Grits.......In Beer?

[Forrest]

Was in Beersmith making some changes to a recipe of mine when I noticed Grits in the grain section. It is listed as an Adjunct. Beersmith says it imparts or corn or grain like taste and is used to increase gravity in American Lagers. Being born and raised in Georgia, (and there for having eatin grits for breakfast almost every mourning of my life) this idea of puts Grits in beer interests me greatly. Has anybody used it? Anybody know of a good All Grain recipe that uses Grits?

Thanks in advance.

 

[BarleyWater]

Instead of using maize, you can use grits as an adjunct to make an american style lager. Breweries like Coors and Miller use a significant amount of corn in their beer instead of barley malt (AB uses rice) to get lighter color and body (and because it's cheaper). Never used it myself, but I believe you mash it with your grains.

 

[BarleyWater]

I found out a few thing just by stumbling around all night. Grits are just steel-cut corn, still needs to be mashed like maize. I'm not sure of volume though.

This may interest you, from a BYO article...

"You can even use a limited amount of starchy adjuncts — such as flaked maize, flaked oats or flaked barley — up to around 13 oz. (0.36 kg) per 5.0-gallon (19-L) batch when mashed with most 2-row pale malts. (You can use up to 19 oz. (0.54 kg) of starchy adjunct if you use a 6-row base malt.)"

And Johm Palmer says...

"Use 0.5-2 lb. per 5 gal batch. Corn must be mashed with base malt. "
And that all adjuncts except instant oatmeal must be mashed.

 

[HarvInSTL]

Grits

Color (Lovibond) 1-1.5
Gravity (1lb in 1gal) 1.037

 

[RichBrewer]

Breweries like Coors and Miller use a significant amount of corn in their beer instead of barley malt

Actually Coors uses rice for the adjunt in their beers.

 

[david_42]

The Poor Richard's Ale I made last year ran 20% corn. Very tasty. The biscuit & special roast helped too.

 

[BarleyWater]

Actually Coors uses rice for the adjunt in their beers.

I just had to check, they use both. Ingredients Here.

 

[RichBrewer]

I just had to check, they use both. Ingredients Here.

Well I guess they do then.
The last time I took a tour of Coors they stated that they stopped using corn but that was a few years ago.

 

[Forrest]

Hmm. I knew of coarse that Grits were ground corn, but it tastes different than corn so I was just wondering if it would impart a different flavor than corn. Doesn't sound like it though. May still have to try them.

 

[Homesteader82]

I found out a few thing just by stumbling around all night. Grits are just steel-cut corn, still needs to be mashed like maize. I'm not sure of volume though.

This may interest you, from a BYO article...

"You can even use a limited amount of starchy adjuncts — such as flaked maize, flaked oats or flaked barley — up to around 13 oz. (0.36 kg) per 5.0-gallon (19-L) batch when mashed with most 2-row pale malts. (You can use up to 19 oz. (0.54 kg) of starchy adjunct if you use a 6-row base malt.)"

And Johm Palmer says...

"Use 0.5-2 lb. per 5 gal batch. Corn must be mashed with base malt. "
And that all adjuncts except instant oatmeal must be mashed.

Grits are ground hominy. Hominy is made by cooking corn in lye(basically just a very alkaline solution) until the corn puffs up like popcorn and the skins start to dissolve and are washed away. Simply ground corn would just be corn meal or the base for polenta.

 

[Soulshine2]

Was in Beersmith making some changes to a recipe of mine when I noticed Grits in the grain section. It is listed as an Adjunct. Beersmith says it imparts or corn or grain like taste and is used to increase gravity in American Lagers. Being born and raised in Georgia, (and there for having eatin grits for breakfast almost every mourning of my life) this idea of puts Grits in beer interests me greatly. Has anybody used it? Anybody know of a good All Grain recipe that uses Grits?

Thanks in advance.

I made a Gluten Free beer for my dad a couple months ago . I used white corn meal which without the lye process that makes hominy its basically the same . If I were you I would use quick grits , might not need the conversion that way.

 

[Robert65]

Brewer's grits are neither the same as grits you have with shrimp and gravy, nor just coarse or steel cut corn meal. They are degerminated, dehusked, coarsely broken corn (maize,) the degermination being critically important. It's only the starchy portion of the grain, without the high oil content of whole corn which would wreck a beer (kill your foam and lead to extremely rapid formation of aldehydes, the stuff that tastes like cardboard in stale beer,) and without the unnecessary pericarp. In fact, brewer's grits are what are steamed and put through hot rollers to produce the flaked maize you can get at LHBS. I'm unaware of any homebrew source for brewer's grits, as they are only used in breweries equipped for the elaborate processing they require. It's possible that some polenta might be suitably equivalent. But a better choice is to just use the flakes. They are specifically optimized for brewing, and they save you the trouble of an elaborate cereal mash process. That's why they've been popular with commercial brewers for so long.

 

[lump42]

Brewer's grits are neither the same as grits you have with shrimp and gravy, nor just coarse or steel cut corn meal. They are degerminated, dehusked, coarsely broken corn (maize,) the degermination being critically important. It's only the starchy portion of the grain, without the high oil content of whole corn which would wreck a beer (kill your foam and lead to extremely rapid formation of aldehydes, the stuff that tastes like cardboard in stale beer,) and without the unnecessary pericarp. In fact, brewer's grits are what are steamed and put through hot rollers to produce the flaked maize you can get at LHBS. I'm unaware of any homebrew source for brewer's grits, as they are only used in breweries equipped for the elaborate processing they require. It's possible that some polenta might be suitably equivalent. But a better choice is to just use the flakes. They are specifically optimized for brewing, and they save you the trouble of an elaborate cereal mash process. That's why they've been popular with commercial brewers for so long.

Majority of the grocery-store cornmeal is degerminated. If they didn't the shelf life would be too short, from the oils going rancid.

 

[Robert65]

Majority of the grocery-store cornmeal is degerminated. If they didn't the shelf life would be too short, from the oils going rancid.

Still, I just go with the flakes. They go right in the mash with no separate mash in a separate vessel and all the hoopla. Why make it more complicated. Yeah they cost a little more, but worth it to me.

 

[Vale71]

Did any of you guys notice that the thread is from 2007??

 

[Kiln]

Cook the grits as usual. Then add it the the mash.

 

[kevin58]

Did any of you guys notice that the thread is from 2007??

 

[Bilsch]

And yet the topic is still fresh.

 

[Robert65]

Did any of you guys notice that the thread is from 2007??

So, time for a bump. [emoji41]