Booner's Casual All Corn

[Zeotropic]

The hardest thing is that we don't really know what the available starch is in our corn unless we have it analyzed or something.

I think I agree with this
If you think about it you can buy one to 200 lb of corn and that would keep you going for quite a while and probably make up for your gas.
it's too late now. I'm a few weeks away from starting my season for my business and it's 12-14/7 for a good while. Plus I've made so much this off-season that I'm burnt out

My current problem is I can find local corn within 15 minutes drive but I'm currently using a magic bullet blender to grind my corn and it works better with already cracked corn so I got to invest in a better grinder before I can buy whole corn.

Whoops I'm getting a bit off topic.
Anyway back to the booners casual all corn. My first batch is been on oak for a few weeks I don't know exactly how long maybe I'm 2 months at most and I think it is phenomenal it's not as good as it could be if I let it age a year or so I'm sure but it is amazing to have actually made something that I really enjoy.
Now I want to start building up some decent aging stock and I think booners is going to be my go-to for that.

that's awesome you have such great results so soon. I think my stuff has potential but will need minimum 2 years to stack up or be preferable to commercial

Well when you buy cheap your homemade stuff taste better sooner. [emoji1787]

[Honest_Liberty]

Haha! I find bourbon at ~ $30 USD suits me just fine. Axe and oak is pretty good.

Scotch, I'm just dandy with standard expression glenmorangie 10. Again $30.

I'm interested to pick up some Mellow corn and so a taste test compared to my Booner's within the next few months

[Honest_Liberty]

Stripped the first 10 gallons or so. 2.25 gallons at 40%
Have another 8 to strip.

I will not make any more all grain batches until I upgrade to my 26 gallon still with agitator. The amount of time and effort for such paltry yield has really stolen the fun out of this. Shame that sugar washes don't compare.

I'm over the mess and time that comes along with mop wringing the corn. Also, I would not recommend using a kitchenaid mill. Just run it twice through the corona style roller mill.

Way, way too much effort and time to produce what I anticipate will be maybe 1.5 gallons at 100 proof.

I also suspect my lack of yield came from not keeping the water boiling while adding to the corn. It just didn't get enough heat.
1.043 - .998 for 1.5#/gallon. Had the 24 gallon fermenter topped off but didn't even strain 20 gallons off it to run. More like 18

[Zeotropic]

Stripped the first 10 gallons or so. 2.25 gallons at 40%
Have another 8 to strip.

I will not make any more all grain batches until I upgrade to my 26 gallon still with agitator. The amount of time and effort for such paltry yield has really stolen the fun out of this. Shame that sugar washes don't compare.

I'm over the mess and time that comes along with mop wringing the corn. Also, I would not recommend using a kitchenaid mill. Just run it twice through the corona style roller mill.

Way, way too much effort and time to produce what I anticipate will be maybe 1.5 gallons at 100 proof.

I also suspect my lack of yield came from not keeping the water boiling while adding to the corn. It just didn't get enough heat.
1.043 - .998 for 1.5#/gallon. Had the 24 gallon fermenter topped off but didn't even strain 20 gallons off it to run. More like 18

My best yield yet has been 1 gallon final cut at around 55 to 65% from 40 lb of corn. Personally I enjoy every bit of the process so I don't mind. At least I got something to drink that tastes a heck of a lot better than commercial.
I seem to be fermenting to about 4 to 5% alcohol which is fine with me because it's still cheaper than buying bushmills and I love the process.

[Honest_Liberty]

I need to make a correction, after I just verified volume:

2 gallons, 78 ounces at 35%, from between 10-11 gallons, collected down to 10%.
I'm running the other 8 gallons and I'll have final numbers here in a few short hours.

I made over 15 gallons of shine since November on a 16 gallon still, with a 2" column, with the total gallons at 80 proof right at 25 gallons. This week likely end up with another gallon at 100 proof. I don't know yet until I make my cuts but I anticipate 4 gallons at 35% low wines.

I'm just spent. Too much time and too many days on the still, wrecking the kitchen, etc. To do this Booner's the way I want, I'm going to order a 26 gallon still with agitator and build out my brew room in the basement.

I don't enjoy mop wringing

[Honest_Liberty]

Final numbers from my last batch, first official adhering 100% to Booner's recipe.
4.75 gallons at 35%, from a 24 gallon batch, of which I only pulled 18-19 gallons from after straining with mop wringer. I collected both to 15% in the last quart jar when measured with proofing hydrometer.

[Deplorable]

You ain't far off of what I get from my 25 gallon AG ferments. I get between 4.5 and 5 gallons of LW, between 35 and 40%. Don't matter if it's a bourbon mash or a single malt.
From that, I get about 6 quarts of barrel cuts. And about a gallon of feints for later use.

[Honest_Liberty]

You ain't far off of what I get from my 25 gallon AG ferments. I get between 4.5 and 5 gallons of LW, between 35 and 40%. Don't matter if it's a bourbon mash or a single malt.
From that, I get about 6 quarts of barrel cuts. And about a gallon of feints for later use.

I have to go back and look but I think I used about 1.5#/gallon. Is that about what you use?

[Deplorable]

No. I use 2#/gallon to get between 1.062 and 1.074 for bourbon and single malt.
My run of SCD'S CROW bourbon was 1.074 SG at 2#/gallon.
My single malt mashes varied a little bit, with the lowest being 1.062 and the best being 1.074

[Honest_Liberty]

No. I use 2#/gallon to get between 1.062 and 1.074 for bourbon and single malt.
My run of SCD'S CROW bourbon was 1.074 SG at 2#/gallon.
My single malt mashes varied a little bit, with the lowest being 1.062 and the best being 1.074

Ok, I finally found where I mentioned the total pounds/gallon.
It ended up at 1.75#/gallon. I had 42 lbs/24 gallons total volume with corn
wringed to get two strips of a total of 19 gallons..
4.75 gallons at 35%

[Oldvine Zin]

I'm just spent. Too much time and too many days on the still, wrecking the kitchen, etc. To do this Booner's the way I want, I'm going to order a 26 gallon still with agitator and build out my brew room in the basement.

I don't enjoy mop wringing

Or you could build or buy a thumper

Stay safe
OVZ

[Zeotropic]

I'm just spent. Too much time and too many days on the still, wrecking the kitchen, etc. To do this Booner's the way I want, I'm going to order a 26 gallon still with agitator and build out my brew room in the basement.

I don't enjoy mop wringing

Or you could build or buy a thumper

Stay safe
OVZ

That is my plan.
It should work great for Booners.

[Setsumi]

Stripped the first 10 gallons or so. 2.25 gallons at 40%
Have another 8 to strip.

I will not make any more all grain batches until I upgrade to my 26 gallon still with agitator. The amount of time and effort for such paltry yield has really stolen the fun out of this. Shame that sugar washes don't compare.

I'm over the mess and time that comes along with mop wringing the corn. Also, I would not recommend using a kitchenaid mill. Just run it twice through the corona style roller mill.

Way, way too much effort and time to produce what I anticipate will be maybe 1.5 gallons at 100 proof.

I also suspect my lack of yield came from not keeping the water boiling while adding to the corn. It just didn't get enough heat.
1.043 - .998 for 1.5#/gallon. Had the 24 gallon fermenter topped off but didn't even strain 20 gallons off it to run. More like 18

i use fine foodgrade maize meal. 20kg in 80lt boiling water. i add small portions of meal and water and at firts portions i add 1/2 of the alpha enzyme. i get easy to 1.07-1.075. i filter with geotextile fabric and press. this i do over a Saturday, sort of hands off during other chores. i recover around 68lt of beer. i run on a 5 plate flute. from a 42lt charge i cut 3lt of 60% to my aging tank, that gives 4lt of 40%.

the only worries i have is to keep my fermenters full. but you are correct a larger still does help.

[Honest_Liberty]

I don't have the space for a thumper in my room I'm setting up.

I just took some tasters from this recipe, my first, following to the best of my abilities thus far. nice stuff! Earthy, corny (of course), and clean.
I can't wait to let this rest a few weeks after I make the cuts. But this was right off the still.

Is it normal to have very little heads in this recipe? My sense of smell isn't completely back yet but, from what I can tell, I have detected barely any heads at about jar 4-5. That can't be right, can it?

Also, tasting notes at 68% jar, which was 3 jars after I made my initial cuts, while I let these air out, is right about when I notice anise. The nose is much more in the category of spices, mainly Anise but also some clove, maybe a touch of allspice. Directly off the still it was pretty obvious that was getting into tails, but I've been getting these same few spice notes right about after the output drops below 70%. I'm going to let these air out for a week with a lid loosely on, over paper towels, and just a mm or 2 crack open. I want to see what these turn into and how they might effect the all corn profile. It just seems really strange to me that I keep picking up Anise and clove when I think I'm approaching the tails.

Can anyone remark on this recipe regarding my interpretation of what I've collected?

[Magic]

looking forward to trying out this recipe, just ordered some enzymes thanks for the recipe woodshed will post back results

[Bee]

I didn't have much luck with this recipe until I added some acid to the mash. My water starts out with a pH of about 7.9 according to the water dept and is very hard. to about 12 gal of water, I added about 2 or 3 gal of backset. My pH paper is apparently about worthless, because that didn't look like it took the pH below about 6, so I added lactic acid a teaspoon at a time. That didn't seem to move it, so I ended up adding a few tablespoons. Looked like it might have reduced it to 5, MAYBE. So at that point I added the SEBAmyl GL. Closed it up and let for a 1/2 hr. After the 1/2 I gave it a taste and it was SWEET! Hallelujah! Finally!

BTW, this time I milled the cracked corn in a blender too.

ETA: Not so fast. A proofing hydrometer says I'm only at 4% at 0.998 FG.

[Zeotropic]

I didn't have much luck with this recipe until I added some acid to the mash. My water starts out with a pH of about 7.9 according to the water dept and is very hard. to about 12 gal of water, I added about 2 or 3 gal of backset. My pH paper is apparently about worthless, because that didn't look like it took the pH below about 6, so I added lactic acid a teaspoon at a time. That didn't seem to move it, so I ended up adding a few tablespoons. Looked like it might have reduced it to 5, MAYBE. So at that point I added the SEBAmyl GL. Closed it up and let for a 1/2 hr. After the 1/2 I gave it a taste and it was SWEET! Hallelujah! Finally!

BTW, this time I milled the cracked corn in a blender too.

ETA: Not so fast. A proofing hydrometer says I'm only at 4% at 0.098 FG.

I found that mine required more heat with my equipment it was easiest to heat it more after adding the first enzyme. Its not totally sticking to this recipe but the additional yield was totally worth it and it was still easy by my standards.

[Setsumi]

or wrong tool. use your SG hydrometer and calculate potential alc on a ferment.

[Bee]

It looks like my yield was considerable above 4%. The OG appears to be correct.

[Magic]

tried this recipe for the first time 15 gallons of water on boiler could only get to 200 degrees. need to do smaller batch or get a better burner.
added 25 pounds of cracked corn straight of the bag. temp went to 180 checked ph it was 5.8 put the sebstar in and stirred . when temp got around 150 checked ph it was about the same added some lemon juice to get ph to 4.8 then add the sebamyl let it sit until temp was 95 about 9 hrs checked og it was only 1.025 very disappointed but re hydrated yeast and pitch anyway . thought about adding sugar but really wanted all grain i know i want get much but it was a learning experience. i will do multiple smaller batches next time to get water temp up to 212. and hopefully better results

[Setsumi]

tried this recipe for the first time 15 gallons of water on boiler could only get to 200 degrees. need to do smaller batch or get a better burner.
added 25 pounds of cracked corn straight of the bag. temp went to 180 checked ph it was 5.8 put the sebstar in and stirred . when temp got around 150 checked ph it was about the same added some lemon juice to get ph to 4.8 then add the sebamyl let it sit until temp was 95 about 9 hrs checked og it was only 1.025 very disappointed but re hydrated yeast and pitch anyway . thought about adding sugar but really wanted all grain i know i want get much but it was a learning experience. i will do multiple smaller batches next time to get water temp up to 212. and hopefully better results

try to grind the cracked corn to a meal, it will help with gelatinizing and conversion. yes you need boiling water to offset the temp drop when adding the corn.

[METALHEAD81]

I tried this yesterday to the letter and got 1.031 SG. I pitched some DADY yeast and it’s happily bubbling. Well see what the final yield looks like.
Going to do it again today and grind the corn to meal in a blender first and see how much of a difference it makes. If that doesn’t give better results I’ll grind and boil to see what happens.

[Sporacle]

I did a version as an experiment
5kg of feed grade cracked corn, that was soaked in 5L of hot backset straight from the still. Placed in a food grade tub and let cool to room temp, then added another 4L of water and sealed and set aside for 48hrs (mix started bubbling, CO2 im assuming) into to pot with 9L of water, so 5kg corn to 15L water in total, bought to a boil and held at a rapid simmer for 45min, off heat and added alpha- am at 195, stirred every 15 for an hour. Placed in a cooler and took temp down to 148 and added glucoamylase stirred a couple of times and left sealed overnight.
Strained through a drum sieve, squeezed bag and a bit of a sparge (weird system but it works for me) made up to 20L in total with additional water and ended up at 1045
Pretty happy, I think the Alpha may have been close to gone as my first conversion check was a bit iffy.
Anyhow pretty pleased with with my first attempt let's see how it ferments

[METALHEAD81]

So after reading this thread a I tried the original recipe exactly as it is written and I ended up with about 800ml of product at 42 abv.

I did a second batch with the exact same recipe but I ran the corn through a blender first and there was a significant difference in the mash as well as the finished product.
Ended up with double the yield, about 1600ml at 50 abv on 1 slow run from my pot still. Tastes of both is nice but the unblended batch more flavor.

Looking forward to tasting this after it’s sat in oak for a while.

[Sporacle]

[/quote]Looking forward to tasting this after it’s sat in oak for a while.
[/quote]
I just stripped mine the other day and must have timed the shot glass at the exact sweet spot, man it was nice, a lot of work but I think it will be worth it

[Setsumi]

So after reading this thread a I tried the original recipe exactly as it is written and I ended up with about 800ml of product at 42 abv.

I did a second batch with the exact same recipe but I ran the corn through a blender first and there was a significant difference in the mash as well as the finished product.
Ended up with double the yield, about 1600ml at 50 abv on 1 slow run from my pot still. Tastes of both is nice but the unblended batch more flavor.

Looking forward to tasting this after it’s sat in oak for a while.

yes, finer grind helps with gelatinizing and conversion. you state volume collected but not mash volume, the origanal state lb per galon... so it would help if you state mash volume to see if your final volumes are on par or off.

[METALHEAD81]

So after reading this thread a I tried the original recipe exactly as it is written and I ended up with about 800ml of product at 42 abv.

I did a second batch with the exact same recipe but I ran the corn through a blender first and there was a significant difference in the mash as well as the finished product.
Ended up with double the yield, about 1600ml at 50 abv on 1 slow run from my pot still. Tastes of both is nice but the unblended batch more flavor.

Looking forward to tasting this after it’s sat in oak for a while.

yes, finer grind helps with gelatinizing and conversion. you state volume collected but not mash volume, the origanal state lb per galon... so it would help if you state mash volume to see if your final volumes are on par or off.

Good point, to clarify…
9lbs Cracked corn from the bag to 5 gallons yielded 800ml of 42%
9lbs blended corn to 5 gallons yielded 1600ml @ 50%.

I’ll also add that I used Nutrena county feeds cracked corn from my local Agway for this. I tried looking up this particular brand and did not find much on it so it’s worth having it here to refer to as well.

[Deplorable]

I have 25 gallons at 2#/gallon fermenting. My OG was 1.064. Not too bad for a first attempt at 100% corn.
The smell of the hot corn while it was gelling was very inviting. Like fresh buttered corn on the cob.
It made me want to add some crystal malt, looking for kettle corn flavor in the finished product.

[SV-Distiller]

Stripped 26 liters "flitered" beer today and got 5.8 liters of 40% ABV. I used my ASS press to get the last bit out of the grains using 5 gallon paint strainers to "filter" the beer. I let the beer settle overnight and racked it into the still today in two spirit runs since I only have a 6 gallon still. Glad I left head room because the scum line was high up.

Going to do a spirit run tomorrow for corn/oat vodka. My wife is about out of vodka and I want to see about this compares to TFFV and the All Bran vodkas I have done already. I have a secret stash of each to compare too.

Local shop was out of SEBStar so I used FERM Fast alpha and GL so I was worried if I got as good of conversion but it looks like it worked. I let it ferment for 2 weeks because it was not down to 1.000 and it was still bubbling away. Plus I other things to do last weekend. The first night, it about about blew the lid off the fermenter buckets.

I started off with 16 lbs of TSC cracked corn and 4 lbs of quick oats to 10 gallons of water.

I think I may try corn flour next time. I can get it for a good bulk price from the local "international" market.

I wish I had an "on grain" stripping still.....hmmm



'

[The Baker]

I think I may try corn flour next time.

Commercial "cornflour" is usually made from WHEAT.

Geoff