How do I use rice or grits in brewing?

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Jolly McStanson

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I wanted to try some batches of beer using rice or grits.

I boiled up two cans of Quaker grits to gelatinize them. What I ended up with is a huge sticky clumpy pile of grits. If I put them in the mash it would surely clog when I sparge.

Ones I decided not to use the grits I tried rice. I boiled the rice to gelatinize it. Then I added enough water to make it soupy. I strained off the water and added it to the boil. I also put some gelatinized rice in a couple of hop bags and put them in the boil.

I put some amylase enzyme in the primary fermenter to convert any of the rice juice that was in the wort.

Does any one know the real technique to using rice or grits in brewing beer?

Thank you.....Jolly
 
i do an oatmeal stout with 1 lb of quaker oats - cooked it till real soft and added the sticky mess to my mash. i thought it might gum up , but after the hour mash -it batch sparged just fine both times i made the recipe.
i do a corona type with rice and treat it the same way, crack the rice - cook till real soft and add to mash - no problem with batch sparge after conversion.
 
The sticky mess is mostly due to starch chains IFRC so I imagine after the mash, the starches are broken down so no more sticky mess.... right?
 
I think it will partly depend on how much you put in. I know that the big breweries use some 6 row malt to help boost the enzymes for conversion as well as helping the make up of the filter bed. 6 row has more husk material which aids in lautering. You could also add some rice hulls.
 
Two cans ( 2 pounds) of fully boiled grits ends up being about 4 gallons or more of sticky grits. Its also much more then two pounds now. Two cans boils up to about 10 or 15 pounds when finished. I'm not sure how to measure them for the mash, or to plug into beer Smith.

I didn't even know how to get the sugars out of the grits or rice. Your answers are helping out big time.

Iv read where the big breweries use almost 30 percent Grits or rice in the beer so that's what I was aiming for.

Thank you for the input guys, its gold.
 
Look up "cereal mash". This is what you are attempting.
If you are only doing a small amount of adjuncts then you can cook them and mix them into the mash. The enzymes in the mash will break down the starches into sugars. There is little sugar in rice or grits which is why it is necessary to mash.
If you are using a large amount of adjuncts then you will need to use 6-row and/or rice hulls to prevent stuck sparges. However you should be able to add up to 20% adjuncts without too much trouble.
I believe for a cereal mash you should also add a small amount of crushed malts to the adjuncts before cooking to help to break up some of those sticky starches.

Craig
 
Jolly McStanson said:
Two cans ( 2 pounds) of fully boiled grits ends up being about 4 gallons or more of sticky grits. Its also much more then two pounds now. Two cans boils up to about 10 or 15 pounds when finished. I'm not sure how to measure them for the mash, or to plug into beer Smith.

I didn't even know how to get the sugars out of the grits or rice. Your answers are helping out big time.

Iv read where the big breweries use almost 30 percent Grits or rice in the beer so that's what I was aiming for.

Thank you for the input guys, its gold.
I don't know what your going for in the beer your trying to make, but from what I've read, this is what helps it be tasteless... the rice.

Now that said, I'm using corn in my next brew just to try it out.
 
z987k said:
I don't know what your going for in the beer your trying to make, but from what I've read, this is what helps it be tasteless... the rice.

Now that said, I'm using corn in my next brew just to try it out.

A couple of my Buddy's including my brother wont drink anything but Bud Light. One of my friends loves Malt Liquor. Malt Liquor is made with grits so iv read. I'm going to experiment with a bunch of different adjuncts to see what I get.

z987k said:
Look up "cereal mash". This is what you are attempting.

You hit the nail right on the head. I was doing a search for everything but cereal mash. I got a lot of hits and its good reading.
 
I'm not trying to get down on your idea or anything... but I don't think attempting to brew a BMC is worth your time. At all. It is not cost effective, they likely still won't like it because it is a difficult style to replicate (well), and then you will be stuck with at least 5 gallons of awful BMC-like swill that your will need a beer bong to get rid of. I would stick to brewing other beer styles and maybe try to find something they like. Start with ambers, or a farmhouse Belgian. I have converted a ton of BMCers with those two styles alone.

Good luck!
 
What on earth is a CAN of grits?

I've read that grits do have to be done as a cereal mash and that grits do not have to be done as a cereal mash.

I've also tried it both ways and can't detect any signifigant difference.
Both made a great tasting beer.

But I have no idea what a can of grits is. They don't sell it like that down here. Is it dry or does it have water already in it. Are they those great big grits like hominey grits?

I haven't used rice.
 
abracadabra said:
What on earth is a CAN of grits?

I've read that grits do have to be done as a cereal mash and that grits do not have to be done as a cereal mash.

I've also tried it both ways and can't detect any signifigant difference.
Both made a great tasting beer.

But I have no idea what a can of grits is. They don't sell it like that down here. Is it dry or does it have water already in it. Are they those great big grits like hominey grits?

I haven't used rice.

Its not really a can. Its just Quaker (brand name) hominy grits. They come in a circular card board package. There oats come the same way at the local super market.
 
I say go for it. I've thought about trying to make a light beer this way. Just as a test of my brewing skill. And possibly to cut back on the high calorie homebrew.

One of the other things I read was that a long step mash is the best way to get that light beer taste. For dudlight (misspelled on purpose) they start low (120) and gradually raise the temp of the mash for over 2 hours. The long protein rest is why the head dissapates so quickly. The long time in the maltose rest (or beta rest) drys the beer out as more short chained sugars are converted. Adding the cereals in during this rest also gives the beta's time to convert all that flavorless starch to sugar.
 
Aren't grits (like oats, cream of wheat, cream of rice, etc.) available in a quick-cooking variety? If so, I believe they would be pregelatinized, and could just be mixed dry into the malt before doughing in. Count the dry weight when figuring your mash temperatures and call it a day.


http://www.c-els.com/sfCatalog.asp?sn=E060520020030039&pchid=60957

I think you'd want to skip the "country gravy" flavor, though.
 
Jolly McStanson said:
Its not really a can. Its just Quaker (brand name) hominy grits. They come in a circular card board package. There oats come the same way at the local super market.

OH ! OK Just like oatmeal. Never seen em used for grits. But I don't see hominy grits down here too often. As you can see from my earlier post I didn't even know how to spell it. So you very well may need to cook hominy grits first.

I use the much smaller grits that come in a paper package from Aunt Jermimah or others. The grits down south are just a little bit courser than corn meal. As a matter of fact once I once made some corn bread out of grits because my wife had poured the grits into a zip-lock bag and I didn't notice the difference until I ate it. Although it did look slightly different while I was mixing it up.:D

Jo3sh said:
Aren't grits (like oats, cream of wheat, cream of rice, etc.) available in a quick-cooking variety? If so, I believe they would be pregelatinized, and could just be mixed dry into the malt before doughing in. Count the dry weight when figuring your mash temperatures and call it a day.

As far as the quick oats are concerned they aren't pregelatinized just cut into smaller flakes. The instant oatmeal may be precooked and dried out I don't really know but most of that has some kind of flavoring added.
 

Read Post 10, The linked recipe explains the process of using rice and how to do it.
 
I've read that Minute Rice is pregalintized. Is that true?
Can you just add it to you're mash? Does it need to be milled?

Rudeboy
 

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