flaked maize substitute

Good day,

I'm looking to brew a recipe that requires one pound of flaked maize. what can I substitute this with? I can't find any flaked maize anywhere in town. The only thing I found was corn grits or corn meal.

Basically, how much of what can I use to substitute 1lb of flaked maize with? Thank you!

1 pound of corn meal will work. You should do a cereal mash first, though. The flaked maize is pregelatinized, but the corn meal is not.

Use 1 pound of corn meal and pound of crushed two-row, and 3 cups of water per pound. Bring to 155 degrees, stirring well, and keep there for 15 minutes. Then, raise the temperature to boiling to cook the corn meal. Add that to your mash. Here's a link with good instructions: http://www.ingermann.com/cerealmash.html

Thanks for the info,
Any idea if this can be refrigerated for future use?
I'd like to prepare this a day or 2 in advance.
Also, doesn't this just clump and sink to the bottom of the mash tun since it's so dense? I'm a little worried about the mash sinking to the bottom into my manifold.

Thanks again!

I'd be careful about letting any mash cool. As they reach certain temps they are succeptable to lactobasilus and other microrganisms. i would just do the cereal mash on brew day. It won't take too long.

Just use plain instant grits. 1 to 1 substitute for flaked maize with no cereal mash needed.

Instant grits can be used, if they do not have any extra ingredients.

You can also use puffed corn cereal, if it is salt-free.

foltster said:

Just use plain instant grits. 1 to 1 substitute for flaked maize with no cereal mash needed.

Click to expand...

This is what I would do if you don't want to go through gelatinization or a cereal mash.

With oats in particular I have found the flavor better (either for beer or for eating) in the least processed form (eg steel cut vs flakes). I believe this is due to less surface area exposed to oxygen. So I would say grits > flakes in general and since instant grits (pre-gelatinized like flakes) are readily available, there you go.

There was a guy on here who had a good result with using popped corn (air popped), so there is another option. He claimed better corn flavor than flakes which goes back to my theory that exposure to oxygen stales the flavor of grains.

Wow... I'd be scared using popped corn. I don't find it has that sweet corn flavor. I'll try to shop around for instant grits, it's not a common ingredient in Ottawa... Worst case, if I don't find anything before brewing day, I'll use the wife's cornmeal and follow Yooper's instructions.

+1 on the cereal mash on brewday
but you can use airpopped popcorn (that you pop yourself) - this will take a long time to pop all the corn you need but you can store it in a cool dry place for a long time.
Flaked corn that you buy from your LHBS will keep for a very long time the same way as grain, with very little in the way of taste change (I have a half sack left that is now about a year old and neither the product nor the lager made with it has any strange taste) - assuming good storage practice is followed.