Types of Corn?

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papstoker
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Types of Corn?

Post by papstoker »

Hi guys - bit of a longwinded question, please bear with me. I have been trying my hand at making different types of UJSSM type whiskeys for the past year. So far I have mostly been using corn meal as a base, and the results have yielded a sweet tasting spirit. In SA corn meal is the staple food, so its cheap and easy to get anywhere. Its also pre-cooked mostly, so its quick to gelatinize (similar to 'flaked corn'? - which we don't get here)

Anyway - with my last ferment I decided to use crushed corn as the recipe says - chicken feed from the pet store. It was yellow and roughly 3 cracks per kernel. The result was a much less sweet, and smoother strip run. Very little heads or tails. As a matter of fact the strip is so clean I am strongly considering not doing a spirit run, or at least aging some of the strip as an experiment, for fear of losing too much task

So this got me thinking - the corn meal we get here is white, and yellow cornmeal (similar to 'grits'?), while available, is scarce and a bit of a novelty.

White maize is not eaten on the cob here often, but yellow corn-on-the-cob is known as 'sweetcorn' and is popular with butter and salt. (This seems counter intuitive since we have lots of white corn meal, but eat yellow corn off the cob)

My question is this - is there a specific type of corn recommended for making moonshine or whiskey (since the term 'cracked corn' now seems a bit non-specific) Is American cracked corn white or yellow? (I suspect yellow?) Sweetcorn? Something else? Has anyone tried using white cracked corn?
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still_stirrin
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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by still_stirrin »

....yes, the “best” corn to use is “cheap” corn.

Corn whiskey was produced because of economy. Corn is an inexpensive grain to raise and contains a good amount of starch which can be made available to ferment. So, it is used in American whiskies as a primary fermentable. And the variety of corn produced in the distilling regions is bread bred to give a high yield with large, starch filled kernals. White corn, not so much, nor popcorn. And sweet corn is more for the grocery than the distillery.

So, I would say use the commodity that is most readily available and at the best price. That way you can use more and brew more often for the same investment. In the end, you’ll produce a whiskey that is native to your region.

Incidently, if you want to make a really nice and unique whiskey, use only barley malt. It’ll be more like a single malt whiskey. But, as you’d surmise...it will be more expensive. And barley-only whiskey won’t be as sweet tasting either. So, consider that when formulating your recipe as well. Here’s a hint: if you can make a rich, full-flavored beer, try distilling that and see what you get. I think you’ll like it, especially when aged a while on charred oak.
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edited to correct spelling.
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papstoker
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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by papstoker »

Thanks ss!

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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by RedwoodHillBilly »

still_stirrin wrote:....yes, the “best” corn to use is “cheap” corn.
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Hilltop
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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by Hilltop »

Ahh! Your starting to catch on to the secret.Feed store corn is what we call field corn.Not nearly as sweet as sweet corn but produces twice what sweet corn will per acre.

Sweet corn is called sweet as it contains more sugar. Now we actually have super sweet varietys.

Whisky produced from dry ground sweet corn is far superior to feed corn. Now shhhh, and stay out my neighbors corn field as that stuff is like gold to an ol boy like me.
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OffTheCob
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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by OffTheCob »

we have dry Mature sweetcorn. we are the LARGEST grower in the USA. Lets make some whiskey.
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subbrew
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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by subbrew »

Most of the corn in the US, and most of what is used for alcohol, but drinking and fuel, is yellow dent corn. This is also known as field corn. There are also white varieties of dent corn.
Sweet corn is grown for fresh eating and has been bred to be less starch and higher sugar. As such if it is allowed to mature and dry the kernels are much smaller and lighter than dent corn kernels. I have never tried but it would be interesting to see what flavors it would produce for whiskey. Some one on this forum did try whiskey using fresh sweet corn and they were not impressed with that.
Other more novelty corns are red, blue, purple, and multi-color varieties. Most of these are older, heirloom, varieties. Several of these have been tried by people on this forum with good results. Do a search for Bloody Butcher to see some threads.
greggn
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Re: Types of Corn?

Post by greggn »

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4260129/


The maize kernel is composed of four primary structures from a processing perspective.
They are endosperm, germ, pericarp, and tip cap, making up 83%, 11%, 5%, and 1% of the maize kernel, respectively.
The endosperm is primarily starch surrounded by a protein matrix. Two main types of starch include hard or vitreous, and soft or opaque.
Vitreous endosperm is negatively related to starch degradability and in vivo starch digestibility in ruminants.

The germ or embryo of the maize kernel is high in fat (33.3%) in addition to enzymes and nutrients for new maize plant growth and development.
The germ also contains vitamins from B complex and antioxidants such as vitamin E. Maize germ oil is particularly high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (54.7%), which are subject to oxidative and other forms of rancidity resulting in off or objectionable flavors from full-fat maize products.
Pericarp is a high-fiber (8.8% crude) semipermeable barrier surrounding the endosperm and germ, covering all but the tip cap.
The tip cap is the structure through which all moisture and nutrients pass through during development and kernel drydown.
The black or hilar layer on the tip cap acts as a seal.
The term bran is also used to refer to the fiber-rich outer layer (pericarp) that contains B vitamins and minerals and the tip cap.

Corn variations may be artificially defined according to kernel type as follows:
dent, flint, waxy, flour, sweet, pop, Indian, and pod corn.
Except for pod corn, these divisions are based on the quality, quantity, and pattern of endosperm composition, which defines the size of the kernel, and are not indicative of natural relationships.
Endosperm composition may be changed by a single gene difference, as in the case of floury (fl) versus flint (FI), sugary (su) versus starchy (Su), waxy (wx) versus nonwaxy (Wx),
and other single recessive gene modifiers that have been used in breeding special-purpose types of corn.
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