Deciding on recipes

[panikry83]

How do you guys figure grain amount vs water vs malt. Like I'm going to try some ag and use NC bourbon but if I wanted to try and make my own how do you decide how much corn barely and water etc

[bearriver]

Pounds per gallon. 2 pounds total grain per gallon of water isn't uncommon for many of people. YMMV.

Just follow the recipe. Scale to your size of course.

[bellybuster]

you can do it the hard way and figure points per pound for each ingredient or just use an online recipe calculator for beer.
"How to Brew" is a great read that will get you started.
http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

[panikry83]

Awesome and quick replies as always thanks guys

[panikry83]

is there a formula for how much malted barley is needed per lbs of corn for good conversion? sorry if this is somewhere, I'm using the search atm but theres like 100 pages lol and i can only read so fast

[MichiganCornhusker]

is there a formula for how much malted barley is needed per lbs of corn for good conversion? sorry if this is somewhere, I'm using the search atm but theres like 100 pages lol and i can only read so fast

Search for "Diastatic Power". If you are determined to rush into a recipe headlong, figure 2# grain per gallon water and use at least 25%-30% of the total grain bill as malted barley.
If you are just substituting some rye for wheat or barley, and you follow the recipe and procedure as closely as you can, you should be ok.
You do have lots of other things to worry about with an AG , like gelatinization and mash temps, pH of mash, fermentation temps...
Make sure you record your method, especially initial pH and OG readings, in case you get into trouble later. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[corene1]

Yes there is a formula. Basically you need 30 points of diastatic power per pound of grain. Each type of malted grain will have a different amount of DP. Malted rye has less than malted wheat and so forth. You would take the total amount of DP of your malted grains and divide it by the total amount of grains and if it is more than 30 points you should be safe. I go a little higher just for insurance. Check out this link to Briess grains and click on the chart , it will show you the DP of their malted grains. Plus there is a lot more information to read if you go back to their home page.http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Products/Default.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow Make sure you click on the chart, it will open a PDF file that you can save for future reference.

[panikry83]

I'm just trying to understand the "building blocks" if you will I'm going to use a tried and true for sure I'm nowhere near ready to start making my own recipes just more knowledge on how it all comes together

[panikry83]

thanks corene thats exactly what I was after

[MichiganCornhusker]

Btw, your instincts to go with NCHooch are dead on, it is one of the best recipes on here for whiskey, still one of my favorites.
One thing I would caution you about is scorching your corn. You might consider the "no-cook" method of just adding boiling water to your cracked corn and letting it rest for a while covered and insulated to try to hold temps up.
If you do cook your corn over heat, don't hesitate to toss it if you do scorch any of it, even a little bit, because the scorch taste will come over all the way to the spirit.

[panikry83]

thats what I was just reading about that actually on a post S-Cack did on a good AG SF seems like a simpler option

[midwest shinner]

+1 to MCH's scorching advice, that flavor never goes away. Ask me how I know...

[bellybuster]

all the above info and more is in the "How to Brew" link. Trust me, read it

[shadylane]

Cooking corn sounds so easy, until you try it.
The no-cook recipes aren't as efficient but their much easier and arguably taste better.
Just a thought, some one recommended preheating the corn in the oven before dumping it in boiling water.
Haven't tried it but it sounds like a good way to get the corn and water close to boiling without scorching it.

Edited add the boiling water to the ground corn, makes for less drama and stirring.

[rager]

read this until you understand it. http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti ... Conversion" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

and this http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p7056307

one more https://byo.com/mead/item/1543-understa ... ew-science" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I wish someone handed me this info all in one post when I first got started. read all this , then the recipes stuff will make more sense

cheers

[yakattack]

Cooking corn sounds so easy, until you try it.
The no-cook recipes aren't as efficient but their much easier and arguably taste better.
Just a thought, some one recommended preheating the corn in the oven before dumping it in boiling water.
Haven't tried it but it sounds like a good way to get the corn and water close to boiling without scorching it.

Edited add the boiling water to the ground corn, makes for less drama and stirring.

Cooking corn (or any grain for that matter) is easy and will never scorch if you cook with steam. Many ways to skin a cat but if it were up to me the cat should be dead first. Wrestling with scorching is like trying to skin a live cat.

Yak (preaching for the house of steam)

[stilldistillin]

Recently did an AG, but with a 15L stove top pot. No problems with scorching... I think it's a boiler, internal element issue.

[yakattack]

Recently did an AG, but with a 15L stove top pot. No problems with scorching... I think it's a boiler, internal element issue.

Many cook over a propane burned in a big pot. This is where scorching can be a huge problem. I have one batch of rice go this way and that's when I built my steam head. Never had it since.

Yak