Corn malt

[Tater]

Just finished hand grinding 60 lbs of dried corn malt . Used heritage white corn that I had sprouted after soaking 2 days in water and placing around 10 lbs in each sack then covering with leaves for 5 days . Then drying for a week with fan and under sunshine. Been a while since I've done any grain cause I loaned my elect grinder and never got it back.Be a while before I hand grind any again :tired:Gonna do a all malt mash in a few days.

[Halfbaked]

Single malt corn likkker, now we are talking. Have you done this before? If so how much does malt come through and does it last or just get sweet with age?

[MichiganCornhusker]

Were you able to get the dried spouts off the kernels? How did the grinding go? Nice to see you going old school Tater!!

[Tater]

halfbaked the dry malt gives a I would call a earthy corn taste.Not as sharp as corn and malt mix.Wet it is to me a grassy taste tiny bit like rye.I don't do grain often but have done rye corn barley malted and not.And outta scratch feed hog chop and oatmeal cookies.Rock I let them get 3/4 of a in some were longer some shorter.MichiganCornhusker I put malt in a small cement mixer and let them tumble for about a hour then willowed them with a fan .Got lot of the fine rootlets off but sprout was dried and as hard as the kernel .While malted grain is much easier to grind when your pushin 60 its still a chore.Did 1/2 yesterday and the rest this morning.Took me around 5 hrs total. Glad its done.

[Tater]

I was trying to find the link where a guy talks about letting the sprouts grow to 2" for best conversion. So last time I malted corn I did that and seemed to get real good conversion.

Think that came from parent site in Jack gives his method for malting.

[MichiganCornhusker]

I put malt in a small cement mixer and let them tumble for about a hour then willowed them with a fan .Got lot of the fine rootlets off but sprout was dried and as hard as the kernel .While malted grain is much easier to grind when your pushin 60 its still a chore.Did 1/2 yesterday and the rest this morning.Took me around 5 hrs total. Glad its done.

My experience too, couldn't remove spouts, sill a chore to grind. After spirit run, still taste the sharp taste of the dried sprouts. Not bad, but different. Thanks for the update, Tater, keep us posted!

[Steep-n-Rocky]

I dry the malt in my largest dehydrator and when I swirl in my largest sieve / colander afterwards the rootlets and shoots come off easily (compared to barley and wheat).

[Tater]

Did mash sg was 1.034.

[woodshed]

Longer sprouts for sure. Clothes dryer and an old pillowcase for removal.

[Tater]

Will add some en zines when cool enough.To see if it helps .Corn was infested with weevils when I first got it.Had to shell corn and put in barrel with co2 to kill them off figured they got around 25 percent.

[MichiganCornhusker]

figured they got around 25 percent.

Is that called "weevil's share"?
What was your corn to water ratio?

[Tater]

2lbs grain to gallon water pulled a sample soon as it was mixed. Will pull another after it cools to 160 and add en zines .

[Halfbaked]

When it cools to 160 what temp do you go to? Malt corn is new to me, on my bucket but new.

[Tater]

150f to 160f is all ya need for malted corn/or en zines .I pour boiling water into barrel and stir every 30 minutes or so till temp drops to yeast adding temps around 80-90 f.Unless adding malt or en zines then stop at 150-160 to add them.

[Tater]

Just checked sg again now that's its down to 160 f sample checked was 1.046.Have since added some en zine will check a final time when I add the distillers yeast.At around 90 F still stirring every 30 minutes.

[Tater]

Final sg was 1.050 .Have added yeast pre mixed up in some of the mash for a starter.

[firewater69]

I malted 10lbs of corn (my first attempt), used 5lbs of malt & 7 lbs of cracked, 2 qts of water per lb. S.G. was 1.048 on the first batch & 1.049 on the other. im going to repeat this again but im gonna grind the cracked corn a little finer and see if the conversion is better.

[Tater]

Am straining mash now hope to have it ready to run this weekend.

[chambersranch]

I malted 10lbs of corn (my first attempt), used 5lbs of malt & 7 lbs of cracked, 2 qts of water per lb. S.G. was 1.048 on the first batch & 1.049 on the other. im going to repeat this again but im gonna grind the cracked corn a little finer and see if the conversion is better.

From what I understnd malted corn only has enough enzymes to convert itself. Also at 2 quarts of water to a lb. there is potential for a lot higher S.G.

[firewater69]

I may add some enzymes when i mash again, as far as the ratio, 2 qts per lb is about the norm for corn. When im doing barley i use 1.5 qts per lb.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Adding this to the corn malt info base. I recently made a batch of whiskey with about 40# corn that I malted myself, 40# field corn (non-malted), 20# malted rye, 20# malted barley.
I had great success with malting the corn, letting the sprouts get to be about 2" long. I dried it under fans for about 4 or 5 days, then left in open air for about a month. Sprouts all dried up, everything looked fine.
I wasn't able to get the sprouts off the kernels. They weren't brittle enough to just break off, in fact, it was difficult to even pull them off by hand. So, I wound up just grinding them up with the corn.
I noticed then a pronounced sharp grainy, grassy smell, I assumed from the sprouts. The whiskey has been aging for about a month now, and the taste of those sprouts is just overwhelming. Not sure if I can blend this with something else yet, or just try running it again, but really disappointed with the taste.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Yep the sprouts add a distinct grass smell and flavor, which I don't like some do.

I should be more specific. I don't necessarily dislike the taste, just its intensity, really pronounced and sharp. That's why I think if I run it again and could get it to tone down a little bit, or blend it with something milder, I might like it better.
Then again, maybe I just need to get to know it better on its own terms. I have a lot of it, so I think I might age some of it as-is, blend some of it, and re-run some to see how much difference I can make.

[firewater69]

@ Michigan Cornhusker, did you ferment on the grain? I didn't. I should be able to run mine in a couple of days, im curious as i had some sprouts in mine. Im not a big corn fan in the first place, barley is my grain of choice. I don't dislike corn it's just not my first pick. But it's all about the experiance and experimenting with malting, so as long as im learning, im good with it.

[MichiganCornhusker]

But it's all about the experiance and experimenting with malting, so as long as im learning, im good with it.

Cheers to that! I really enjoyed the malting process, so I will continue to try to work the bugs out.
Yes, I fermented on grain, so that might have had quite an impact. Also, after I ground up the malt, I could have used a screen to sift out a lot of the sprouts. Couple things I'll try next time.
Would like to hear how these runs turn out for you guys. You still planning to run this weekend, Tater?

[Brutal]

Yep the sprouts add a distinct grass smell and flavor, which I don't like some do.

I should be more specific. I don't necessarily dislike the taste, just its intensity, really pronounced and sharp. That's why I think if I run it again and could get it to tone down a little bit, or blend it with something milder, I might like it better.
Then again, maybe I just need to get to know it better on its own terms. I have a lot of it, so I think I might age some of it as-is, blend some of it, and re-run some to see how much difference I can make.

Is probably a lost cause man. Since you have to redo it anyway you can send that batch to me for safe keeping.

[Tater]

But it's all about the experiance and experimenting with malting, so as long as im learning, im good with it.

Cheers to that! I really enjoyed the malting process, so I will continue to try to work the bugs out.
Yes, I fermented on grain, so that might have had quite an impact. Also, after I ground up the malt, I could have used a screen to sift out a lot of the sprouts. Couple things I'll try next time.
Would like to hear how these runs turn out for you guys. You still planning to run this weekend, Tater?

Work has got in the way still straining though.

[firewater69]

I am runnin the corn squeezins now, the taste is very different from all of the other corn mashes i've done. i will assume it's due to the corn malt. very tasty!

[firewater69]

I just finished drying my second round of corn malt, i used a collander to break the roots and sprouts off & it worked great. Im gonna mash later this week and add some amylase to help with the cracked corn ( which i also ground finer) & see what happens. im gonna use the same recipe as i mentioned before & see if the S.G. is any better.any input is more than welcome.

[Tater]

Ran 13 gallon charge .stripping it to 3 gallons of 20-22 proof.Will add a gallon of spent wash with it and put in thumper and using still as boiler steam run it next time.

[Tater]

Changed my plan .Sugared back the grain to ferment out and use in still and put other in thumper.Not a total loss gave me some slops for trying the booners recipe.