Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Production methods from starch to sugars.

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dixiedrifter
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Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by dixiedrifter »

For all of ya'll who been keeping up with my mashing adventures, you know I been using the MileHiDistilling enzymes without much luck for starch liquification... until now.

I ordered some of this stuff called 5.2 pH stabilizer from them... its made by 5 Star Chemicals. It is designed to buffer your mash's pH at a constant 5.2... not exactly ideal for the gluconase, but perfect for the amylase. Its a bit pricey @$13 a pound, but only a tablespoon is needed per 5 gallons.

Anyways, back to the mashing. After bringing 12 quarts of water to a rolling boil, and dumping in 10lbs of corn, I proceeded to add in a heaping teaspoon of the pH buffer while stirring with a drill and topped off with another 3 quarts of water. After a couple minutes on high heat the mash started thickening up and turning to starch. Normal.

Then for shits and giggles, I decided to throw in about 3 grams of alpha-amylase enzyme. Then something interesting happened... the mash which was starting to get thick and gravy like started thinning out right before my eyes, even as the temps were darn near boiling. After an hour and a half in the oven, the stuff was still for the most part a liquid even though the corn had settled down on the bottom and was sorta clumping together.

After stirring again, the corn mash started to look like cream corn outta the can... and I was thinking "now that's what I'm talkin bout!" To make things even better when I poured the liquicorn into my mash tun it didn't even stick to the sides of the pot and it rinsed right out with no scrubbing! Woot.

Normally with this water to corn ratio the end result would have been in one giant clump of corn the consistancy of mashed potatoes mixed with a good dose of Elmer's wood glue... it usually gums up so bad it has to literally be scraped out of the pot and scrubbed with steel wool to get it all clean.

So, I think its safe to say that a double dose of alpha-amylase is necessary for good starch liquification... one in the beginning before cooking, and one after.
Dnderhead
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

Grate discovery but a little late for double cook method. Boil corn rest (3-4 hr) (if thick add enzymes ) after 4 hrs re boil for about 1 hr add enzymes
stir the sh## out of it cover leave over night pitch yeast also vigueras stirring helps .macanacol mixers recommended
Dan Call
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dan Call »

I'm with you on the "stuck to the sides remove with pot scrubber" thing. My buddies have had that happen many times.

The question I have is this....are you doing gluco too?

And let me get this straight....you're adding the alpha while it's still at cooking temp? Is this high temp alpha?

What's a macanacoll?

This is my theoretical dream mash that I've not tried. Use white corn, malt 1/4 of whatever mashing quantity you use, do the enzymes, then add the malt, ferment. Some might say why bother with malting, but this would doubtless have an effect on taste. I'm wondering if this would make the best tasting pure corn you could get. It's just water, corn, and yeast in terms of the mash bill, with a few enzymes thrown in. Reading all this on enzymes, I'm more convinced than ever that commercial distilleries use the snott out of enzymes combined with highly cultured and high ABV yeast strains developed in-house with their additives being specifically tailored to the known deficiencies in the target mash.

That's what my buddy says....anyway.
Last edited by Dan Call on Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Dnderhead
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

I cook then let the mash sit for a while if it is to thick to reheat ,add enzymes --- will thin out enough to re cook .got that idea from fuel site
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Barney Fife »

What's a macanacoll?

Dnd likely meant 'mechanical'.
Dnderhead
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

thanks Barney if it wasn't for spell check no one would know what I was trying to say
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Barney Fife »

It took me a while to get used to your spelling, Bud, but it's worth learning it; you have a lot of knowledge to share, and you share it a lot! The trick is to actually read your posts out loud, when in doubt; while your spelling doesn't "read" well, when we hear it, it makes sense.

Kinda like "hooked on phonics" works :D
Last edited by Barney Fife on Thu Jul 10, 2008 8:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Tater »

lets keep this post on topic
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
Hawke
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Hawke »

It appears to me as though MileHigh's alpha is high temp stuff. I just cooked up 12 pounds corn to 10 gallons of water, added a teaspoon of enzymes after dumping the corn in the pot, never did get thick. After 2+ hours of boiling, I let it cool to around 180*F and after adding another teaspoon, it almost looked like it was boiling again as it converted.
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violentblue
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by violentblue »

where can I get some?
they got a website?
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

http://www.milehidistilling.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow


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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by violentblue »

thanks, and say hello to my new signature
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Hawke
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Hawke »

Thanks for this post Dixie,
I've never had such success with my corn. Finishing up my 3rd boil for this batch atm.
I did things a bit different.
I'm using a double boiler,
1) Bring water to a boil
2) Dump in the corn and stir (temp drops back to about 180ish)
3) Add a heaping teaspoon of alpha
4) Allow to cook for 2 hrs, stirring once or twice
5) Kill the heat, allow to cool and once the 'brains' form, add another spoonfull.
Coversion is almost instantanious. :D
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Uncle Jesse »

Depending on what you're making, adding backset is a great way to drop your pH to desired levels.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by pintoshine »

When not using enzymes but only using malted barley, I have always premalted for the same reason.
It really helps with the globby problem. Not too much is needed either and it works up until about 170.
That is just when you need the thinning out.
Of course I don't mix in the rest until I have gotten down to 154. Then it all turns to brown syrup in minutes anyway.

I just thought that way the way everyone did it. Maybe I've been around too many commercial distilleries too long.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by I-GOR »

pintoshine wrote:When not using enzymes but only using malted barley, I have always premalted for the same reason.
It really helps with the globby problem. Not too much is needed either and it works up until about 170.
That is just when you need the thinning out.
This is the key, brothers. Pint's got it. I've tried cookin cracked corn several times, ended up with a gloppy, stiff mess that scorched my pot and I had to put my wood chisel to the wetstone to get it off the bottom of the ss pot.

I've just tried Pint's premalting technique tonight, twice. It's the ticket.
3.5 lbs cracked corn
2.5 gallons water
2 cups crushed barley malt

at 165 F it was sweet and soft, couldn't stop eating it straight out of the pot (must be sufferin from pika).
Boiled the hell out of it. Before, it got so gloppy I had to stir it continuously, scraping the bottom of the pot furiously, still it stuck bad. Tonight, boiled up liked oyster stew - sweet & milky. did it twice. will do it a third time for 10 or 11 gallons. going to add 2 lbs malt at 150F. will check sg. in the morning.

It's incontravertable, premalting is worth the sacrifice.






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Dnderhead
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

High temp enzymes work better if you can gt them . I am adding these in the boil .then when cooled add malt
also even though they say you do not have to boil "steamed rolled " grain found much better if you do
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by I-GOR »

Check the sg this morning, 5.5% potential alcohol at 100 degrees F.
Much better than the last couple of times I tried it (only got 3% or so potential previously). I'm not going to sparge it, I'll just ferment on the grain for now.

Dunder, how does a guy like me get high temp enzymes? The enzymes I've seen on Brewhaus or milehigh website seem to be standard temp enzymes. Is there and industrial source that will sell to "Joe the 'shiner"?
dixiedrifter
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by dixiedrifter »

Basically you have to have your own business and buy in industrial quantities before they will mess with you... that means getting ready to plunk down some $$$$ on enzymes.

I've seriously considered doing a re-pack operation where I buy em' repack 'em, and mark up the prices 100%.
punkin
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by punkin »

I wouldn't get too exiceted about em, wish i could swap my hitemp for regular :roll:
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Hawke »

I-gor,
I use the ones from Mile-hi, they work good for doing the pre-malt.
As you know, starting to get a little cool here in the Evergreen so I'll probably switch to in-house UJSM for the next few months.
It is the very things that we think we know, that keep us from learning what we should know.
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Dnderhead
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

the idea of high temp enzymes is that you put them in at the beginning of the boil and it thins out as you cook.I still add enzymes/malt when it cools.
got mine as a sample. (regular enzymes work just about as good) regular enzymes 170f (max) high temp 203f(max)(at lest mine)
if you add enzymes bring up the temp to 160f hold there for about 1 hour most will thin then bring up to a boil 15-20 min then cool add more enzymes.
tried steamed rolled oats. they had to be cooked as well. whould not convert without.
T-type
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by T-type »

Does Ph matter alot? My alpha worked great with your methods. thinned it out real good. reboiled the corn for another 1.5 hours with it always being easy to stir. turned off heat let cool to 160 and threw in another teason of alpha. waited an hour and temp was down to 140 i threw in a teaspoon of gluco. Let sit all night last night, and its not sweet at all..Looks like i got the starch liquification but no sugar conversion.

Did i do anything wrong here? i premalted with the alpha. Only thing i didnt do was make sure the ph was right

Well after 2 hours after throwing in some yeast its starting to bubble. I guess it converted? doesnt really taste sweet like a sugar wash though.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

Snooping around the net , found that the old timers mite Had something going by malting in the bag . seams that "hemp" has some
antifungal properties. but I do not thank you can fiend bags made of hemp any more.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by HookLine »

You can buy hemp cloth in Australia. Though it might be too processed to have any anti-fungal properties left. Farmers here (in some states) are now even allowed to grow it commercially, using approved strains of course (ie ultra low THC content).
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by dropping_planets »

i never ph adjust my mash water.....i discovered this by not adding the 5.2 ph buffer and having my most successful mash....

i recently received enzymes from mile hi and am wondering if the gluco is going to work with my skip-a-step method... the package lists a ph of 5 as max for the gluco...would it work at 5.2.... :shock:
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by violentblue »

dropping_planets wrote:i never ph adjust my mash water.....i discovered this by not adding the 5.2 ph buffer and having my most successful mash....

i recently received enzymes from mile hi and am wondering if the gluco is going to work with my skip-a-step method... the package lists a ph of 5 as max for the gluco...would it work at 5.2.... :shock:
I've never had a bad mash using the Gluco and Alpha from mile high, provided I kept it at mashing tempuratures for long enough, thats without ajusting PH.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Frito »

Sorry for being daft, but what is "pre-malting"? Using grains that have not been malted? Sounded like in the above post that ya'll were suggesting doing a small mash of malted barley to get the enzymes and then adding that to your cooking corn. Is that right? I do a 70% corn, 20% malted barley, 10% rye recipe and have been having a hard time getting sugars to convert, so I'm trying to nail down my process. What I do now is:

heat about 4 gallons of water to about boiling, and add in the corn and turn off the heat. Cover it and let it sit for about an hour. Turns into a solid mass of corn, basically. Then I heat up a mixture of backset and water to about 160. In my water cooler/mash tun, I scoop corn into it and then add in some of the rye and malted barley and then some water/backset and stir. I do this until I am out of corn and grains and get it to a thick soupy consistancy and about 155 degrees. I let that sit for a couple of hours, then scoop into my fermenters, let cool and add yeast. It works, but just don't think I'm getting all I should out of the corn.
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Dnderhead »

pre malting is adding a small amount of malt/enzymes to the grain when cooking, it helps it from getting so thick.
but it sounds like your not cooking your corn long enough ..neads to be gelatinized,(cooked until like pudding)
start cooking corn on slow heat ,,, when it starts getting thick, add some malt /enzymes, keep stirring as it tends to burn. the malt will help thin it out.
this will take about 45- 60 minutes.
cool to 110f (43c) add rest of malt and hold at that temperature for 30min. , then rise temperature slowly to 150f (66c) hold there for 60 minutes.
(all grain has to be crushed/broken)(unmalted grains needs to be cooked not just heated)
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Re: Made an interesting mashing discovery this afternoon...

Post by Kronk »

Dnderhead wrote:Grate discovery but a little late for double cook method. Boil corn rest (3-4 hr) (if thick add enzymes ) after 4 hrs re boil for about 1 hr add enzymes
stir the sh## out of it cover leave over night pitch yeast also vigueras stirring helps .macanacol mixers recommended
I like the double boil idea Dnder. How long do you boil for the first time? An hour or longer with a soft boil? Do you ever check the PH?
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