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I have been buying cracked corn from the feed store for my corn whiskey. On my last trip there I saw a bag of flaked corn. Has anyone ever used this? I am thinking that I might get higher conversion rates and mashing should go quicker due to the fact that I won't have to soak the corn as long to get good gelatinization. I am concerned that I will have a problem sparging, might be kinda gummy and clog my screen? All coments are appreciated.

Mole

I found flaked grain is not much difference than cracked, just takes less cooking.

Dnderhead wrote:I found flaked grain is not much difference than cracked, just takes less cooking.

How much less cooking?

Should be near cooked already right?

Interested in the answer.

Yes but they steam to soften so they can roil and not crush. so it varies between manufactures, as little as 15 minutes. some like
they use for beer is supposed to be cooked all the way but I never tried it. it sort of like the difference between instant oat meal
oats and old fashioned

and how about sparging? Is it a pain? Maybe better before, or after ferment? I have never used flaked anything so I am not sure what to expect.

Mole

as I said just about the same, It just has been cooked or partly cooked then "roiled" while still whet. everything is otherwise the same.
they are working on a proses that cooks and roils at the same time with hot steamrollers.it is just easier for stock to digest ,less waste.
If you git the fully cooked version all you need is hot water.Probably either whould work good in UJSM type of mash but I d not know for I do not make "sugar head"

Thanks all. I will buy the bag of flaked when the new bag of corn is gone....will post my results when appropriate.

Mole

IdahoMole, I will be close to the Twin Falls bridge the first part of july. Are you anywhere
close to there?

I've had very poor yield when I have used flaked corn. I was told that it depends on how it is dried... I don't know what the difference could be, but I did see much better yield from plain cracked over feedstore flaked... I'd like to get some brewers flaked corn and see if there is a difference.

I always let my mash settle and its never a problem getting the liquid off the grain. sparging is for suckers....

JD. The yeild I am getting is my concern and that is why I was thinkin flaked might be better. With 10lbs of cracked corn and 2lbs of 6-row (for the enzymes) I am only getting a 4% wash for 5 gallons. I am a noob at this mashing thing so my methods may be flawed but I think I should be doing better than that.

Mole

yeah, you could probably do a little better than 4%. I advise patience and practice... It took me forever to do better. It comes in small increments. You learn how to manage the temps of mashing... you learn how long it takes to cook corn... you pick up a thousand other little things that only register if you actually do it, and also study it. All grain is not easy for a long time... after a lot of practice tho... its like riding a bike.

If you are starting out with all grain then use plenty of malt. Malt is pretty easy to convert to fermentable sugar and it tastes good and will go a long way to making it feel like you are actually getting something back for all the time and money you put into a mash.

I can get a 6-8% mash most everytime.., While this feels like a small yield, after you spend a few months to make enough to fill a 2 gallon barrel... and you get to taste what comes out of that barrel... its all worth it.

Dangit! It's April...time for those pesky corn bugs to come out. Ruined 20lbs of corn I had left in my Cargill bag (FULL of the little critters).
I was gonna try flaked corn but it's far more expensive than what I've been gettin'—probably not that bad at a feed store, but I'm buying mailorder.

I think I'm gonna switch to grits and malt. It's more $ in the long run than the cracked corn, but a dang site easier to find and less trouble with having dormant bugs, etc., waiting to chew up my stash

I'm thankin' about doing a white corn grits thin mash: Cook 4lbs grits good in 4 gals water, mash with 1 (lb) barley, sparge that off into the fermenter. (should net about 10L or so). Then add enough water/sugar (1 lb per gallon) to fill up 5 gals.

What do you think Dnder?

Some day I'M going to try those vacuum bags that they store blankets etc in.

thats a good idea... I've lost about as much grain to bugs as I have distilled...

To kill the bugs then run a line from the fermenter straight into the bag of corn. The co2 should take care of them.

Does anyone know where to get some flaked corn in australia? I rang up a few feed stores today and they didn't even know what it was. Cheers

Rolled? there is different grades as -cold rolled, steam rolled, and flaked, in that order, cold rolled (not cooked) steam rolled --cooked some
(cooking varies depending on brand etc) flaked (fully cooked ) used in beer and becoming popular for animal feed.

Thanks Dnderhead but none of the stores had any of those. All they had was cracked and whole corn. Does anyone know any stores in Sydney that sell it?

Here's an interesting product i've just found from another post thats available in WA. There might be something similar on the east coast

http://www.wesfeeds.com.au/products/microsweet.asp

Im thinking the barley might be good for scotch as well

Aces High wrote:Here's an interesting product i've just found from another post thats available in WA. There might be something similar on the east coasthttp://www.wesfeeds.com.au/products/microsweet.aspIm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow thinking the barley might be good for scotch as well

Good Stuff "Aces High". I think this was the post you were referring to?
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=7225

It looks like great stuff. Has anyone used something like this for all grain mashing? I think I might have to give it a go.

Yes thats the post. I found that City Farmers outlets sell it and purchase it wholesale from wesfeeds (im pretty sure you have city farmers over east). They are probably not the cheapest, but at least you can get some to get you started.

I'm in Central Victoria and get steam rolled oats from the local stock food place. It's from a mob called Fremantle Stockfoods, but it isn't in WA.

blanik

Yeah I know Blanikdog.. i found Fremanlte stock foods on the web...everything i need and only 15 minutes drive from me to fremantle.. thought all my brewing christmas' had come at once... then i realised they're in VIC, not WA...

I use the flaked corn (MAIZE) and it works great.

Well I finally got around to buy the "flaked" corn from the feed store. I opened the bag and its not flaked, its rolled!!!!! I went back thinking I grabbed the wrong bag. Sign on shelf says flaked, tag on bag says rolled. Oh well, since I made the steam masher it isn't much of an issue so when this bag is gone I am going back to cracked.

Usge how did your grits wash come out? Sounds like somthing I would like to try

Ain't tried it yet Pump. I got a small 10lb bag of grits to try it out, but got sidetracked with other things. I found another 50lb bag of corn (no bugs and started a 30 gal barrel working with UJSM. That's kept me pretty busy . But, I still plan on playing around with it. As well, I want to try using a few lbs of grits in the DWWG recipe.

I'm working up to an UJSM after I get some more runs under my and I get my new still built. Already have a 30gal barrel. If you happen to try that soon set me know how it comes out.

Will do. UJSM probably bout as easy as it gets. Can't hardly go wrong. And even when you do, it's usually salvageable/fixable.

Hey all, stopped by to see what you have done to the place, looks good. Sorry I am not around much, life gets busy. I developed a flaked corn recipe awile back and it is the most used out of my book, even more then pugirum. The problem I was having was getting the starch to release with Ians method. After refinements this is what I come up with. Works great and I love it.

8.5 gallon of water
4.25 gallon of backset
20 lbs flaked corn ground to a meal
5 lbs malted 2 row ground to a flour

This is the absolute maximum I can fit in my keggle brewpot!!! Heat up backset and water to a BOIL, add flaked corn meal and stir. I use a paint stirrer on a drill. It sets up thick! stir every now and then and let cool to 147*, about 4 hours. Add flour 2 row mixing thouroughly. Let set overnight, strain and ferment. I usually get about 10.5 gallons after straining around 1.060. I will strip out several of these then combine for a final run on my potstill. Like I said, this is my favorite recipe to date.....Pugi