just wondering...

[BillyPrefect]

I started my all grain whiskey attempt today. I used roughly 7lbs of cracked corn from the bottom of my buckets of UJSSM along with 3lbs of flaked corn, 3lbs of flaked wheat and then 2lbs of crushed malted barley. Topped off with bakers yeast.
First attempt I burned the corn. Tricky bit. Anything over a low temp on the stove and the corn finds and burns really fast.
Second attempt, I think success. It's bubbling now in my buckets. 6 gallons at this point, fermenting on grain. I'll deal with the straining after the fermenting is over.

According to general theory, this should be done fermenting possibly Friday I guess. I'm wondering if when I strip run it, would it help at all to take some of the backset out to steep what is going to be fresh cracked corn before I cook up the next round ?
I am still reading of course.
My thoughts are if I use maybe a gallon or gallon and a half of backset which will already be hot, then Saturday maybe another half gallon of just plain hot water. Over the course of a couple of days might it soften up the cracked corn enough to being able to properly make use of the plain old cracked corn along with another 3lbs of flaked corn to make the next run?
Just wondering and looking for input from experience.

[HDNB]

need some help unnerstanding what you did. what temperature did you cook to? what was the mash in temp?
did you add sugar like ujssm? did you burn the corn cooking it of distilling on it?

at this point, i got more questions than answers.

[BillyPrefect]

corn was to cook I figured around 170. It's been in the middle of a long run of UJSSM so I assumed it was good n ready to be used. I got the end result I was looking for this time, but I'm worried about next run. No idea how actually get the corn to cook short with the hardware I've got to use. I'm thinking this may end up being a one and done for me for all grain. I read a lot, but didn't understand how fast cracked corn can burn. I tossed all the burnt corn, spent half an hour cleaning burnt corn off the bottom of the pot.
Todays run the corn cooked for about 90 minutes. After 30 minutes of the cracked corn cooking I add the flaked corn and flaked wheat and let the temps slowly drop to where I could add malt.
Today worked, I think. It's bubbling away in the fermenter bucket. I'm more concerned about trying to cook cracked corn from the bag. I know it's going to have to cook for hours, I just am not sure I have the proper gear to do that.

[greggn]

> I'm more concerned about trying to cook cracked corn from the bag. I know it's going to have to cook for hours,

Mill it down from cracked to a coarse flour and you won't need to cook for too long ... or at all. I follow the "Booners Casual" protocol and it's no more difficult than boiling water (however it does require high-temp enzymes).

[BillyPrefect]

Sadly no mill. Anyone ever tried heating in a slow cooker ? I read a steamer was involved at some point. What about... start with a cold water rinse, move to a steamer to soften the kernel up, then to maybe a soak in backset, then a slower cooker and finally to a pot ? Or something like that. A person would need to follow a logical flow... cold water rinse (no soaking), steamer (no soaking), backset (starting a hot water soak), slow cooker (hot hot water soak), to a pot on the stove, then jam that pot in the oven to keep a full high temp soak. Hard to stir it constantly when it's in an oven however.

[still_stirrin]

Billy,

It sounds like you like to handle your bucket (or 10) of sloppy, sticky corn several times throughout the mash process. It all sounds quite labor intensive. I think the Booner’s method is much more straight forward without all the labor of handling involved.

Oh yes, grinding the corn before attempting to mash it will help conversion immensely. Try it.
ss

[corene1]

I don't quite get the method you are using. It sounds as though you are using some of the spent corn from a UJSSM recipe. If you can't grind your corn see if your feed dealer has steam rolled corn. It will cook easier than cracked corn. If they carry Kruse Perfection grains just order a sack of ground corn, it comes out just right. http://ohkruse.com/grains.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[greggn]

> Sadly no mill. Anyone ever tried heating in a slow cooker ? I read a steamer was involved at some point. What about...


Instead of jumping through hoops just buy a $25 Corona/Victoria/knock-off and be done with it.

[corene1]

Had to try and find a picture for reference. This is the Kruse ground corn. It come ready to cook right out of the bag and is about $19 dollars a 50 pound bag.

[Twisted Brick]

If you can't grind your corn see if your feed dealer has steam rolled corn. It will cook easier than cracked corn. If they carry Kruse Perfection grains just order a sack of ground corn, it comes out just right. http://ohkruse.com/grains.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

+1

I love the Kruse Perfection ground corn. It is has the consistency of Bob's Red Mill medium grind cornmeal and converts up nice. Unfortunately, I just checked with Kruse directly and they confirmed they have discontinued grinding and selling it.

[corene1]

Well I guess it off to the feed store and see if someone else offers it. They use it in chicken scratch so somebody must be grinding it.

[BillyPrefect]

Billy,

It sounds like you like to handle your bucket (or 10) of sloppy, sticky corn several times throughout the mash process.
ss

Just one bucket - 5 lbs - just looking for a method that only involves my time and not my money. I can get cracked corn for free -- $0 -- so if I spend 8 hours of my time over say 4 days... I'm out 2 hours a day, and zero dollars still. I'm not a fan of the suggestions that involve spending hundreds or thousands of dollars even to speed up or ease up something that could possibly be done by hand for just labour and or time.

[BillyPrefect]

Instead of jumping through hoops just buy a $25 Corona/Victoria/knock-off and be done with it.

Nah. I'll jump through hoops. Cheaper.