Noble Mead Experiment- Hide from fatbloke

[CreamyGoodness]

Hoosier Hooch- 1 gallon

My lovely wife came back from a business trip in Indiana with a good sized jar of Eisele's local honey, with the hope that I would make some mead. Challenge accepted.

Knowing so very little about Indiana I gathered after extensive research that sweet corn is a major crop in the state (I totally googled it). Ok. I have Indiana honey... and upstate New York sweet corn... I can still totally make this theme work.

Behold... Hoosier Hooch

* 3 pounds (plus 2.5 ounces. I over-poured after melting all the crystals in a water bath. Dont look at me like that... the jar was hot!) Eisele's honey.

*The kernels and "milk" of 6 ears of white sweet corn. Some silk got in there too.

* 1 tsp commercial yeast nutrient

* Nottingham Ale Yeast. I know what you are thinking... but I have made meads with Knottie that you would drink the crap out of. Just dont tell fatbloke.

*New York City's finest tepid tap water to the bottom of the neck.

Today (3/30/14) is day one. Im thinking by the time we get to end game Im going to have to hit it with some finings, but at the same time Im pretty excited. This could be a good thing. We arent talking okra here after all. Thoughts?

Oh yeah... dont tell fatbloke.

 

[Paul_F]

All I can say is; I'm intrigued!

 

[fatbloke]

?

 

[CreamyGoodness]

It's a total kludge! Completely devoid of science or principle! I thought you would disapprove mightily, bloke.

But mostly... I just wanted to bust your chops in a fun way.

What do you think, by the way?

 

[Arpolis]

Out of my most successful experiments was a corn cob wine. Here is the thread detailing the recipe, process and tasting notes:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/corn-cob-wine-420770/

If done again I would back off on the acid blend to one tsp. for a mead I would go even a little less.

 

[Beernik]

I love sweet corn on the cob. I'll buy a 20lb bag of it from a farmer every summer and eat it until I puke.

However, I don't know that I like it enough to want to drink it.

On the other hand, bourbon is at least 51% corn mash and I'm starting to really like it.

Good luck!

 

[fatbloke]

I'm certainly not against unusual ingredients.......

Sure there are many that have been tried but they're generally hard to deal with for very specific reasons.......

With your corn cob "milk" idea, its got me wondering, because normally corn or grain type materials need to be converted to fermentable sugars first. So I have to presume that the liquid/kernels would need a similar process likewise........ ?

Sure it likely tastes good, but can it be usefully be fermented or is it just some type of flavour element ? and will that flavour be good in the presence of alcohol ?

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

I'll add to what fatbloke says here. The corn can definitely ferment but as he says it needs to be mashed in order to convert those starches to fermentable sugars (like potatoes).

It sounds like you want to do a cereal mash. There's instructions and more info on BYO https://byo.com/mashing/item/442-cereal-mashing-techniques , And probably some threads in the all grain brewing section of HBT.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Great information! Really my intention is just to make a sweet corn-flavored mead. Extra ABV isnt the intention... though a cereal mash is something interesting to look into next time...

 

[MarshmallowBlue]

If you add it without mashing you'll probably get the worst starch haze you ever did see.

 

[CreamyGoodness]

Haha that damage is done then. I'm thinking gelatin or pectic to bring the haze down?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[CreamyGoodness]

It tasted pretty good... but the kernels all turned black and gave it an offputting color...

 

[WVMJ]

A little amylase would help it out, WVMJ