Simple corn and sugar mash, am I doing it right?

[Aubrey1983]

Hello everyone, Aubrey1983. This is my first post aside from my welcome post.

I have made a simple corn, sugar and yeast mash and as of now is fermenting. The recipe is as follows.

6.5lb of cracked corn
12.5lb of sugar
12.5gal of water
2oz of Dry active bakers yeast

I followed the recipe to the T. Heating my cracked corn in 3gal of water to around 160*F and let it brew for 90 minutes stirring every 15mins till the heat fell to 150*F. Removed from the heat.

On the side I had warmed some water in a small pot on the stove, added a cup of sugar and added my 2oz of yeast to activate them as I read i should do. Here is the small issue, I added the yeast when the temp was around 115*F immediately realizing my mistake I added about 2 cups of cool water making the temperature fall to a steady 90*F.

I then finished making my mash as the temperature of the overall mash fell to around 100*F I added the yeast. After about 2 hours I noticed a lot of bubbles and sound coming from the container. I thought this was a good sign, but still wanted to get experienced distillers opinions. What worry's me is I don't see a lot of activity as I do in some peoples videos of the fermentation process on you tube or have the "foam" layer on top as I heard it can be up to an inch in thickness at times, nor is the mash warm as I understand is supposed to be. Itself is room temperature as well. The activity Is just sorta a slow 5-6 bubbles at sporadic locations rising every 3 seconds with a lot of smaller bubbles on top and an occasional corn kernel floating around.

I am fermenting in the basement and the temperature is around a steady 65*F. I just hope I didn't kill off some of the yeast when the temperature change happened. I have attached a photo of the fermentation 24 hours after. Just curious if this was normal with the type of yeast I used and circumstances?

Also, how long does it usually take under these circumstances for fermentation to be complete?

Thanks much ahead of time

Aubrey1983

[hotshotz2]

Not to sure on a corn mash as for I do a sweet feed wash myself. 12.5 lbs of sugar to 12.5lbs of water? 12.5lbs of water is only 2.6 gals of water, I think you my have made a mistake there. The recipe I go by calls for 1lb. of sugar for every gal. of water. My ferment takes ruffly 10 days. The air lock goes crazy for about 3-4 days then slows down till around day 8. I then give it a little shake and let it sit for 2 more days. Its winter time and my house is a little on the cool side, wife keeps the thermostat at 67* to save a little money on the heating. Any how I keep my 5gal. ferment vessel wrapped in a blanket and it seems to be happy with that. To hot kills the yeast and to cold it goes dormant. When blooming your yeast, I do mine between 90*-100*, and dont pitch it in til the wash and yeast is ruffly at the same temp or just a couple degrees difference. My biggest regret as of now is I just got a Hydrometer and I am on my 3rd wash, Dont know what my SG and my FG where on my other batches, but I will now. Thats a must tool for doing your ferments to know where its at and what you got and when all the sugar is ate by the yeast.

[Aubrey1983]

Sorry about that! 12.5gals of water.
Followed the rule of thumb. A pound of sugar per gal of water.

[Aubrey1983]

I'm going to invest in a hydrometer today. I live in wine country of NC, so there are a lot of supply stores. Thanks for the advice! I'm going to try wrapping a couple blankets around the container. Checked on the fermentation today, still the same. It's now 36 hours in.

[Rivver]

It looks and sounds like it's working from what you've said. Do you have an airlock on the fermentor? If so, how often is it bubbling up? Also, do you smell alcohol in the wash? It' will most likely ferment out dry, however it may take a bit longer than usual.

If you are going to run this as a sour mash with backset. Aerate the hell out of it on your second generation, this will help produce new yeast growth.

[Prairiepiss]

It will work. But its a lot of extra work that's not needed. It's a sugarhead no need in cooking the corn. Without enzymes to convert the starches to sugar. There really isn't a reason to do it.

I would suggest after this one is done. You go to the tried and true recipe section here on these forums and find the UJSSM recipe. Uncle Jesse simple sour mash. Much better recipe. And you will get much better support for it.

[Aubrey1983]

It looks and sounds like it's working from what you've said. Do you have an airlock on the fermentor? If so, how often is it bubbling up? Also, do you smell alcohol in the wash? It' will most likely ferment out dry, however it may take a bit longer than usual.

If you are going to run this as a sour mash with backset. Aerate the hell out of it on your second generation, this will help produce new yeast growth.

I do not have an airlock. The food grade container I'm fermenting in has just a lid. I drilled a small hole 1" in diameter for carbon to escape. As of right now the only smell extruding from the container is a sweet sour smell. However it seems to be a little more active today than it was yesterday. Thanks for the advice!

[Aubrey1983]

It will work. But its a lot of extra work that's not needed. It's a sugarhead no need in cooking the corn. Without enzymes to convert the starches to sugar. There really isn't a reason to do it.

I would suggest after this one is done. You go to the tried and true recipe section here on these forums and find the UJSSM recipe. Uncle Jesse simple sour mash. Much better recipe. And you will get much better support for it.

I understand. Thanks for the advice! I intend to try numerous recipes before the year is out. Hopefully by then I will have grasped the process a little better.

[Prairiepiss]

It will work. But its a lot of extra work that's not needed. It's a sugarhead no need in cooking the corn. Without enzymes to convert the starches to sugar. There really isn't a reason to do it.

I would suggest after this one is done. You go to the tried and true recipe section here on these forums and find the UJSSM recipe. Uncle Jesse simple sour mash. Much better recipe. And you will get much better support for it.

I understand. Thanks for the advice! I intend to try numerous recipes before the year is out. Hopefully by then I will have grasped the process a little better.

It's probably best if you stick with one good recipe for a while. So you can learn how to run the still. Learn your way around cuts. Because when you do a different recipe every time. It's gona run different. Gona have different cuts, different smells and tastes. So being new to it can be a little cornfusing.

Just a suggestion.

[Rivver]

+1 on what PP said.

When I first started off I tried numerous different recipes, hell I would of fermented a concrete block if I thought there was a way. But I ended up wasting a lot of time and energy with crappy results.

Nowadays I primarily ferment UJSSM, or a Corn and Oats AG mash. Those are my two favorites. UJ is a simple recipe, but it will pose and answer a lot of questions for you as you run several generations.

[Aubrey1983]

I went to the local brew store. As I said I live in wine country of NC. 5 minutes away and they have most everything a distiller would ever need. I picked up a hydrometer and two air locks for future fermentation. My first hydrometer reading is sitting at 1.040. I'm now about 40 hours into fermentation. I wish I could have purchased this two days ago and got the reading when I began. Is this a normal reading for almost two days into fermentation?

[Rivver]

Depends on what the starting gravity was and how fast it is working. Give it another day and check again. If it's down below 1.04 then you're doing just fine. Some ferments finish rather quickly, while others seem to take forever. Patience.....patience...

[Aubrey1983]

Depends on what the starting gravity was and how fast it is working. Give it another day and check again. If it's down below 1.04 then you're doing just fine. Some ferments finish rather quickly, while others seem to take forever. Patience.....patience...

I just checked it and it down to 1.036 in under 20 hours. So thank youn and to everyone else for the help and tips. Greatly appreciated. I will let everyone know how this run goes. Looks like it'll be around Sunday night or Monday.

Thanks again!

Aubrey1983