How to make Vodka from Potatoes

Are you new to distilling? Check our our Vodka Distillery Kit. It has all the equipment and ingredients you need to make the below recipe.

You can also get all the ingredients for this recipe (minus the potatoes) with our Vodka Distiller's Yeast Pack. We recommend using the Turbo 500 to make this vodka.

Using 25 L (6.6 US Gal) 9-10% ABV Potato Wash

What you will need:

• 20g Distiller’s Yeast – Vodka
• 12g Distiller’s Enzyme – Glucoamylase
• 100g Distiller’s Nutrient – Light Spirits
• Still Spirit Turbo Clear
• 20 kg potatoes (alternatively 10 kg potatoes and 2.5 kg granulated sugar)
• OPTIONAL: Distiller’s Enzyme - Alpha-amylase 12g (Use this if you want the highest yield and omit this if you want the highest quality)

Directions:

1. Thoroughly clean your potatoes before dicing and placing in a large size pot for boiling (no need to peel). Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes or until just soft enough to mash. (If you don’t have a large enough pot, you can split the potatoes between two smaller pots, splitting enzyme additions between pots).

2. Once your potatoes are soft, turn off the heat and drain the water before mashing to achieve a smooth consistency. At this stage you should add more water and stir until you achieve a liquid consistency (but with a volume less than your final fermentation volume), then turn the heat back on.

3. As your potato slurry is approaching the boil, add your OPTIONAL Distiller’s Enzyme – Alpha-Amylase and stir well to dissolve. Once boiling, turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid the mixture sticking, adding a little more water if necessary to retain the liquid consistency.

4. After 30 minutes of simmering, turn off the heat, cover, and leave to stand for an hour while the enzyme liquefies the starch, stirring and checking temperature every 10 minutes. (Note that at this stage the starch slurry is open to microbial contamination, so ensure your thermometer and stirring spoon are sterilised before coming into contact with the liquid).

5. As soon as the temperature is below 65°C (149°F), add your Distiller’s Enzyme – Glucoamylase and stir to dissolve (using your sterilised spoon) before re-covering and standing for 60 minutes for the enzyme saccharify the starch. Alternatively, you can cool to 30-32°C (86-90°F), adding your enzyme along with the yeast and nutrient, fermenting at optimum 30-32°C (86-90°F) ambient air temperature for simultaneous scarification and fermentation (in this case, skip point 6 and refer to points 7 and 8 for yeast and nutrient additions).

6. After standing for 60 minutes, transfer your saccharified starch slurry to a clean and sterile fermentation vessel (30 L capacity), before adding your sugar (if applicable) and topping up with water to your final fermentation volume with a temperature of 20-32°C (68-90°F).

7. Once ready for fermentation, take your Distiller’s Nutrient – Light Spirits and shake it well. For up to 10% ABV, measure out 100 g (3.6 oz) or see the instructions on the label or the Distiller’s Nutrient – Light Spirits page in the Distiller’s Range booklet for further measuring unit options.

8. Take your Still Spirits Vodka Distiller’s Yeast, and at the same time take the measured out Distiller’s Nutrient – Light Spirits, then add them both directly to the fermentation vessel, fit your lid and airlock (half filled with sterile/boiled water) and leave to ferment at 20-32°C (68- 90°F) ambient temperature for optimum performance and quality – or if you opted for simultaneous saccharification and fermentation, ferment at optimum 30-32°C (86-90°F).

9. Leave your wash to ferment at the appropriate temperature. Note that there will most likely be some foaming at the liquids surface – this is why a 30 L capacity vessel is recommended for a 25 L volume. During the first few days of fermentation, you may see a ‘cap’ of solids form on the liquid surface. If this happens, stir 1-2 times a day to mix back into the liquid.

10. Once your airlocks stops bubbling, this indicates fermentation is complete. This should happen within 7 days, providing the temperature has been 20°C (68°F) or above throughout. If you taste the wash at this stage it should taste dry and not at all sweet, or if using a hydrometer the gravity reading should have stabilised.

11. Once fermentation is complete, pour the wash into your second vessel through a sieve or cheese cloth to remove the solids (don’t worry if some finer solids get through the sieve). You should now leave your wash to stand for 1-2 days for any remaining solids and yeast to settle out. Still Spirits Turbo Clear can be used here to speed up the clarification process.

12. You are now ready to distil your wash to make spirit. The wash should be siphoned into your still to leave behind the sediment. For best quality spirit we recommend using a column still such as the Turbo 500 with Condenser Column. (Note that use of a pot still such as Turbo 500 with The Alembic Pot Still Copper Dome and Condenser will yield lower quality alcohol, requiring triple distillation and resulting in very low yield). Please refer to the instruction manual for your distillation unit for detailed instructions on distilling your spirit.

13. After distillation, you may wish to filter your spirit through a carbon filter to polish the spirit, for cleaner, smoother vodka. For this purpose we recommend the Still Spirits EZ filter.