Corn mash/wort help

[mash-mongrel]

Hey boys, I made my first all corn wort the other night and I'm not to sure about the smell.

I used all whole corn, steeped the corn till it was soft, then blended the whole corn to a paste. I then reheated the corn mash to sparge temperature and held there for a couple hours. I used enzymes to convert sugars, then a boil to sterile.

The wort taste fine, it's like sweet watered down corn flavor but the smell is rancid. My question is, what does a corn mash/wort smell like? I assumed it would smell like then water left over from a corn boil.

I just pitched the yeast and going to go ahead with the fermentation, then decide whether to dump the batch after it is run through the kettle and sampled unless this really pukey smell is a classic sign of an infection. I used live stock feed corn.

Comments appreciated!!

 

[acidrain]

I just pitched the yeast and going to go ahead with the fermentation, then decide whether to dump the batch after it is run through the kettle and sample

Hmmm... what is this kettle you speak of?

 

[mash-mongrel]

Hmmm... what is this kettle you speak of?

It's very shinny and gets the job done nicely.

 

[Magnus314]

My question is, what does a corn mash/wort smell like?

It smells like green vegetables one day, puke the next, and then, oddly, peaches. Then after several days it all settles down to a light sweet smell that reminds me of corn, but doesn't really smell like it.

It's also really likely to get infected. Corn is just RIPE with lacto and a million other critters. They all become part of the profile.

A lot of feed corn is packaged with fungicides in it nowadays, so I hope yours didn't and the ferment goes well.

 

[mash-mongrel]

It smells like green vegetables one day, puke the next, and then, oddly, peaches. Then after several days it all settles down to a light sweet smell that reminds me of corn, but doesn't really smell like it.

Just a little update since fermenting began, the smell has changed, after stirring to release CO2, the puke smell is almost gone.

It's also really likely to get infected. Corn is just RIPE with lacto and a million other critters. They all become part of the profile.

After sparging, I drained off the corn and boiled the wort for an hour in hopes this would sterilize everything.

A lot of feed corn is packaged with fungicides in it nowadays, so I hope yours didn't and the ferment goes well.

We are both hoping for the same thing, I'm going to chech with the producers of the product, thanks for the heads up.

I'll keep you update on how this batch turns out.

 

[Bennypapa]

Any news from the grain supplier?

 

[C-Rider]

Hmmm... what is this kettle you speak of?

Sush, we don't talk about that. LOL

 

[MrNatural]

Sush, we don't talk about that. LOL

Just mosey over here:
http://www.homedistilling.com/forum/

 

[mash-mongrel]

Any news from the grain supplier?

I called the distributor, and asked him, he chuckled. He said "no no, heavens no". He then said " if it was milled for human consumption, then it would have pesticides/preservatives to keep bugs from hatching in less than two week."

I asked him for the number to call the supplier to see what they could add to my search. They said "our products come in bulk, shipped form all over North America, we do not add any pesticides/preservatives." They said their products are dried right at the farmer's farm or a company that buys from the farmer or is contracted by the farmer to air dry the corn and then stored dried with no added chemicals, as storage is intended to be short term anyways. They also added" the government regulates how products are produced and stored whether it is for human consumption or feed for animals for human consumption, you can always check the government's mandates."

So I went looking on the World Wide Web and sure enough, all Government of Canada's ACT'S and regulations can be accessed. I read, only air drying is required and the temperature listed for different uses whether Corn will be used for feed, ethanol, milling or starch as drying times, temps and moisture content are all important factors for its intended use.

I'm confident that there are more pesticides/preservatives in our food grade flower and starches compared to what we feed our live stock which is rather disturbing.

 

[Bennypapa]

Thanks for looking into that!