Corn Wine is Real...and Good...

[torilen]

Here is the recipe I made for a little half-gallon test batch.
I'll be making a full gallon batch soon...hopefully this coming
weekend.

1/2 gallon batch...just a test.
12 oz frozen yellow corn - crushed well or put through a
....blender for a few spins.
4oz pale 2-row
2 cups plain white sugar
maybe 2-3 teaspoons of Amylase Enzyme

I let it ferment in the primary for maybe 2-1/2 weeks. I lost track
of a few days, maybe...I'll keep better track and post in this thread
when I make the full gallon.

I let it sit in the secondary with toasted whiskey-barrel oak chips
for about 2 weeks. I just took the rest of the sediment out, along
with the oak chips, and I'm letting it sit for a while longer before
bottling, just to make sure it is DONE fermenting all the way. I really
don't want a bottle blowing up on me.

With the half-gallon batch, I ended up with almost 32oz of nice,
fairly clear and drinkable corn wine. YES...there is a lot of
sediment that comes out of this stuff. I figure a full gallon might
give me about 2/3 gallon of drinkable wine all together, I hope.

The good news, though...it is DIRT CHEAP to make it. You can get
12oz bags of frozen corn for $1.00 or less. I plan to use two bags
for the full gallon, and of course, I'll up the barley.

ADDITIONAL NOTE - I am thinking about using the pale 2-row and
a little bit of Crystal 60 to add a touch more flavor and sweetness
to the wine. One day, I might add a grain or two of smoked barley,
but I'm not sure about it yet.

 

[mredge73]

This is pretty much hillbilly hooch. Not far from what the moonshiners used to make before running it through their makeshift distilleries.
Pretty cool how you added some 2-row and was able to make something drinkable.

Chinese peasants make a rice wine that also isn't much different, they use a "yeast ball" that contains a bacteria that makes Amylase Enzymes that break down the rice while the yeast eat the sugars.
This is also dirt cheap and fun to make as yeast balls are available at many Asian grocery stores and it works well with any short grain rice.

 

[buMbLeB]

Chinese peasants make a rice wine that also isn't much different, they use a "yeast ball" that contains a bacteria that makes Amylase Enzymes that break down the rice while the yeast eat the sugars.
This is also dirt cheap and fun to make as yeast balls are available at many Asian grocery stores and it works well with any short grain rice.

Not just Chinese, and not just peasants - Japanese sake and Korean makgeoli are the same essential process. In fact, there's a huge ongoing thread at the top of this very sub dedicated to this esteemed pursuit!

@torilen What's it taste like?

 

[torilen]

@buMbLeB
Well, I've only given it a sip so far. I am letting it sit in the secondary a while longer
without the oak chips in it. I'll bottle it in a week or two. BUT...it has a lot of corn flavor to it. I'm going to crush the corn better when I make the full gallon batch, and it should have more corn flavor.

@mredge73
My goal was to try and make something that tasted something similar to whiskey. It is against federal laws to distill, so I have to settle for a high ABV wine. It does not really have that whiskey flavor like I want, but it is pretty good.