine. This should be a pretty similar situation, I think.
A couple of notes that I would suggest:
1) Mix your puree into the strike water before you add anything else. This will make sure it is as diluted as possible, making it less of a problem.
2) Mix your rice hulls in in batches. I did it in thirds, just after each third of the grain bill. This will make sure they don't all stay at the top/bottom.
3) Start your lauter at half the speed you usually would, and start increasing it when it is half way done. It is a slow start, but is an even process that shouldn't crash.
The only part of this that I think is a little nuts is using so much rye. If you have the ability to do a stage mash, maybe stopping along the way for a protein and beta-glucan rest would be appropriate. Not only will it help prevent gelling from the rye, but you'll get far better utilization. My pumpkin ale this year was a porter, and I used 10% rye in the mash, and it didn't have any issues at all, and the flavor did add to the pumpkin-ness of the whole beer.
My ratios per barrel for pumpkin and rice hulls are one #10can pumpkin, and one 5gal bucket of rice hulls per bbl. That seems to work nicely, though you might want more (maybe 2x) for as much rye as you are using. Just to be safe. -
Awesome, great info, thanks! I had thought about putting the puree in before the grist, wasn't sure if it would be a good idea or not, sounds like my first instinct was correct in that regard.Originally posted by blonberg View Post
The reason for so much rye is that this is actually part of a series of rye beers, all with 50% of the base malt being rye.Comment
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Blonberg, your advice worked and we had a great run off. I didn't use quite as much extra on the rice hulls because I wouldn't have been able to fit that much in my pilot mash tun, but I did use about 3 1/2x my normal amount. I warmed the cans of sweet potato in advance to facilitate getting them out of the cans and that definitely helped, a quick stir with the paddle dispersed them in the strike water and made a huge difference I'm sure. Unfortunately, when I scale it up next year I won't be able to do the pre-disperse in strike water. I think that if the puree just goes in periodically while it's still quite wet during mash in that it should still disperse pretty well.
Thanks againComment
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I'm glad it worked out for you. I hope the beer is delicious!Comment
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Thanks, will let you know! It's still active, so final results aren't in yet. The wort tasted amazing, and my assistant drank a pint of it on the brew day LOL We tasted the beer this morning, as I said still active. Has nice blend of rye/Munich, and slightly earthy quality. Fermenting with WB06, so it has a nice clove character going on. Final product will be essentially a traditional German Roggenbier with undertones from the sweet potato. Excited
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