First no yeast (added) run.

[Cutt]

3 lbs dry corn (yellow), soaked for 3 days, changed water each day. Starting on Sunday.
Drained water from corn and added it to 1 gallon well water in a pot on the stove on Wednesday.
Simmered for 90 minutes.
Strained out the corn and added it to 1 gallon of backset.
Dissolved 1 lb of white sugar and 8 oz of malted corn in what was left in the pot on the stove, after it had cooled down.
Put everything in a 3 gallon carboy and set it in a room at under 76 degrees. No yeast pitched at all.
First 24 hours. Nothing.
12 hours later, still nothing. No activity. Just looked like sweet tea. Dammit! Popcorn, what was your secret?
Contemplated adding some yeast to get it going.
Read more, read more, read still more.
I'll sleep on it and pitch some yeast in the morning, too tired that night.
Next morning, Friday, about 44 hours after starting, I have loads of activity. Looks like I have it simmering on the stove.
I sure hope this works out. I'm trying to keep things simple.

[Jkhippie]

Are you sure it's 'fermenting'?

It's not a violent bacterial infection?

Also, you're tossing that water you used to soak the corn? You might be tossing good starch.

And the malted corn.....I don't think you'll get as much enzyme action as with a malted barley.

Just sayin'

[PsychDoc]

+1 hippie
What was the "backset" ? In the Homebrew world we recycle yeast by dredging the bottom of the fermenter, which contains a LOT of yeast. Sometimes thy are tired and take a bit to wake up. Like me. Could that be part of this equation?
Dues it smell or taste funky? If it if bacterial you should be able to tell, I think.

[Black Eye]

1.) did you grind the corn?
2.) did the corn actually sprout in 3 days (if it did I'm doing something drasticly wrong)
3.) why add sugar after you spent all that time malting, grinding and mashing corn?
4.) did you simmer this malted corn or did you hit your temp and mash it to release enzymes?

I'm a bit confused by your actual processs and frankly a little surprised anything is happening.

[Cutt]

I used feed corn. I soaked it to try something different. Maybe get things moving faster or more complete. The corn did not sprout.The corn was kept whole.
This recipe is a simple one I had gleaned from doing so much reading.
I wanted to do a run without any added yeast, fancy additives or mail order any thing.
Sugar was added cuz most recipes use it and I wanted a small fail safe. To feed whatever wild yeast started up in the first place.
The corn malt, I sprouted, dried and ground, was added once the water was tepid and then mixed with the backset and corn, that had been simmered and cooled.
The backset is from a run I just got done running. It was filtered and cleared before I ran it the first time. Since it was taken over 200 degrees no yeast should be in there.
The smell from this batch is one I would probably make into an air freshner. Only people here would understand. It smells better than my last run.
Today, Monday, was day 5 and it does not have a complete cap, but a ring of light foam.
It has been very active, still bubbles like it's on a slow simmer. More active than my previous batches that I used bread yeast in.

JKhippie- not sure what a violent bacterial infection is, but I know what an infection smells like. This ain't that. I tried malting barley with no success. I had the malted corn ready to go, so I went with it. As far as the water I guess I could have just used it. Didn't put that much thought into it.

PsychDoc- I've read about yeast washing and it seems to be a lot more work than I want to do. I've also heard about using a starter, but I wanted to keep it simpler.
The action, I believe, is from the malted corn or could've been from the well water or just wild yeast in the air.

Black Eye- You're surprised. I'm shocked. I was sure it would do nothing. I'm just an under educated baby when it comes to this. I would'nt be surprised if it turned on me any day.

I'm sure there are a lot of mistakes I've made. I want to keep this simple. No formulas, no calculations, no fancy still heads or reflux.
No testing equipment either. (Ok, so I did use a scale to weight the ingredients.) I have no clue as to the specific gravity or abv.
I like to make things myself. I make soap, bake my own sourdough bread, etc.
I'm not trying to invent the wheel. Just make some decent stuff for me and some close friends. (Depending on how good it is.)

[goose eye]

Ole boys always add store bought yeast on grain.
cause you mostly tryin to get it goin good an fast.
They don't add store bought on fruit.


So im tole

[Usge]

Not sure about your "recipe". But, there is wild yeast on corn, everywhere....as well as bacteria. However, cooking it will kill it off. The yeast could have already been in your fermenter unless you sanitized it. The inherent problem/issue with wild yeast is the bacteria you catch as well. My experience has been....in the beginning...the yeast will take. But, it would usually struggle as time went on...against the bacteria..to which it would eventually loose. Always started out smelling great...but gets more sour as it goes. If the bacteria gets strong enough..it just kills off the yeast and you get a baby diaper smell...or worse. I agree that the initial smell is great! But, over the next few days...you'll more than likely notice that changing. You'll want to run it as soon as it's done. Dont' let it sit.

You should check out pintoshines old thread on lacto souring or making a sour corn starter. He used only whole feed corn and water...in mason jars....with coffee filter tops. Within a few days...it was bubbling furiously...but quickly turns to a bacteria breakdown...which smells like vomit. Followed by a lacto fermentation that smells something like soured milk. Eventually, the smell stops...it becomes increasingly acidic...and the corn breaks down.

You can always jsut put a few jars out, see if you catch something good...and then use that jar for a starter. Letting a jar sit and checking it now again is not hard/work. Yeast washing is simply pouring the lees in a jar...then letting it sit to separate, then carefully pouring off the yeast layer into a new jar (sometimes repeated a few times). Ther'es plenty of youtube video on it. It's a simple process. The only "tricky" thing is making sure the jars/materials you are using are sanitized. If you do any canning...then you already have what you need.

Once you get a good strain of yeast, you'll want to try and keep it. The easiest way is just to use a sanitized jar and scoop the white lees from the bottom of your fermenter into it and save it in the fridge. Come next round...just let the jar warm up to room temp...then toss it in to use as starter.
Over time...the yeast will change/mutate. Sometimes it changes for better. Sometimes it gets worse. Usually, it begins to pick up more extraneous elements (including bacteria) and can go bad on you over time.

As far as cooking/mashing corn...it's not enough to just heat the corn...you need to bust it up. You need to grind the corn up BEFORE you cook it and you add the malt. And the malted grains need to be ground as well. After you've got the starches out of the corn, you mash it with crushed malted grains somewhere between 140-150F so the enzymes can work to convert the starches from the corn into sugars. It "will" work at lower temps...but much slower. It 'can' work at higher temp up and till you denature the enzymes ...but often will produce more unfermentable sugars. (ie., your ending gravity reading will be higher).

I admire your sense of wanting to learn this by feel. But, perhaps the best way to do this might be to start by doing it with some kind of assurance of measurement...then...learn to feel "that". A hydrometer is only a few bucks. You can learn to feel what 145-150F feels like on your finger/hand....but you need to make sure you are in the right temps range first before you could learn this. Beyond that...once the temp falls below 170F...you are at increased risk for getting bacteria. So, sticking your fingers in it...not always a good idea. But, the way I heard it: the temp for mashing is right when you can dip your finger in 3x..but don't want to do it a 4th. (that should be somewhere in the temp range of 140-150F...give or take). Everybody is a bit different as to heat tolerance. Again..practicing along side the measurements will get you there.

[Dnderhead]

yes/no ..first if using "corn malt" its not high in enzymes. so either use 50/50 or 100% corn malt..next yes it does need to be ground,or mashed up in some way.
on lacto souring or making a sour corn ,,well i don't believe in this,first lacto "eats" sugars and we want all we can git. next its not going to do much for flavor it has a vapor point of 200c,if you still git this hot id be worried about something other than flavor.

[Cutt]

The main reason to go this route is because my inspiration came from watching "The Last Run". Since then I've wanted to make a "run" like it was done in the woods. Water, corn, sugar and malt. Call me a romantic, a lunatic or just plain nuts, but it peaks my curiosity. It's also cheap, so off I go.

It's like the Jeff Foxworthy joke about the 900lb tv set sitting on a tv tray. "Now wait a minute Martha let 'em pull on his head a few times; he'll learn eventually".

I'd like to have a mentor to learn from and cut out my mistakes. Not being from a family that has anyone doing this, strange because I'm part Irish, nor do I know anyone familiar with making corn "squeezens" that's where ya'll come in. I appreciate and am impressed with the knowledge of this craft that is out there on this site. If this run works out, or not, I'm planning on making a wash that's pure corn. 50/50 cracked and malt corn. Nothing else. Well, a gallon of backset and two of water. Mix and see what happens. Or don't happen. Being a warm July in the northeast something should. Violent bacterial infection?
Any way, it's fun and I don't take it too seriously. If I screw up there's alway the liquor store down the street!

[Cutt]

Just ran it this afternoon. It worked for about a week then sat for a couple of days. Couldn't run it yet. I poured about 1 1/2 gals in the still and a qt in the thumper. Worked off really quickly. Got about 60 mls of lighter fluid, added it to the rest I've been saving. Pulled off a pint of stuff worth saving and another for the next run. Letting them sit out with filters on top to air out. We'll see in a few weeks how well it did without bakers yeast. Smells ok and is crystal clear.