Using/Storing Field Corn for my next Cream Ale

[BeerLoverHere]

Greetings,

I plan on using some field corn grown on my family's grounds. I've picked 10 ears, but am wondering any advice on how to store and then also eventually use them in my mash in a few months (when I plan on brewing my cream ale again). After cutting from the cob, should I...

A) dry the kernels in food dehydrator for storage and then mill them before mashing?
B) freezing the kernels for storage straight from the cob and then food processor them before putting in the mash tun?
C) do I need to cook the corn somehow before mashing/storage?
D) anything else? other advice/suggestions?

Yeah, I know it would be easier to simply buy flaked maize from my LHBS. However, I want to use as many ingredients as I can that I grow. I already have hops taken care of, some fruit trees to harvest some yeast this fall, fields of corn, and a garden with a variety of beer ingredients. I wish Indiana had the soil/climate to grow barley. Then I could be 100% independent!

Any help is appreciated. THANKS

 

[sancycling]

Interested in the responses. I also have a way to get fresh corn from family land.

 

[giraffe]

Im not sure on the best way to dry them, but I would do a cereal mash before adding them to the main mash, no matter how you preserve them. You need to gelatinize the starches before they can be broken down by the mash enzymes.

If you google cereal mash, you should find instructions.

 

[BeerLoverHere]

THANKS giraffe for the correct terminology to help me search better. I just read http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/09/06/cereal-mash-steps-for-all-grain-beer-brewing/ and this has all the info I need.