How Is Vodka Made From Potatoes
You can prepare vodka from the potatoes by fermentation. To produce vodka, you first ferment the potatoes and then distill them to increase their alcoholic content. Then, they are refined by a five-stage filtration system. The finished product is robust and earthy.
If you are still curious how to make Potato Vodka, from preparing the Mash to final Distilling, we have laid out the steps and the equipment that will be needed here. If you are still a novice, you can use a potato vodka recipe as reference, and get an idea of how craft brewers and experts create and distill some of your favorite spirits. Naturally, this recipe is one of the many recipes out there on the topic of making vodka, but it happens to be one of the most STRAIGHTFORWARD ways of seeing the details behind every step of production.
To make Potato Vodka, keep in mind that the best potatoes to use are those with high percentages of starch. Usually made from grains, potatoes are popular for replacing mashed potatoes in vodka, giving vodka a more earthy flavor. Potatoes are extremely complicated, dense starches, meaning it can be extremely challenging to produce high-quality vodkas out of them. We chose potato as our base for the vodka because we believe that it produces a more flavorful, smoother spirit.
| Steps | How to make |
| Cutting | Cut the potatoes into small cubes. |
| Mashing | Boil the potatoes and then start mashing. |
| Leave and Sit | Add more water and leave the potatoes and sit at 150F for 1 hour. |
| Add malted grains | To break the starch out of the potatoes, you also need at least a little bit of malted grains. |
In addition to potatoes and grains, vodka can be made with sugarcane and fruits–basically, anything that can be fermented can be made into vodka, but there is no guarantee that it will taste good. Vodka can be distilled from almost anything that can be fermented into alcohol, but is primarily made with potatoes, molasses made from sugar beets, and grains. Over the years, distillers have become more daring and adventurous, experimenting with vodka ingredients, establishing the now-known fact that it can be made from pretty much any type of starch that can be fermented into sugar and made into alcohol.
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Truth is, you can make vodka out of almost any farm feedstock, if you can make it ferment. There is a reason why: making vodka from grains is significantly easier and more efficient.
Grains such as wheat, rye, and barley are known for producing some of the highest-quality vodkas in the world. Most vodkas are made with grains, wheat, or rye, while only three percent of vodkas are made from potatoes globally. Like other vodkas made with wheat, rye, corn, or any grains, many top-rated vodka brands made from potatoes deliver a distinctive flavor, an earthy aroma, and smooth finish. Despite persistent myths about how potato-based vodkas are typically made, the truth is potato vodkas are quite difficult to find nowadays.
Where potatoes were once a big presence, nowadays the majority of vodkas are made with grains, and some countries, like Russia, consider potatoes to be a poor base material, says Toni Abou-Ganim, a mixologist and the author of Distilled Vodka. Today, Russians mostly use grains for vodka, since potatoes grow poorly on the frozen earth. Grain, particularly grain, has been dominant in the vodka industry as a preferable base, while potato usage has been also well established. While vodka comes from various sources like rye, wheat, corn, and beets, we are going to focus on using potatoes as the primary component in this guide.
Vodka is the exception to the rule, and can be distilled from many ingredients including barley, wheat, rye, potatoes, or corn (via Leaf TV). Contrary to common perception, vodka generally has no sugars and has less calories compared to other types of alcohol . For instance, the fact that a vodka is made from potatoes does not guarantee that it has a specific ABV.
Regardless of the ingredients used in a vodka, it has to undergo the same process to create a spirit, which is similar to that used in making a gin. To produce vodka, one must first ferment any food substance containing sugar or starch, and then distill the product to boost the alcohol content. Fermenting the potatoes for a vodka is no different than fermenting other alcoholic beverages like whiskey and bourbon, once yeast is pitched, the fermentation happens next, and distilled spirits are produced from the sugars.
Making the mash starts by peeling the potatoes and boiling them for at least 20 minutes, or until they are ready for mashing. Once they are mashed, add more water and malted barley, and leave the potatoes to sit at 150F for at least one hour. Cut potatoes into smaller, 1-inch cubes and cover them with two inches of water in a stock pot on the stove.
To break the starch out of the potatoes, you also need at least a little bit of malted grains. All varieties of grain vodka have gluten in it, along with the sugar, which means that if you are on a gluten-free diet, it is not a good option for you. Potato and grain vodka are both made using the same four-step process, and the major differences between them are in the ingredients and flavors.
Fruit-based vodkas typically yield higher proofs than their wheat-based and potato-based siblings, mostly because there is more sugar available to be converted to valuable alcohol. This means vodkas made with grapes and other unconventional ingredients have to claim grain usage on the label. Since grains, particularly wheat and potatoes, are recognized as the most widely used, and thus the standard, ingredients for making vodka, the EU regulations state that (No 110/2008) vodkas made with non-traditional ingredients, let us say grapes or grass (vodka grass does, in fact, exist), must declare this on their labels in order to meet the expectations of customers.
Nowadays, vodka is readily produced in bulk, typically made with starches such as maize, wheat, or the whey from cows milk, which is leftover after cheesemaking. Luksusowa vodka, which started producing a high-quality vodka made with potatoes in 1928, is one of Polands oldest vodka brands. It uses fresh potatoes and local-sourced Artesian water, which goes through a proprietary, triple-distilled process.
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No, Grey Goose is not potato vodka, as it uses just two primary ingredients, softer winter wheat from Picardy and naturally-sourced spring water for cognac. Using only the highest-quality ingredients, this French vodka is made with winter wheat and spring water. Boyd & Blair vodka is made with Idahos finest locally grown potatoes and glacial-fed water from the Grand Teton mountains. The Grand Teton Vodka is distilled 20 times, conditioned by pure mountain water, then polished by coals and crystal sands of agara.
Is real vodka made from potatoes?
It’s a pervasive myth that vodka is primarily or exclusively created from potatoes. In actuality, it makes up a tiny portion (1% at one stage), with grains making up the majority of the remaining food (though some are from sugar byproducts, grapes, or even milk whey)
What is the easiest alcohol to make?
Mead is most likely the easiest liquor to create. Mead is not the quickest liquor to prepare, but it is really simple to create. Lager is perhaps the greatest method for you to manufacture alcohol that you can enjoy quickly. Lager ages more slowly than wine and spirits on average.
Is it cheaper to make your own alcohol?
Compared to buying wine from a grocery or liquor shop, making your own is far less expensive. The cost of adding new clusters can be as little as $3.00 per bottle once you have paid for the upfront costs of the somewhat large amount of supplies and equipment you will need to get everything moving.