Brewing with whole corn instead of flaked corn

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ScottyDotty

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2012
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Location
Keyport
I was interested in using whole corn instead of flaked (fresher, cheaper). I must have been drinking pretty good one night, but I swear I read an article or PDF on using whole corn in a classic American pilsner. Can anyone steer me where to look for something on the subject? Thanks!
 
I have a similar question myself. I'm thinking about buying bulk corn from a feed store and crushing it myself, then cereal mashing for any recipes that require corn. I've looked at all of the threads here that discuss feed store ingredients but they seem to mainly deal with malting those grains (wheat, barley etc).
What I can tell you is that I have tried a few CAP recipes, some that used flaked maize bought from the LHBS then comparing those same recipes w/ corn grits/polenta which I cereal mashed and the taste difference was just barely noticeable. The main advantages seem to be price, control of your process, fun of doing it yourself, and having a surplus readily on hand.
Have you tried whole corn yet? How did it go? How did you crush it?
Any and all comments appreciated.
 
Thanks Revvy,

I kept searching and reading some more. It answered some questions.

I'm no expert but I feel pretty comfortable with cereal mashing.

Still not sure how crushing whole corn will go. I use a carona mill which works for my barley and think it'll work fine for corn.

Though, I'm not as worried about that as I am about the fact that I just noticed the bag of whole corn I brought home today has soybean oil added! The guy at the store said that homebrewers buy it all the time, no residual pesticides etc. Should I be worried? Should I take his word? It is "grainland select". Couldn't find much specific info online.

I got whole corn because I wanted it to stay fresher longer. Maybe the fact that it isn't cracked/rolled means less oil on the surface?
 
Corona mills were original MADE to crack corn...so no worries, if you've got it gapped specially for grain, you may have to set it all back to the original size.

If the corn is going into the mash tun, then it should absorb any oils. I've used tortilla chips and chocolate, which folks always worry about oils, and have never had a problem.

If you're worried make a small test batch....

Since I bought it, I would use it. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you know..You're only out a batch...People are so afraid to experiment....If something doesn't work out pitch it...
 
lol! My friends would sure disagree. They always ask me to quit trying different styles and make their favorite style again.

I'm making a recipe from Gordon Strong's book called "Ben Franklin's ale". It includes spruce tips (which I picked and froze a few months ago and have never used) and flaked maize (which I'm substituting with my whole feed store stuff and have also never used).

It also has some molasses. Strong described it as inspired by old ales using some of the original ingredients available to early American brewers.

Well, I have a starter that's been bubbling since yesterday, all my ingredients and Revvy says go for it. Here goes!
 
I had found a YouTube video about a week after the first post that went over the process - very close to the article Revvy mentioned. In the end, it wound up being what I have read elsewhere - a lot of trouble and not much gain. I did two batches of a cream ale over the summer -one from flaked maize and one from feed corn. I couldn't taste much of a difference. Now, what can I make with a bunch of feed corn,hmmmm:cross:
 
So, brew day went great. Cereal mash with whole feed store corn only added about 45 min to brew day but was a hell of a mess with splattering corn chunks all over. The bag of corn looked just fine, couldn't detect anything that would deem it unfit for brewing/consumption. Full Krauzen achieved. Hope this helps anyone that might be thinking along these same lines. May update when its ready to taste.
 
Back
Top