OK, so I'm making a Classic American Pilsner with popcorn instead of flaked corn for kicks. I heard a Brewing Network episode with Sun King Brewery and decided this would be a perfect experiment for a halloween party coming up at the end of the month. I'm prepping everything to get ready for my brew day on Friday - so I air popped two pounds of popcorn... this produced about 40 quarts in a 60 qt cooler. I used my hands to break the popcorn up a bit which brings it down to about 25-30 quarts of popped popcorn. I'll mash in with this, and then 8 lb of two row and a pound of flaked barley at 149 for 90 minutes. Single hopped at 60 minutes with two ounces of Saaz. I'm also using Wyeast 2112 California Lager at 57 degrees which is the bottom end of its fermentation threshold. I will probably drop that down to 55 once it gets going strong to keep any fermentation flavors low.
The only concern is that I have a lot more "material" in my mash tun because of the popcorn. Does anyone have any ideas what the absorbtion rate will be on this? I usually use a 1.5 qt per pound ratio for my mash water but I think it may not be enough for this brew. I am going to make a "test" mash with a smaller amount of popcorn and water and try to measure the absorbtion and will post back, but if anyone has done this I would appreciate any input you can give. I assume lautering may be rough... but I'm willing to give it a go for the sake of experimentation.
The only concern is that I have a lot more "material" in my mash tun because of the popcorn. Does anyone have any ideas what the absorbtion rate will be on this? I usually use a 1.5 qt per pound ratio for my mash water but I think it may not be enough for this brew. I am going to make a "test" mash with a smaller amount of popcorn and water and try to measure the absorbtion and will post back, but if anyone has done this I would appreciate any input you can give. I assume lautering may be rough... but I'm willing to give it a go for the sake of experimentation.
