# Vodka made from potatoes?



## Samoan

Does anybody have a recipe or have a link to a recipe for making vodka from potatoes? Please share it with me! I have tons of potatoes that I need to do something with soon before they go bad. Thank y'all!


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## Visor

First you cut it up into 1 cm chunks then you pressure cook it then you distill it and collect the steam (and repeat distillation process if desired)


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## carnut1100

Little more complicated than that. 
You have to ferment it before you can distill it...

Never made it from potatoes myself, but I have been told that yes, you boil the crap outof it after cutting them up into chunks, then let cool and top off with some water, pitch yeast and ferment before distilling twice. 
Throw away the heads!
Not good stuff...

Have heard that after boiling them, if you get the head down to say 70 degrees C and keep at that temp for a hour or so with a cupful of malt extract to 5-10 gallons of mash the enzymes in the malt convert more of the starch to sugar. 
Sugar + yeast = alcohol so the better the conversion the more grunt in the moonshine!

Naturally this is a hypothetical discussion, as home made spirits are illegal in most parts of the world...


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## dilligaf

How To Make Potato Vodka

How to Make Potato Vodka | eHow.com


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## carnut1100

Those links are *very* light on information. 
After pressure cooking y ou *must* ferment the liquid before you can distill it. 
As itis you have a lovely lot of liquid witha potential for alcohol, but *no alcohol*.
get a beer fermenter, and a pack of brewer's yeast and brew it up. If you want a higher yield refer to my earlier post about using the Amylase enzyme contained in malt to enhance the sugar content of your brew. *It is sugar that makes alcohol, not starch*.

When it is fermented out, get a pot still, and distill the wash. 
You will get on the first run a liquid of about 40-50% alcohol and it will taste a bit rough. 
Measure the volume, then put it back in and run it through again. It should come out at around 70% or so. 
Collect the first 5% AND USE IT FOR STARTING FIRES OR CLEANING, DO NOT DRINK IT!
Omitting this step is what makes backwoods moonshine dangerous. 
When the alcohol content gets low, it will start to smell and taste a bit off. Stop right there, quality is more important than quantity. You might get another little bit of Vodka but it will be rubbish stuff full of higher alcohols and fusel oils. Good if you want a hangover...
If you are really keen for the extra good stuff, cut it with water to 40% and distill a third time.

Age it for as long as possible, at least a week to take some of the fire out of it, then mix to 40% with good water, preferrably spring water or distilled or pure rainwater, then enjoy.

If you want to get technical you can use a reflux still, which will do it in one pass. Don't run it at full reflux though or it will come out at 95% alcohol and strip most of the flavour with it. Don't really want it coming out at more than 80-85% tops.

If it is a bit fiery, put a teaspoon of activated charcoal in each quart and sit for a week then strain it off through a coffee filter. Makes a bloody world of difference!

***Thus endeth the hypothetical lesson on what one would do if home made spirits were legal, this has been a post for educational reasons only, ignore the law at your own risk. I take no responsibility for how you may choose to use this information.***


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## The_Blob

carnut1100 said:


> Naturally this is a hypothetical discussion, as home made spirits are illegal in most parts of the world...


isn't just SELLING homemade alcohol the illegal part?

oh wait, transportation as well...


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## EvilTOJ

Distilling for personal use is illegal in most countries. You can make your own beer, wine, cider and mead at home legally, but distilling it is what's illegal. Not just selling and transporting, but also making it, and having the paraphrenalia (a still) to create it as well.


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## Ebin

Hmm, I don't think I wanna go through the trouble of trying it. Sounds like alot of work, huh?


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## live2offroad

Ebin said:


> Hmm, I don't think I wanna go through the trouble of trying it. Sounds like alot of work, huh?


Perhaps it is a lot of work, but this would be a valuable skill for after the SHTF.. It would be a social necessity, and a marketable skill..


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## drRapier

True, but I could think of better marketable skills. To me, the skill of making vodka would be more of a...talent type skill, I guess.


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## carnut1100

Many places the apparatus is not illegal if under a certain size, as there are legitimate uses for it such as distilling essential oils, gourmet sea salt, distilled water etc. 
BUT. the moment you put alcohol in there, you break the law. 
New Zealand has made it legal to do with less than 5 gallon still for home use only. 
May that idea spread!


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## Dr. Know

Samoan said:


> Does anybody have a recipe or have a link to a recipe for making vodka from potatoes? Please share it with me! I have tons of potatoes that I need to do something with soon before they go bad. Thank y'all!


ahhhhhhh potatoe vodka, otherwise on the shelf of your local liquior store as "McCormick"! A grey goose salemen told me once that "potate vodka will make you crazy, see what it did to Stalin" hahahah.

Dr.


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## Blissness

carnut1100 said:


> New Zealand has made it legal to do with less than 5 gallon still for home use only.
> May that idea spread!


Here, here! May that idea spread all over!

Blek! McKormick's vodka!!  Makes me sick thinking about it.
I don't do vodka at all. So Grey Goose and higher end vodka's are not potato vodka's?


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## carnut1100

Most high end Vodkas are grain Vodka...
Vodka rocks...


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## fratermentula

Homebrewing beer (even using potato adjunct) is easier and legal in more places.


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## Chizona721

*Genius!!!*

Ok i just started doin some of this stuff, and i just thought about it and the main ingerdients in "pwdered sugar" is "sugar" "and "cornstarch" with those two in one combination it can set a whole new category on alchohal!! JACKPOT! of course this is an untested theory hopefully to be tested soon.


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