Corn Basics?

[ILurvTheWhiskey]

I've been doing some research on different adjuncts over the past couple of weeks and have a couple questions about brewing with corn in my Pilseners.

First, does corn impart a large flavor in the finished beer?

Second, what percentage of corn is generally acceptable?

Third, do most people use corn flakes or corn in a can when using it?

Fourth, how much ABV would be added by adding one pound of corn flakes to 5 gallons of beer? Same questions for a can of corn?

Lastly, when brewing with corn, is it better to blend the corn/crush the corn flakes before adding them? If doing extract brewing, when would the addition come?

I appreciate the help.

 

[jds]

Corn as an adjunct tends to lighten the body of a beer. Because corn doesn't have any enzymes in it, you need to mash corn with a malted grain with enough enzymatic power to convert the corn's starches to sugars.

As for percentage, I did a cream ale earlier this year with 40% corn in the grist. Way too much corn. Personally, I'd try to keep it to 25% or less. I've used flaked corn in the past, but there are other brewers out there who've had good success with grits, although grits can cause problems with a stuck mash.

If you're extract brewing, I wouldn't recommend adding corn, since you need to mash it. You could add dextrose, which is corn sugar, to an extract batch to lighten the body.

Interestingly, I recently learned that the addition of corn and rice to American pilseners was not originally a cost-cutting measure, but rather an attempt to deal with the high protein content of American barley malt. Corn and rice actually made the beer more expensive, but helped with haze and other issues resulting from the use of high protein barley.

 

[Revvy]

Interestingly, I recently learned that the addition of corn and rice to American pilseners was not originally a cost-cutting measure, but rather an attempt to deal with the high protein content of American barley malt. Corn and rice actually made the beer more expensive, but helped with haze and other issues resulting from the use of high protein barley.

Yup....Maureen Ogle proved that in Ambitious Brew[/b] it actually made the cost of a bottle of Budweiser cost around 17.00/bottle in today's dollars.

When AH released Budweiser with it's corn and rice adjuncts in the 1860's it was the most expensive beer out there; a single bottle retailed for $1.00 (what would equal in today's Dollars for $17.00) this was quite difference when a schooner of beer usually cost a nickel.

The American populace ate it up!

It wasn't done to save money, it was done because heavy beers (both english style Ales and the heavier Bavarian malty beers) were not being drunk by American consumers any more. Beer initally was seen around the world as food (some even called it liquid bread), but since America, even in the 1800's was a prosperous nation compared to the rest of the world, and americans ate meat with nearly every meal, heavy beers had fallen out of favor...

And like you said American Barley just made for heavy, hazy beer

Bush and other German Brewers started looking at other styles of Beers, and came upon Karl Balling and Anton Schwartz's work at the Prague Polytechnic Institute with the Brewers in Bohemia who when faced with a grain shortage started using adjuncts, which produced the pils which was light, sparkly and fruity tasting...just the thing for American tastebuds.

So the brewers brought Schwartz to America where he went to work for American Brewer Magazine writing articles and technical monographs, teaching American brewers how to use Rice and Corn...

The sad moral of the story is....The big corporate brewers did not foist tasteless adjunct laced fizzy water on us, like the popular mythology all of us beersnobs like to take to bed with us to feel all warm and elitist....it was done because our American ancestors wanted it.

Listen to this from Basic Brewing;

November 30, 2006 - Ambitious Brew Part One
We learn about the history of beer in the USA from Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer." Part one takes us from the Pilgrims to Prohibition.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr11-30-06.mp3

December 7, 2006 - Ambitious Brew Part Two
We continue our discussion about the history of beer in the USA with Maureen Ogle, author of "Ambitious Brew - The Story of American Beer." Part two takes us from Prohibition to the present day.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr12-07-06.mp3

 

[jds]

Yup....Maureen Ogle proved that in Ambitious Brew[/b] it actually made the cost of a bottle of Budweiser cost around 17.00/bottle in today's dollars.

...historyhistoryhistory....

Yup. I just finished reading Ambitious Brew. It's a very interesting look at brewing in the US over our history. I would really like to have learned more about the smaller, regional, breweries. I'll have to start poking around for those histories.

 

[david_42]

Corn flakes have to be mashed & finding ones that don't have additives will be difficult.

Flaked corn is a completely different product, which also has to be mashed.