Using corn meal

[uSlackr]

Local brewer gave the club 25 lbs of fresh ground, local heirloom corn (enough buzz words in there?)
I'm brewing a Pale ale this weekend and want to use the meal to add some alcohol and maybe a hint of flavor. I'm looking at adding 2.5 lbs to the mash. Two questions I have are
1) Do I need to cereal mash before the mash?
2) will 1.5 lbs in a 6.5 gal batch add too much flavor?

The balance of the recipe is pale malt 45%, Vienna 25%, and a hint of caramel 60 & 20.

 

[day_trippr]

Pretty sure you need to cook corn grits and corn meal to gelatinize it before adding it to the mash.
23% corn will be noticeable. The only recipe I've used corn in is Cream Of Three Crops at 20% and the corn character was clearly present but it fit the style well. Not sure about using it in a pale at that amount...

Cheers!

 

[uSlackr]

Pretty sure you need to cook corn grits and corn meal to gelatinize it before adding it to the mash.
23% corn will be noticeable. The only recipe I've used corn in is Cream Of Three Crops at 20% and the corn character was clearly present but it fit the style well. Not sure about using it in a pale at that amount...

Cheers!

Yeah. Maybe I'll cut it back to 1.5lbs. Problem is the brewer wants to take it back to the miller. So maybe I live with the flavor.

 

[uSlackr]

I forgot to add that I'm using my homegrown hops from last year. This should be interesting

 

[IslandLizard]

In some of my beers I use 'flaked corn,' as much as 40-50% in a Saison. That stuff is fairly small, and 'flaked goods' are supposed to be pre-gelatinized. But it's hard as a rock (you hear it when milling), so I still boil it in ample water (4-6 gallons) for 30'. That thin polenta becomes (part of) my strike water in the mash tun for the rest of the grist. Gives great efficiency.

Now yours are finer, grits meal, but they are not pre-gelatinized. Depending on how finely it's milled (or remill it on a narrow gap) boiling for 30' maybe enough. Otherwise just do a cereal mash, it's not that difficult or time consuming.

But you need to use a good percentage of it, or all your efforts are in vain if no-one can detect it. The flavor is very subtle, you may not be able to pick it up in a Pale Ale.