Adding corn to brewing software

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de5m0mike
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Adding corn to brewing software

Post by de5m0mike »

I use beer alchemy for building and keeping notes on various recipes. I'd love to use it for my distilling recipes as well, but as you can probably guess, cracked corn is not one of the default ingredients. I can however add new ingredients, which I've done in the past with specific grains, but with corn the needed numbers are not listed on the package as they are with grains bought at the local home brew shop. What I need is the extract %, moisture %, and color in lovibond. Color is the least important to me as it will all end up clear anyway, but I'd like to figure out the other two numbers as best I can. I've been scouring the net for days and the best I can find is that corn is 70% starch. Has anyone gone through this that can help a guy out?
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Jimbo
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

Post by Jimbo »

My software has flaked corn. I just select that and call it a day. Note most software Ive seen gives corn 33 ppg. And cracked corn doesnt come close to that. Expect more like 25 ppg in practice. But its so damn cheap at $10 a bag I dont lose sleep over the low efficiency numbers that result. For corn heavy bourbons my grain bill has been 3 lbs total grain per gallon lately, which gets me to 1.060 for the 8% Im looking for.
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de5m0mike
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

Post by de5m0mike »

Here are a few corn adjuncts that are in the software. I suppose if one of these were the same as cracked corn I could just use it instead.

Sugar — Corn Sugar/Dextrose Dry
• Color: 0.0 L
• Extract: 99.0%
• Moisture: 0.5%

Sugar — Corn Syrup
• Color: 0.0 L
• Extract: 81.0%
• Moisture: 0.0%

UK Flaked Corn/Maize
• Color: 1.0 L
• Extract: 75.0%
• Moisture: 7.0%

US Flaked Corn/Maize
• Color: .8 L
• Extract: 75.0%
• Moisture: 7.0%
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Jimbo
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

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Whichever you select be sure to cook the living hell out of that cracked corn or you wont get jack for conversion. Some stir over fire. I bring water to a boil, pour it over the corn and wrap the barrel up in an old quilt for a full 3 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. This gets full gelatinization, any time Ive short cycled that the conversion suffered. Youll know its done cause it will be super thick like breakfast oatmeal. Even flaked corn, reportedly cooked and rolled, needs the jesus cooked out of it.
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Jimbo
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

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PS: Basically what Im saying is all the cool calculators in the world wont mean much if you dont deal with the stuff properly in practice. Read the quote in my signature. Also, who cares about Lovibond color rating. The distillate will be clear. if its got some color happeneing youve got some puking in yoru still going on.
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firewater69
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

Post by firewater69 »

I cook the living shit out of corn, about 180 for 1.5 hrs. then dumpit in my mashtun. i then add my barley when the temp gets to 145 or so and the rest of the water. I dont ferment on the grain like most do, i guess this is due to my ag beer experiance, i am going to try a batch on the grain when the weather warms up. Momma has a problem with me fermenting in the house as it is and i dont want to push my luck.
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de5m0mike
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

Post by de5m0mike »

Jimbo wrote:PS: Basically what Im saying is all the cool calculators in the world wont mean much if you dont deal with the stuff properly in practice. Read the quote in my signature. Also, who cares about Lovibond color rating. The distillate will be clear. if its got some color happeneing youve got some puking in yoru still going on.

This is the main reason I want to get it in my software. So I can have something to gauge against and to know how good of a job I'm doing.
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Jimbo
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Re: Adding corn to brewing software

Post by Jimbo »

Hitting numbers is like beating yourself in the head with a hammer when it comes to corn. especially cracked corn. Dont worry about the numbers, focus on the right SG for a good healthy fermentation, and flavor at the end of the day. Corns a bitch. But its worth the work. A good bourbon is heaven.
In theory there's no difference between theory and practice. But in practice there is.
My Bourbon and Single Malt recipes. Apple Stuff and Electric Conversion
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