100% corn beer? Amylase?

This is my first post, after a long time of reading, so thanks in advance for all the help you've all given me so far.

I have a lot of cracked corn that I've used as an adjunct for my BMC brews. I'd like to try for a pure corn SMaSH to see what the flavor is on it's own. I wasn't sure if Amylase would help me get the sugar out of the dried/cracked corn, or if I'd have to continue to use it as an adjunct.

Any advice? Would fresh corn work better? It will probably be a 1 gallon batch for trying this, so fresh corn wouldn't be out of the question, but there has got to be a way to convert the cracked stuff (it's so cheap).

You would have to cook it before you mash it. I'm not exactly sure that beer would even be in the realm of "drinkable" but it's an experiment so fire away.

they brew 100% beer in south america and they call it chicha.Some areas malt the corn first and some just boil it to get the starches out.The guy on bizzare foods tryed it in the amazon on his show.They let it ferment no longer than 5 days then drink it fresh, they say it gets realy bitter if let out to long.

Couldn't you pretty much just use corn sugar, since that's what you're trying to make anyway? I realize it wouldn't use up your stock, but it's cheap enough.

But if you used amylase, I'm sure you could convert the majority of the starches.

Lautering would be a problem too, unless you use a ton of rice hulls or just did a chibuku kinda thing.

Thanks for the quick input, I am going to give it a try with the amylase. I will probably just give it a boil, and a rest with amylase which seems to be the chicha-type way. I'll try it in a week, and see how it gets on with age.

I was thinking willamette hops with the corn? Any hop suggestions to go with the corn flavor? No hops at all? I might try a gallon with hops, and a gallon without.

Ended up doing it with hops, just a gallon. I tried it tonight, and it came out pretty good. REALLY mellow and light. Not much of a head on it, BMC drinkers eat your heart out. I'll post a pic in the morning.

I love corn, and the corn flavor really came through. I'll definitively be adding cracked corn to recipes later on.

Right on!! I never thought it would come out to be a decent beer, but it sounds like you pulled it off. All I can imagine is drinking the water out of a can of corn.

3 lbs of cracked corn, some amylase, and a S***load of rice hulls. It lautered fine.

Poor efficiency, but oh well. It probably added to the corn flavor.

....so a little confession... I used to drink the water out of a can of corn. The flavor of this brew might not be for everyone.

drummerguysteve said:

I used to drink the water out of a can of corn.

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.........................and that's where you lost me.

Out of curiosity how much amylase to how much corn did you use? I was thinking of doing something similar.

FTFY.

I wonder if you could malt some dried popcorn kernels at home

Did you need a lot of yeast nutrient?

prosper said:

I wonder if you could malt some dried popcorn kernels at home

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Yes you can and yes it will make a ok brew, although as stated previously lautering can be a problem. If your doing a corn brew malt corn is the way to do it.

Mr. Drummerguysteve, I don't mean to hijack the the thread, but I see you have "Serengeti Wheat Clone" in your brew list. I really like that beer... how'd the clone turn out? Have a recipe to share? Thanks!

...I'll post it when I find the log sheet. It didn't really come out tasting like the Actual Mac & Jack's beer, but it was pretty good. I got it from a guy at the LHBS, said he had worked at Mac & Jacks in the past, but I'm not so sure that was true.

Don't get turned off at the stores around here, he wasn't an employee, just a guy in there buying grains. I love that beer too, and was bummed that the taste was not so similar.

As far as the corn, it was three lbs in a gallon batch. Didn't take any gravities (d'oh) but I was really just interested in the taste. I didn't use any nutrient, and it came out plenty dry, so there must have been enough in the corn. Very cloudy, but it could probably sit a little longer, nothing really settled to the bottom of the bottle yet. I've got a few more bottles, so I'll take more pics after everything settles out.

Here's the Serengeti Wheat Clone

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/serengeti-wheat-clone-190873/#post2216344

how did you go about mashing? Temperature, conversion time, etc..?

I really took my time, because I was so worried about it. I cooked it first, until it got gelatinized well. Pitched amylase, and mashed at 140 for an hour with a gallon of water, up to 150 with another half gallon for another hour. Batch sparge with a half gallon of water. Boiled the Hell out of it for 90 minutes or so, down to a gallon.

I didn't do an iodine test, but it was very sweet to taste. I didn't write a gravity anywhere, and don't remember now if I took on or not... I didn't really expect this would convert anything.

Wow,So new member here,from Thailand(I am English) and I was thinking that I was the only person in the bloody world to try a corn beer!
I malted my corn,waiting for my hops to arrive from Oz(mum is sending it) and will go with 1.5 lb and maybe some sugar and do a BIAB for 1 gallon.
Question; how many grams of hops would I need to add at what stages of the boil?
Cheers in advance.

Depends on what kind of hops you're adding, and how bitter or hoppy you want it. If you're just doing a traditional American Light Lager you could just add 15-20AAU's at 60mins. Heck, that may even be too much for that style!

I want it quite hoppy!
Will be using a dual purpose hop,but unsure now as I am waiting to see what has been sent in the post.We cant get anything at all here in Thailand,so rely on people sending stuff out of the goodness of their hearts.
How many grams at 60mins and at 10mins would you say, a ballpark figure?

You could go with an oz (~28g) at 60mins for bittering, an oz at 15mins for flavor, then do some hop bursting using an oz or two (more if you've got it from 10mins/5mins/flameout.

An ounce would be incredibly bitter for the style. I'd go 10 g/gal at the absolute most - if the hops are 5% alpha acid that would give you 30-40 IBU.

Late to the thread, and this is way old:
Scott Kaczorowski's Chicha pages
Lot of good info that I've been too lazy to pursue. Worth a read

Cheers lads,taken on board and am quaking like a virgin.

a10t2 said:

An ounce would be incredibly bitter for the style. I'd go 10 g/gal at the absolute most - if the hops are 5% alpha acid that would give you 30-40 IBU.

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Money. But check this out. Just add an ounce @ 10 minutes. Gives you 38 IBUs and tons of hop flavor. I hopburst my cream ale. I like beers like levitation, session beers with a low maltyness that are "overhopped." Hop flavor has nowhere to hide.

I hope itcomes out well for you. There will definitely be nowhere for the hops to hide. Obviously no maltiness here!
For my taste, I think you'll have way too much hops at 30 ibus.

What if, and I'm totally just throwing it out there, you air pop your corn, then mash with amylase?

Wondering why you would air pop it first instead of sending it through a mill??

I had used cracked corn, which won't pop, and doesn't need milling. However, I know the cream of three crops beer uses popped corn. I'd like to try it sometime. If the corn keeps some form, it would make laudering very nice.

drummerguysteve said:

I had used cracked corn, which won't pop, and doesn't need milling. However, I know the cream of three crops beer uses popped corn. I'd like to try it sometime. If the corn keeps some form, it would make laudering very nice.

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Actually it uses flaked corn. Ordered in bulk from my grain supplier.

BierMuncher said:

Actually it uses flaked corn. Ordered in bulk from my grain supplier.

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I don't know about 1oo% corn, but I made some "Deer Corn Beer" for the deer camp last year. It was 40% corn, 10% rice,and two row barley. Deer Corn BMC. We had a good time about it..

Sorry about that biermuncher, I should have used the search first. I'll find the popcorn beer next time I'm near a computer and post the link. Its hard to quote on the phone. I guess I was combining two beers I want to try.
I wouldnt recommend a large batch of all corn, but it was a pretty fun experiment.

Conroe's Popcorn Cream.

That's what I should have referenced. But by all means, try the cream of three crops too!

It is 100% malted corn for sure.Smashed up rather than ground.
If I go with 10gr(5%) at 60mins,how much would I add at 10 mins?

Well,thanks for all the input,you were all a great help!
I brewed and went with a total of 12gr of Cluster: 4gr@60, 4gr@30 and 4gr@10.
I will rack to secondary by friday.