First Mash

Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
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Magic
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First Mash

Post by Magic »

gonna try to mash corn today i got a 50 lb bag of cracked corn and 15 lb bag of malted 6 row barley crushed.
30 gallons of water and 6 packs of bread yeast
my cook pot is only a 30 gallon stainless steel pot so i'm gonna have to do in two batches and then when cooled combine together in a 32 gal brute trash can.
I am wondering though if i should add any sugar for extra alcohol
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Expat
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Re: First Mash

Post by Expat »

No extra sugar! Why bother doing grain if you're going to thin the taste with sugar, otherwise you might as well make a batch of UJSM.

I'd also grind the corn down a bit from cracked otherwise it'll hurt your yield, and also boil the hell out of it until it all gels.
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still_stirrin
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Re: First Mash

Post by still_stirrin »

Magic wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 5:17 am - 50 lb bag of cracked corn
- 15 lb bag of malted 6 row barley crushed
- 30 gallons of water
- 6 packs of bread yeast.
- 30 gallon stainless steel pot

i'm gonna have to do in two batches and then when cooled combine together in a 32 gal brute trash can.
Here’s my suggestion;

1) mill the corn to a “corn meal” consistency
2) start 12 gallons of water in your boil pot, heating it to boiling
3) add 1/2 of the corn meal stirring vigorously, if you’ve got high temperature enzymes, add them with the mash-in
4) stir occasionally as the corn mash geletinizes (it’ll get thick like “pudding”), but the enzymes should help keep it “stir-able”
5) after a 45-60 minute hold (the corn should be soft and mushy), add cool water to lower the temperature to 150*F
6) dough-in 1/2 of the malted barley (crushed, of course), it’ll smell really good at this point
7) stir thoroughly to blend the corn pudding with the malt and check the temperature
8.) hold the temperature between 145*F and 150*F by adding heat if necessary, keep stirring so you don’t scorch the mash
9) the mash hold will take an hour or two to convert the starches, so be patient
10) pull a small spoon of the liquid, put it on a white saucer, and check for starch with a drop of iodine

note - if the the color changes from amber to purple, or purple-black, you’re NOT DONE because the color change indicates that starch is still present. For a completed conversion (a successful mash) the iodine will stay amber (golden to dark yellow).
When you get this indication, you’re done with conversion.

11) drop your immersion chiller into the mash pot and cool the mash down to 80-85*F, stirring it as you can
12) transfer to the fermenter, check and record the O.G., and pitch your rehydrated yeast
13) go back to step 2 and start the 2nd half of your mash.

note - by the time you get the 2nd mash to the iodine check, the 1st half will probably be actively fermenting.
So you can simply add it on top of the 1st half (after chilling to 80-85*F, of course).

It’s going to be a long day for you. But in the end, you’ll have a good mash started fermenting.
Good luck.
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Magic
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Re: First Mash

Post by Magic »

thanks still stirrin that is great advice.
i didn't have the chance to mash today because my daughter had plumbing issues so i will have to wait till friday.
guess its a good thing so i can get more knowledge before hand
i don't have an immersion cool but seems simple to make
was wondering if i could make one out of pex tubing instead of copper for price reduction i could use stainless steel hose clamps to keep coils in place and connect to same pump i use for lie big condenser. thoughts are appreciated
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still_stirrin
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Re: First Mash

Post by still_stirrin »

Magic wrote: Sun May 09, 2021 4:26 pm i don't have an immersion cool but seems simple to make...

was wondering if i could make one out of pex tubing instead of copper for price reduction...
“buy once...cry once”.

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products ... gIFefD_BwE

You’ll be glad you did. The right tool for the job is a wise investment.

PEX is NOT recommended for an immersion chiller. Use 3/8” soft copper. Sure, it’ll cost you $25 or $30. But it will work.
ss
My LM/VM & Potstill: My build thread
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Magic
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Re: First Mash

Post by Magic »

so i finaly got around to doing my mash and i scorched the bottom so i never did second half. dont know if its ruin or not but got a reading og 1.046 and it is fermenting away as we speak . so now i need to clean pot and do some more reasearch
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Re: First Mash

Post by Setsumi »

Magic wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:26 am so i finaly got around to doing my mash and i scorched the bottom so i never did second half. dont know if its ruin or not but got a reading og 1.046 and it is fermenting away as we speak . so now i need to clean pot and do some more reasearch
you do not need to research much. just go to tried and true on HD and follow booners casual corn. you may deviate a bit and add half of the first enzyme before you start adding the meal.... yes i am assumiming you use HT enzymes. if not get some
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Magic
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Re: First Mash

Post by Magic »

Setsumi wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 12:00 pm
Magic wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:26 am so i finaly got around to doing my mash and i scorched the bottom so i never did second half. dont know if its ruin or not but got a reading og 1.046 and it is fermenting away as we speak . so now i need to clean pot and do some more reasearch
you do not need to research much. just go to tried and true on HD and follow booners casual corn. you may deviate a bit and add half of the first enzyme before you start adding the meal.... yes i am assumiming you use HT enzymes. if not get some
thanks for that info checked it out seems like that the way i should go just orderd some enzymes
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