Malted Corn Mash issue

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SouCo
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Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by SouCo »

Just did my first mash of Malted Corn in what will be a 3 gen, maybe 4, batch. The resulting OG of the mash was only 1.04, so I added table sugar to bring it to the 1.065 - 1.07 that I was hoping for. I am under the impression that Malted Corn just needed to be added to water of the proper temp for conversion from enzymes. Anyway, to shorten this up, below is the grain bill and then the process. Trying to figure out where I went wrong, or if it was just a poor batch of "malted" corn.

15 gallons water
30 pounds "malted" corn - milled to a pretty decent corn meal-ish grain
4 pounds 2-Row - Only added this as a precaution to try and get SOME conversion if the malted corn itself was lack luster.

Placed the 30 pounds of corn in a large cooler. Added 12 gallons of 165F water to corn in cooler. Stirred and closed lid for 1 hour. Came back to read temp still holding at 152F. Added 2-Row and 3 more gallons of 165F water. Stirred and closed lid. I then returned each hour to stir and monitor temps, for the next 4 hours. I let it sit overnight and checked things this morning. Temp was still holding at 125F plus, so I checked OG and read a 1.04...before accounting for temp variance (1.05ish after adjusting).

Were my temps wrong, grain #'s wrong, not enough stirring or not great malted corn? I thought by what I had read I would have been good with the process I used. Just trying to get right before I attempt Gen2 in a couple weeks.

Thanks for any assistance provided, sorry if I did something ignorantly wrong!
Sporacle
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by Sporacle »

I follow this procedure with the malted maize I use, converts pretty well. I pretty much concentrate on converting the maize first and then add in anything else I'm using as per the traditional steps
https://www.gladfieldmalt.co.nz/working ... istilling/
Hope this helps
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Setsumi
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by Setsumi »

my experience with malted sorghum and malted corn is that the need a higher gelatinizing temprature than barley malt. the higher gelatinizing temp denature the natrual enzymes. what you can do is to mash at regular temps, draw the wort raise the temp to gelatinize and once cooled down again add the wort back. this works
well for sorghum as it gives a maltier taste.. or just keep enough malt to add at mashing temps after gelatinizing.
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SouCo
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by SouCo »

Appreciate the replies. I'll certainly look into that Malted Maize in the future Sporacle, as well as looking into that different process you mentioned Setsumi. I thought the point of Malted Corn was to not have to worry about the gelatinization part?

I wonder if what conversion I did get was simply from the 2-Row, and I really got nothing from the Malted Corn?
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by Sporacle »

:D I get a fairly good conversion from the malted maize, will see the end results in a couple of hours when I finish stripping a batch
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Virginnybouy
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by Virginnybouy »

Setsumí is right , we make our own corn malt in the hills of virginny & it’s true you don’t get a goood conversion if you don’t boil the piss outa the stuff to Gelatinize……. I’ve taken half the malted corn & boiled it & used an Emerson blender to get it all creamy …. Then I add add the other half after it cools down to 130°F hold for at less 20
Minutes for good flavor & then raise to 155°& hold
For like an hour & half two hours . Cool with Emerson chiller, pitch & grin …….. but seriously ya ever tried Maltin corn ? It ain’t no picnic …… but what you get is way better than what you can buy …… i use the bigger white plastic coolers that you use for fishing & what not …. You really gotta wash first real food rinse it like 4, Mabe 5 times before you even soak it the first time …. Cuz you gotta try to get rid of the nasty bacteria which will lead to ot spoilin on ya ……… once it’s rinsed really good …. Ya soak it in the cooler for like 12 hours straight ….. no less no more … then you drain it …… guess what you do next ??? That’s right you rinse the piss outa it aaaaaagin…… see where this is goin ? Next step to malting corn is you leave it to sit with no water for exactly six hours in the cooler shut …. You don’t want no light gettin to the corn …… reason why is that if the corn starts to sprout and the sprouts get light they will start a preliminary stage of photosynthesis which will impart nasty tasting sulfur compounds to your malt ….. so keep the cooler shut as much as possible …. After six hours of no water , rinse thoroughly again ( use fresh water for each rinse reusing the rinse water will defeat the purpose of cleaning bad bacteria off your corn ) once rinsed soak again for 6 hours …… repeat the process & keep an eye on the temperature of the corn as it sprouts it will create heat so at some point you have to start rinsing it with cool water to control the temperature of ot gets too hot it will spoil ……… after about a5-7 days a week basically … Yur acusó ite will ha e grown to be 1& 1/3 length of the seed …. The acusó ite has to grow a bit longer on corn than say barley or wheat or rye …… btw rye is by far the easiest grain to malt ….. it’s ready literally over night in some cases ….. but any way back to corn ….. once it’s ready to dry it out & ya gotta dry it out raw corn malt makes terrible whiskey ! In my opinion …. Also dry it out at night when there is no light ….. if it’s done and it’s day time throw ice in the cooler mix it up and shut it …. When it’s dark dry it out we dry it over hot coals made from oak … no hickory or mesquite ….. unless you like the taste of smoke ….. also you make a separate fire of the cut up oak in 2 inch chunks let wh oak burn down til it’s just a red coal & shovel the coals into a separate pit from your fire let get red hit with no smoke & put several peices of hardware cloth together to make a fine screen suspend your screen no less than than 2 feet over your coals & add sand to the coals it will run longer and for a steady heat as the coals and sand mix it creates an alchemy of temperature regulation …. Also keep a thermometer in the corn spread it to be about 2 inches thick & keep taking it to ensure the moisture and heat is equally dissipated in the corn as it drys ….. once it drys to be about half way I like to move it to a closet with a dehumidifier in it to suck out the rest of the moisture …. It’s hard to make ….but it’s a good product tried and true blue ridge mountain down home corn malt .
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8Ball
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by 8Ball »

Virginnybouy wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:13 pm Setsumí is right , we make our own corn malt in the hills of virginny & it’s true you don’t get a goood conversion if you don’t boil the piss outa the stuff to Gelatinize……. I’ve taken half the malted corn & boiled it & used an Emerson blender to get it all creamy …. Then I add add the other half after it cools down to 130°F hold for at less 20
Minutes for good flavor & then raise to 155°& hold
For like an hour & half two hours . Cool with Emerson chiller, pitch & grin …….. but seriously ya ever tried Maltin corn ? It ain’t no picnic …… but what you get is way better than what you can buy …… i use the bigger white plastic coolers that you use for fishing & what not …. You really gotta wash first real food rinse it like 4, Mabe 5 times before you even soak it the first time …. Cuz you gotta try to get rid of the nasty bacteria which will lead to ot spoilin on ya ……… once it’s rinsed really good …. Ya soak it in the cooler for like 12 hours straight ….. no less no more … then you drain it …… guess what you do next ??? That’s right you rinse the piss outa it aaaaaagin…… see where this is goin ? Next step to malting corn is you leave it to sit with no water for exactly six hours in the cooler shut …. You don’t want no light gettin to the corn …… reason why is that if the corn starts to sprout and the sprouts get light they will start a preliminary stage of photosynthesis which will impart nasty tasting sulfur compounds to your malt ….. so keep the cooler shut as much as possible …. After six hours of no water , rinse thoroughly again ( use fresh water for each rinse reusing the rinse water will defeat the purpose of cleaning bad bacteria off your corn ) once rinsed soak again for 6 hours …… repeat the process & keep an eye on the temperature of the corn as it sprouts it will create heat so at some point you have to start rinsing it with cool water to control the temperature of ot gets too hot it will spoil ……… after about a5-7 days a week basically … Yur acusó ite will ha e grown to be 1& 1/3 length of the seed …. The acusó ite has to grow a bit longer on corn than say barley or wheat or rye …… btw rye is by far the easiest grain to malt ….. it’s ready literally over night in some cases ….. but any way back to corn ….. once it’s ready to dry it out & ya gotta dry it out raw corn malt makes terrible whiskey ! In my opinion …. Also dry it out at night when there is no light ….. if it’s done and it’s day time throw ice in the cooler mix it up and shut it …. When it’s dark dry it out we dry it over hot coals made from oak … no hickory or mesquite ….. unless you like the taste of smoke ….. also you make a separate fire of the cut up oak in 2 inch chunks let wh oak burn down til it’s just a red coal & shovel the coals into a separate pit from your fire let get red hit with no smoke & put several peices of hardware cloth together to make a fine screen suspend your screen no less than than 2 feet over your coals & add sand to the coals it will run longer and for a steady heat as the coals and sand mix it creates an alchemy of temperature regulation …. Also keep a thermometer in the corn spread it to be about 2 inches thick & keep taking it to ensure the moisture and heat is equally dissipated in the corn as it drys ….. once it drys to be about half way I like to move it to a closet with a dehumidifier in it to suck out the rest of the moisture …. It’s hard to make ….but it’s a good product tried and true blue ridge mountain down home corn malt .
Great response! Thanks VB. I’m saving this for the next time I try to malt some corn. It got a little cheesy on me the first time.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by Twisted Brick »

8Ball wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:34 am
Great response! Thanks VB. I’m saving this for the next time I try to malt some corn. It got a little cheesy on me the first time.
+1

I tried my first malting of corn last month. It didn’t go too well. Gonna follow this next time.
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shadylane
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Re: Malted Corn Mash issue

Post by shadylane »

SouCo wrote: Sun May 23, 2021 3:22 pm
I am under the impression that Malted Corn just needed to be added to water of the proper temp for conversion from enzymes. A
Only part of the starch in the corn malt get's unraveled so enzymes can get to it.
To get the rest of the starch converted. Try doing a decoction mash like Setsumi suggested. :wink:
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