Corn Mash

[marcownz747]

Hey everybody,

I've been trying to find information on making a corn mash, and there seems to be a monopoly on this topic held by the "eh, let's just wing it and hope we get something close" crowd.

I'm wondering specifically if you can make a mash out of 100% corn. I've seen people malt corn, but few people seem to have direct knowledge if it will actually convert, and even fewer have any idea as to the diastatic power malted corn would hold.

So basically...

Can corn convert itself fully if malted, and if so, does anybody know a general range of malted corn's diastatic power? Also, has anybody tried innoculating boiled corn with Koji to see if it successfully converts starches?

 

[william_shakes_beer]

This post
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Adjunct#Corn_Grits

Lists flaked corn as 0 diastic power and grits mash recommendation as no. That would suggest to convert the starches to sugar, you would need to add base malt. Not sure where you would source malted corn, or what it's diastic power may be. My underastanding is to have a successful mash you need to average 40-60 DP per pound, which means a base malt with 120 DP/P could convert itself plus an equal amount of corn.

 

[MalFet]

Malted corn should self-convert. I'd be very interested to know what a 100% corn beer would taste like. I'm not optimistic, but I'd love for you to try it and report back!

 

[SpentGrains]

Can corn convert itself fully if malted, and if so, does anybody know a general range of malted corn's diastatic power?

Properly malted corn should be converted well enough, that's how the sprout gets its energy from the seed, right?

You can definitley sprout whole field corn (even Walmart will have it in the nearest farm town) and give it a try. Not too much info on this site about corn mashes since it usually leads to the dark side and gets locked.

Edit- Looks like corn has more fat content than barley, I see that as the only possible negative effect on the beer other than taste.

 

[krackin]

I'll be making some corn malt in a week or so. I have some of my own farm raised supersweet drying now. I had some start the process accidentally due to my own error in letting some harvested ears get damp and then brought inside. Germination started on the cob. I did try a couple of the shoots, wow, really sweet! That lot of corn went to hog feed as I was not in the time slot to mess with it.

FWIW, this corn malt will not be used for diabolical or nefarious uses such as fuel, etc. strictly beer.

 

[RoadKing]

I think malted corn has a DP of 35-40 which is enough to self convert. You can also add some alpha amylase to it to be sure.
I'm pretty sure you could add amylase to flaked corn at 140 or so degrees and convert that.

Malted corn should self-convert. I'd be very interested to know what a 100% corn beer would taste like. I'm not optimistic, but I'd love for you to try it and report back!

I'm pretty sure it will ferment out 100% and taste like a dry white wine.

 

[neo71665]

Corn self converts fine. It however tastes like crap until it hits the copper pot.

 

[DrCarterM]

You might want to look up 'chicha'. Its an old purvian 'beer' that uses corn and spices. There is a whole episiode of brewmasrers in the subject; season one, episiode two.