Potato Vodka

[Luv2Learn]

Anyone care to share their pros and cons of using flakes versus real potatoes?  Everything that I read states that potatoes are made up of so much water, that the flakes are the way to go.  Being in Alaska, I also feel that storage and consistency is important.  I would love to keep it Alaskan potatoes but unless some farmer starts offering flakes up here, it really just isn't feasible.  Anyone have good recommendations for Potato Flake manufacturers?  I would also like to use more Glacier Water and if the flakes are dried, then it give us the opportunity of using more of the glacier water.

[indyspirits]

I recall reading somewhere a starch spud is about 20% starch and much less (15%??) for eatin' spuds.  Based on those (potentially incorrect) figures just run some numbers to see if you'd be adding back more water to rehydrated the flakes.

 

 

[Silk City Distillers]

Would be interested in a flake distributor recommendation as well

[Gedrick Distilling Company]

It doesn't matter whether you use the genuine article or flakes as there is still going to be a lot of water involved. However, using your Alaskan spuds is a great marketing plus point. I am experienced in making potato vodka and I can tell you it is not simple, primarily due to the liquefaction issue. The spud is a hard taskmaster and every seven year old knows that potato and water together makes GLUE. If you need help putting together the right equipment and process for mashing and distilling a great potato vodka, I would be pleased to help you. 

Best, Gerard.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerard-evans-1b2b8a58/

[Luv2Learn]

I dont know how I missed this from October.  Our equipment is being shipped from DYE this week and should arrive here in Alaska in about 5 weeks.  I would love to chat with you more regarding distilling with potatoes.  I hired a distiller that said he feels he has his mash down good using flakes over raw.  Your input would be very valuable.  If you could email me at info@alaskanspirits.com - that would be awesome.  My cell is 480-213-5673 as well.  ~ Hilary

[MDH]

For convenience, I'd say dry is better, and is also much better for neutral if you plan for this to be used as a base for other spirits.

But everything has volatiles. That's what we're doing, is capturing those. When you work with dry material, you don't obtain volatile flavors it once had. I've tried many potato vodkas - William Chase, Schramm, etc., all made with completely fresh potatoes, that were borderline potato eau de vie. So, it depends what you want. 

[Modernity]

On 10/17/2017 at 12:00 AM, Gedrick Distilling Company said:

It doesn't matter whether you use the genuine article or flakes as there is still going to be a lot of water involved. However, using your Alaskan spuds is a great marketing plus point. I am experienced in making potato vodka and I can tell you it is not simple, primarily due to the liquefaction issue. The spud is a hard taskmaster and every seven year old knows that potato and water together makes GLUE. If you need help putting together the right equipment and process for mashing and distilling a great potato vodka, I would be pleased to help you. 

Best, Gerard.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerard-evans-1b2b8a58/

Could someone tell me what the expected, litres of pure alcohol, yield from 1000kgs of fresh potatoes would be? 

[Glenlyon]

It depends on the starch content of the potatoes. European (Polish) potatoes have a high starch content, however, North American potatoes have less starch, so you need more to pounds achieve the same results. The cost of importing and using potatoes in Alaska might be a bit steep, unless you happen to have a great local source.

[Modernity]

9 hours ago, Glenlyon said:

It depends on the starch content of the potatoes. European (Polish) potatoes have a high starch content, however, North American potatoes have less starch, so you need more to pounds achieve the same results. The cost of importing and using potatoes in Alaska might be a bit steep, unless you happen to have a great local source.

My mistake, I wasn't clear in my question. 

Could someone tell me what the expected (or theoretical), litres of pure alcohol, yield from 1000kgs of fresh potatoes, with 18% starch would be? 

Btw, freight is not an issue. The potatoes are growing next door.

[indyspirits]

So, uhhhh.  Back of the napkin goes something like this... 18% of 1000kg = 180kg = 400 lbs (I cant do yield math in metric). Let's assume I can convert all of that starch to fermentable sugars. So I have 400 lbs of fermentable sugar = 18,216 gravity points which means I need about 300 gallons of water to get a starting gravity of 1.060. HOWEVER, I have no damn idea how you'd process the spuds and what that would look like in a cooker. That's a lot of water, a little fiber, a small amounts of other stuff.  Would you try to separate out the starch? Never made spud vodka.  Anyway, let's just pretend you're really good and could get 300 gallons of 7% "beer"... I think if things go your way you might get 40 gallons of 40%?  Love someone to check my math on this, it's most likely wrong.

Edit: Pure 190 proof maybe around 19 gallons (?)

 

 

[Modernity]

5 hours ago, indyspirits said:

So, uhhhh.  Back of the napkin goes something like this... 18% of 1000kg = 180kg = 400 lbs (I cant do yield math in metric). Let's assume I can convert all of that starch to fermentable sugars. So I have 400 lbs of fermentable sugar = 18,216 gravity points which means I need about 300 gallons of water to get a starting gravity of 1.060. HOWEVER, I have no damn idea how you'd process the spuds and what that would look like in a cooker. That's a lot of water, a little fiber, a small amounts of other stuff.  Would you try to separate out the starch? Never made spud vodka.  Anyway, let's just pretend you're really good and could get 300 gallons of 7% "beer"... I think if things go your way you might get 40 gallons of 40%?  Love someone to check my math on this, it's most likely wrong.

Edit: Pure 190 proof maybe around 19 gallons (?)

 

 

Thank you Indyspirits.

My understanding is that the spuds are 80% water straight out of the ground. That's 800 litres or 211 Gallons. 

We plan to lift them from the ground and then process them directly into a potato washer/scrubber leaving the muck in the paddock. At the distillery they would be passed through a sieve plate (similar to an over sized sausage mincer). They would be cooked with or without direct steam (not sure how much extra water we will need to add yet) before enzymatic conversion. If a liquefaction enzyme is used, we are told that we can get away without adding any additional water. That would be a pretty neat idea. 

The spuds would be left in the ground for less time than an eating spud as we don't need a thick skin for transport and retail sale. As a result there would be a lot less fiber (so we are told by the growers). 

[Luv2Learn]

On 8/20/2018 at 5:30 PM, Modernity said:

Thank you Indyspirits.

My understanding is that the spuds are 80% water straight out of the ground. That's 800 litres or 211 Gallons. 

We plan to lift them from the ground and then process them directly into a potato washer/scrubber leaving the muck in the paddock. At the distillery they would be passed through a sieve plate (similar to an over sized sausage mincer). They would be cooked with or without direct steam (not sure how much extra water we will need to add yet) before enzymatic conversion. If a liquefaction enzyme is used, we are told that we can get away without adding any additional water. That would be a pretty neat idea. 

The spuds would be left in the ground for less time than an eating spud as we don't need a thick skin for transport and retail sale. As a result there would be a lot less fiber (so we are told by the growers). 

How did this end up working for you?  I like your idea and curious as to your outcome.  Thanks.

[Glenlyon]

I didn't realize you could grow potatoes with an 18% starch content in Alaska. That's very cool. I too would be interested in how you make out.

[Modernity]

On 8/21/2018 at 10:54 AM, indyspirits said:

So, uhhhh.  Back of the napkin goes something like this... 18% of 1000kg = 180kg = 400 lbs (I cant do yield math in metric). Let's assume I can convert all of that starch to fermentable sugars. So I have 400 lbs of fermentable sugar = 18,216 gravity points which means I need about 300 gallons of water to get a starting gravity of 1.060. HOWEVER, I have no damn idea how you'd process the spuds and what that would look like in a cooker. That's a lot of water, a little fiber, a small amounts of other stuff.  Would you try to separate out the starch? Never made spud vodka.  Anyway, let's just pretend you're really good and could get 300 gallons of 7% "beer"... I think if things go your way you might get 40 gallons of 40%?  Love someone to check my math on this, it's most likely wrong.

Edit: Pure 190 proof maybe around 19 gallons (?)

 

 

I found that cooker today. 3500 litres, 125 PSI steam jacket and 50 PSI/vacuum shell. With a 500KW steam boiler we should be able to Pressure Cook 2000kgs of smashed potatoes in no time at all. 

[Modernity]

On 9/11/2018 at 7:04 AM, Alaskan Spirits LLC said:

How did this end up working for you?  I like your idea and curious as to your outcome.  Thanks.

We have just started the build out on all the gear to do this. The key to the development of the idea was finding the right way to cook the spuds. The more I thought about how a potato distillery would work the more I realised that when the potatoes arrive in the distillery speed was the number one consideration. Nobody wants to spend 3/4 of the day processing spuds everyday of the season. 

A 20t/hour mill feed straight into a pressure cooker. Through a heat exchanger and into jacketed fermenters for further cooling for yeast pitching. 

Our pressure cooker has a high powered mixer that will move the volume around for even cooking. 

[Julius]

3 hours ago, Modernity said:

We have just started the build out on all the gear to do this. The key to the development of the idea was finding the right way to cook the spuds. The more I thought about how a potato distillery would work the more I realised that when the potatoes arrive in the distillery speed was the number one consideration. Nobody wants to spend 3/4 of the day processing spuds everyday of the season. 

A 20t/hour mill feed straight into a pressure cooker. Through a heat exchanger and into jacketed fermenters for further cooling for yeast pitching. 

Our pressure cooker has a high powered mixer that will move the volume around for even cooking. 

 

How do you get the rocks and dirt off of the spuds before cooking?

[Modernity]

6 hours ago, Julius said:

How do you get the rocks and dirt off of the spuds before cooking?

Hi Julius, 

All the local spud farmer supply contracts to potato chip, fries and supermarkets. All the growers wash on-farm. Also, our local soil is a red volcanic earth that washes off well with little to no stones. 

[Julius]

Oh wow that is awesome! I’ve seen a couple different washing methods employed by distilleries, is always interesting.