Cornmeal

All styles of whiskey. This is for all-grain mashes.

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PoppaW
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Cornmeal

Post by PoppaW »

Do I have to cook cornmeal the same as cracked corn? I ended up with 12.5 lbs of corn meal and am planning my next run. I was going to use all the cornmeal and 2lbs each of malted rye wheat and barley.
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Deplorable
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Deplorable »

Use the no cook corn method. Just add the meal to bring water, stir to remove dough balls, wrap to insulate and rest to 150 and add your malts.
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by still_stirrin »

I mill my whole corn to a fine meal. And then I gelatinize it for 2 to 3 hours in the oven. Makes a nice “corn porridge”. Of course, HTL enzymes helps liquify the “pudding”.

So, I don’t believe you need to gelatinize corn flour. But if just ground to a coarse meal, gelatinizing it would help with starch conversion in the mash tun.

For me there is no easy out of dealing with corn. But, it is a key component of any bourbon, so I just “deal with it”. YMMV.
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Windy City
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Windy City »

I mainly use corn meal but sometimes I hammermill to corn flour.
It does not matter how fine you grind, all the way from cracked corn through corn meal and finishing with corn flour. You still need to gelatinize the corn. I have found my best method is holding at 190 F for three hours with corn meal and high temp enzymes then crashing to 145 F to mix in my malt grains
Corn can be tough until you know how to tame it
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Setsumi »

i use corn meal. i follow Booner's casual all corn protocol, but i start with a quarter of my meal and a quater of the BOILING water, after that is combined i add half of the first enzyme to keep everything nice liquid. i then add the next quater meal and water until finished. then i add the rest of the enzyme and let it cool passively to the pitch temp for the second enzyme. and again cool passively to pitching temp for yeast. on a ratio of 20kg maize meal to 80lt of water i get easily above 1.07sg. stirring helps.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Twisted Brick »

PoppaW wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:30 pm Do I have to cook cornmeal the same as cracked corn?
By virtue of cornmeal’s individual grain size, a number of advantages are presented to the distiller, namely less fuel used, shorter mash times, quicker and more uniform gelatinization of individual corn grains, and ease of access to the grains by exogenous enzymes. The smaller the grain size, the larger the impact. This is largely true with any non-husked malt.

Your grain bill is gonna make you a tasty drop. (Four-grain bourbons are becoming really popular in some markets). The mashing of corn is really no more work than any other mash, IMHO. It is the squeezing and clearing that makes for an extra step. But like many of us, do it enough times and it becomes second nature. Then, using corn as your base, the possibilities of flavor profiles using multiple malts is never ending.

Here's one roadmap to optimizing your upcoming mash:

All Grain Optimum Mashing Temperature

Let us know how it turns out!
Last edited by Twisted Brick on Tue Nov 24, 2020 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Chucker »

I grind my cracked corn to almost a meal consistency. I just dump it in a barrel and add the boiling water. Then I beat it to death with a mud mixer on a speed controlled, heavy drill motor. I add some a-amylase at the same time to help start some breakdown. Lumps are not a problem.
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Demy »

Everyone here uses different methods but I really think that a gelatinization is highly recommended to get a good conversion of the starches.
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Windy City »

Hey Twisted Brick
That was a great thread link :clap:
Can’t believe I missed that one but I definitely bookmarked it

Thanks
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by Twisted Brick »

Windy City wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 1:52 pm Hey Twisted Brick
That was a great thread link :clap:
Can’t believe I missed that one but I definitely bookmarked it

Thanks
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My pleasure, WC. I try to share this post every chance it appears to be relevant. Applying these principles to my mash protocols has resulted in an uptick in my spirit quality, particularly noticeable after aging.
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PoppaW
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Re: Cornmeal

Post by PoppaW »

Well I’ve added oats to the grain bill so 5 grain bourbon. I think I need more corn so will split the meal and add popcorn because after all the learning on popcorn it turned out well. Rolled and toasted oats or malted oats? I think malted as I might know how to get a few pounds. Planning is fun. I will adjust all the grains (lbs) and try ferment in a bag.
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