Corn AG Turned Out BADDDD!

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Rusty Ole Bucket, it sounds like you have a very nice set-up. We'll have to discuss squeezing the mash sometime.

Thanks! I love to tinker and invent things, although, the mixer isn't my idea, I found it on here. My take on it is a little different I'm sure because of materials I have access too.

I just hand drained 60 lbs of ground oat groats and barley last weekend, a squeezer is the next thing to automate.

I get 2 bags from webrestaurantstore to my house for $36 shipping. In February I paid a total of $72.46 for 100 pounds of corn (including the shipping to my doorstep). Made the best product I have made to date and I'm done with feed store corn. Checked price again today as I wrote this and seems to be the same.

AZ STD looks to be a bit more expensive even with that $9 shipping. About $90 for 100 pounds. And I disagree regarding convenience of the shipping. I live in a well populated area (New York City region) but there seem to be no drop zones within 2 hours of my house. Would like to try it to see if their organic product is even nicer than the Agricor from WRS but the delivery issue is just a deal breaker.

I'm kinda with you on the Webstaurant Store being not much more expensive, if any, than Azure Standard. I'm definitely with you on the no more feed corn. Even though this one has been salvaged, I can see the advantage to better ingredients if they're accessible.

I've gotten quite a few things from WS now and their customer service and shipping rock. It's by far the easiest (and cheapest) way for me to get food grade molasses. The oats and raisins I got from Azure Standard were obviously top quality, but the delivery was a headache. I had my drop set up close to my work which isn't close to my house. Long story short the driver arrived a day early and I had to chase my stuff around town to figure out where it was. I found my stuff and it wasn't that big of a deal, but WS drop ships beside my truck at work....

Honestly, I'll probably use both. I want to build on this all corn thing with some wheated whiskey. I'll probably go to WS for the corn and AZ for the wheat (MoreBeer for some malted barley). Gotta share the wealth. I never say never, but unless there's extenuating circumstances I'm done with feed corn.


Rusty

[Rusty Ole Bucket]

He's doing a large batch mash (dumping hot water into dry grain). The only stirring he has to do is just enough to break it up.
I keep stirring to a minimum to preserve heat.

Rusty Ole Bucket, it sounds like you have a very nice set-up. We'll have to discuss squeezing the mash sometime.

Hi Bee. Photos are working again so thought I'd show you my mixer. It's sitting on a 14 gallon fermenter, inside my ferment cabinet. You are correct, I am mixing the hot water and grain. This is my basic procedure and happily open to critique if I'm doing any part wrong. After some advice from one of the guys here I started poring my grain meal into the water instead of the water into the grain. It definitely makes mixing easier. This is the only thing I changed in the mashing process from corn run #1 to corn run #2. I use a large paint mixer and get the water moving then slowly pour in the grain. I have also been adding a little powdered amylase at this point to help get things thinned out, it denatures quickly but it gets you to the next enzyme drop without ending up with breakfast instead of mash.

I drop the mixer on and get everything moving good, use a big funnel in the hole in the lid to add in malt, or enzymes when the temp is right. There's a plug for the ingredient port when it's not in use to preserve the heat. I also insulate the fermenters and the lid is a double layer of Corian solid surface, the lower piece fits tight in the top of the fermenter, so it holds in the heat as long as I need it to. I had been letting my ferments cool over night but I just picked up an immersion chiller to speed the process up and to hopefully avoid any nasties growing in my stuff.

Rusty

[shadylane]

Nice mixer, if the speed controller ever takes a shit here's a manual way to getter done.

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[Rusty Ole Bucket]

Nice mixer, if the speed controller ever takes a shit here's a manual way to getter done.

HA! That's great, I love the built in ability to adjust speed.

I've decided over the weekend I'm going to do another set of corn runs hopefully late summer. I drank most of the stuff I had on pecan, it was my personal favorite. I still think I might go for something that's a corn wheat mix and experiment with wood more on the final product. I'm really surprised at how different it was after such a short time on wood.

Rusty

[Pure Old Possum Piss]

Nice mixer, if the speed controller ever takes a shit here's a manual way to getter done.

DSCF0039.JPG

You're a genius, Shady!