Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

so i have been toying with the idea of making a potato vodka all grain style.

seems easy enough, the recipes i have seen online usually ask for about 10kg of spuds and 1 KG malted barley mashed at about 66DEG for a 23 litre wash.
i would probably add some DAP and some dead yeast to help things along also.
i would use the still spirits vodka yeast (not turbo its supposed to be a decent yeast).

i was just wondering if anyone had tried something like this before and how did it go.

Search mate. Plenty if people have had a gi.
viewtopic.php?f=51&t=9739

Where are you getting the potatoes from potatoes are mainly water that is why do not need big quantity of malt works out expensive if having to buy another option is to buy POTATO STARCH 25KG about $2 a kilo but probably does not have the flavor of the potato.

I don't understand why anyone would go to any trouble to make vodka out of anything other than sugar?

If vodka is just food-grade ethanol diluted to 40%, why go to the trouble?

I mean, if vodka is supposed to be odourless & tasteless, what's the advantage after it's been run through a reflux column?

The link and where it points to were interesting, anyone tried doing the potato water thing in washes?

Nazis commandeered “the entire European potato crop in 1944 and turned it into ethanol to fuel V2 rockets.

Chris7231... congrats buddy... i am totally with you.
There have been posts and attempts to reproduce spud vodka on this site before,but given its sugar and taste deficiencies, why would you even waste, power and time on something that will, after a LOT of unnecessary processing effort, result in a product, 'similar' to stuff we make far more efficiently... I just dont get it.
Maybe the illusion that vodka made from spuds 'must be good', still lingers in some of us...

There's a group of people in the world that think pharmaceutical grade 100% neutral ethanol...is vodka.
There's also a group of people in the world who believe vodka should carry with it the essence of the source and the heart of the distiller.

i.e you're either in the former or the latter camp, some like to mingle in the middle but each to their own.

Pravda

Kenster wrote:Chris7231... congrats buddy... i am totally with you.
There have been posts and attempts to reproduce spud vodka on this site before,but given its sugar and taste deficiencies, why would you even waste, power and time on something that will, after a LOT of unnecessary processing effort, result in a product, 'similar' to stuff we make far more efficiently... I just dont get it.
Maybe the illusion that vodka made from spuds 'must be good', still lingers in some of us...

my theory is that generally speaking mashing starches to produce fermentable sugars produces a smoother better drinking product than simply dumping in bags of white sugar.

my all grain whiskey is nicer to drink than my sugarhead whiskey. there isnt a massive difference but there is a difference. i was expecting that this would carry over to vodka also.
i was going to go with wheat but i can get spuds cheaper and well why not spuds.

either way im undecided how i want to make my next batch of sipping vodka

Fair enough mate, I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything - just haven't been able to justify the difference - but then again, I don't drink vodka! I only use it for mixing up cordials.

Chris you've pretty much summed it up with "I don't drink vodka" those who do will comment on a distinct sugar bite/burn with all sugar vodkas.
If your making cordials you're never going to appreciate the difference and should keep making sugar based neutral.
With high end vodkas made usually from grain or potatoes there's a distinct mouthfeel and a feint taste a slight lingering flavour with no burn or bite. Only worth the effort for sipping vodka imo.

Part of the issue with potato mashes is separating potato from liquid. If you have a pot and large separate thumper this becomes a lot easier as you strain most of the liquid and put it in the boiler as usual and the thick sloppy goop goes into the thumper which acts as a steam stripped removing the alcohol from the sludge.

I'm fairly sure Potatoes don't have any enzymes so either add enzymes or a third of the weight of potatoes use barley malt to do your conversion for you. Good luck!

Copy and pasted from a different source. (My last post on this breached forum rules and was kindly removed) ive copy and posted the same info as before and removed everything i could find that may breach rules so here we go. If i do breach again my apologies.

Potato Vodka Recipe

Ingredients
5 Pounds 2 row malted barley
25 Pounds potatoes
7 gallons of water
2 packets of bread yeast (or yeast of choice)

Stats
OG = 1.065 (add sugar if needed to reach the gravity you want)
FG = 1.010 or below
ABV = 7.2%

Mashing Process
Clean the potatoes with a produce brush.
Cut the potatoes into small 1 inch cubes and cover them with two inches of water in a stock pot on the stove.
Turn the heat to high and boil the potatoes for 15 minutes.
Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or an electric immersion blender.
Transfer the mashed potatoes and any liquid from the stock pot into a large mash pot. We recommend transferring the potatoe mash to a mash bag. We recommend using the mash in a bag method for this recipe.
Add water to reach 7 gallons total volume. While adding water keep an eye on the temperature of the mash. The temperature after adding the water should be around 140 degrees.
Add 5 pounds of crushed malted barley to the mash bag while stirring well.
Add heat if need and hold the mash at 140 degrees for 20 minutes.
Raise the temperature of the mash to 150 while stirring.
Mash at 150 for one hour. Add heat to the mash tun while stirring as needed during the mash.
Take a gravity reading with your refractometer or hydrometer.
If the starting gravity is below 1.065 add sugar until you reached 1.065.
Use a wort chiller to cool mash to 70-75 degrees.
Fermentation Process
Create a yeast starter. Let the yeast starter propigate for 15-20 minutes before adding it to the fermenter.
Once the mash has been cooled transfer only the liquid to a sanitized carboy/bucket
Add the yeast starter to the fermenter.
Add airlock and ferment between 65-75 degrees for 2 weeks.

Distillation Process
Siphon (do not pour) the wash into a copper still or stainless steel distiller.
If there is a large amount of sediment at the bottom of the fermenter filter it through fine cheese cloth in a separate bucket. This will extract the remaining liquid alcohol from the solids.
Insert clean copper packing material into the column of the still (this stuff should be super high proof, so you'll want as much reflux action as possible).
If using our stainless steel distiller secure the dome onto the boiler with the clamp.
Attach the column to the boiler of the still.
Connect the cooling hoses for the condenser and make sure they connected securely.
Crank the heat on the still.
If using one our copper stills once the boiler temperature is around 110 degrees apply flour paste to the joint between the vapor cone and the column assembly.
If using either our stainless steel or copper units turn on the condensing water once the boiler registers 130 degrees.
When the boiler registers 170 degrees make sure that glass or metal containers are easily accessible for collecting the distilled alcohol.
Once the still starts to produce turn the heat down until the still is producing roughly 3 drips per second.
Discard the foreshots and make tight cuts.
Always take notes during the run.
Adjust the heat during the run so you always have 1-3 dips of production a second.
Run the still until the tails are between 10-20% ABV.
Once the tails are finished turn off the heat source.
Dump the remaining liquid that is in the still. Note: it will be extremely hot!
Remove the copper packing material from the column. Note: it will be extremely hot!
Clean the copper packing material by tossing it into a bowl of vinegar for an hour/overnight. After the copper packing material is finished soaking rinse it off well and leave to dry.
Clean the still.
Dry the still.
Store the still in a dry and safe location.

Not my receipe/mash, never tried it and possibly never will. Just a direct copy and paste from an external source.

“Apply flour paste”not recommended around here. :handgestures-thumbdown: