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So I got 50lbs of cracked corn from Tractor Supply Co, and my mash hasn't been working very well since then. I've read some stuff about air dried vs gas dried corn, and was under the impression that gas dried corn was no good for mash. I also read about preservatives, and called a Tractor Supply Co in Nebraska (who better to ask about corn, right?), and they told me there were no preservatives in the corn. So I'm wondering if this corn is no good for mash. Anyone else have any experience/wise words as far a what kind of corn to use? I don't want to start using corn meal, as it's expensive, but so far that's what I've had the best results with. Thanks in advance. _jeff

It may just be a bad batch of corn... Even over-drying shouldn't effect the amount of starch in the corn... It might make it harder to convert that starch to sugar, however... Central Tractor probably bids out it's corn needs so it would come from different farms and from different seed strains from delivery to delivery... Only the bag remains the same...

what was your mashing method?

I dissolved 2.5lbs of sugar into 1 gallon of water, added another 1.5 gallon of cold water, added 2.5 lbs of corn, and 3/4 oz yeast. I've tried basically the same amount of ingredients with numerous methods, ie grinding the corn in the blender, not dissolving the sugar, dissolving the sugar, etc.

I also re-sanitized my bucket, but it didn't help. I don't know what the deal is.

elvis christ wrote:I dissolved 2.5lbs of sugar into 1 gallon of water, added another 1.5 gallon of cold water, added 2.5 lbs of corn, and 3/4 oz yeast. I've tried basically the same amount of ingredients with numerous methods, ie grinding the corn in the blender, not dissolving the sugar, dissolving the sugar, etc.

I also re-sanitized my bucket, but it didn't help. I don't know what the deal is.

Now try reading parent site and see how to do a proper mash.(preparing wash section)You dont have any way to convert your corn .your water to grain mix and sugar is off.

Yup without an enzyme source your getting zip zero zilch starch corn starch conversion into fermentable sugars.

I was trying to base it off of Uncle Jessee's sour mash, I'm only off on my water measurements.

Okay, I'm looking at the calculator, and I'm a little bit confused with the wording. I've got it saying "5lbs of sugar made up to 2gal total volume should have a SG of 1.114 and only require 1.63gal of water and produce of mash of 17.6% alc."

Is that 2gal total volume taking into account how much water will be displaced by adding 5 lbs of sugar to the 1.63gal of water?

elvis christ wrote:Okay, I'm looking at the calculator, and I'm a little bit confused with the wording. I've got it saying "5lbs of sugar made up to 2gal total volume should have a SG of 1.114 and only require 1.63gal of water and produce of mash of 17.6% alc."

Is that 2gal total volume taking into account how much water will be displaced by adding 5 lbs of sugar to the 1.63gal of water?

That formula speaks for itself... 1.63 gallons of water plus 5 pounds of sugar will result in a "total volume" of 2 gallons, more or less... That calculation has nothing to do with corn which only contains starch which needs to be converted into sugar using enzymes... As tater stated, some research into the theory of the entire mashing and distillation process is in order... Grain mashes are a whole different animal than sugar washes...

The question is, why are you trying to attain a 17.6%+ ABV wash/mash...??? You really need to decide what it is you want to make... For a sugar wash you want to stay at or below 14%... For a grain mash you want to stay, roughly, below 10%...

Thanks, I guess I'm a little bit confused.

I was under the impression that a corn whiskey was based on a sugar wash, so I wanted to find a decent sugar wash, and supplement it with corn, for the starch.

I believe the confusion is that the calculator is for total wash not added water.

elvis christ wrote:I was under the impression that a corn whiskey was based on a sugar wash, so I wanted to find a decent sugar wash, and supplement it with corn, for the starch.

The corn would be added for flavor in a sugar wash as the starch is of no use unless converted to sugar...

Yea sounds like you're makin UJSM to me.

alil more readin may suit ya

Buy a hydrometer so you can calculate your specific gravity. I think that will solve most of your problems.

I'm using a 50# bag of cracked corn from TSC in Nebraska as well. With enzymes, I have no problems at all with it fermenting. Seems like a clean bag....only found a couple short lengths of straw.

Kronk

the gas drying vs. air dryed has more to do with malting, when they gas dry some try to hurry the proses, and over heat the grain.
deactavating enzymes/stopping any groth.

If trying to malt corn, you want un-treated seed corn. It will be air-dried, rather than gas dried. (In most cases)
If you buy whole feed corn, it may or may not sprout.
To get starch conversion, the corn needs to be cooked at 180*F for at least 1 hour, cooled to 155* and malt or enzymes pitched in.

Out of what I've bought/used, Rural King /Cargill is a bit cleaner than the "Producers Pride" brand they sell at Tractor Supply. The cleanest I've used is food grade (ie., from Honeywell) but it costs exponentially more. It will malt/sprout just fine. Can't say I really noticed any difference in yield, etc., with any of them...other than the damn corn bugs eaten the bottom 1/4 of the bag.

Re: Cracked corn from Tractor Supply Co.
by Usge » Fri Dec 18, 2009 2:15 pm

Can't say I really noticed any difference in yield, etc., with any of them...other than the damn corn bugs eaten the bottom 1/4 of the bag.

If you put the corn in a sealed container and put a lit candle in the center and close the lid, would the removal of the oxygen kill off the "grain bugs"??

WalkingWolf

you can kill the bugs but,, more hatch. (proteen yummm)

So I guess, 'whatcha sayin is ya gotta use it up fasta dan da bugs can eat it' I guess if I'm going to buy 50 lbs I should have ambitious intentions (or have a neighbor with a horse)

WalkingWolf

Usge where do you store your corn? I have had a 50 pound sack in a closset in the house for a couple of months and the temp is about 73 and so far have not had any bugs in it. I did have some in the garage once and they got it prety quick.

If you want to kill any bugs in your stored grain you could store it in a bucket, and run a hose from your fermentor into the bucket.

What I like to do is put my grain in a corney keg and charge the grain with co2 from my beer setup.

Well, after opening the bag, I store the whole bag (rolled up and clamped) inside a plastic storage container. It's not air tight or anything. It's inside..not outside. The bugs hatch inside the bag, and they are usually towards the bottom ...ie, you won't notice them till your bag gets about 1/4 left. Then you'll start seeing them. So, the next 50lb sack...as soon as I opened it...I sifted it all...no bugs, into separate ziploc bags. (about 6 lbs each). A little while later, ....started seeing a few bugs in the bottom of some of the bags, etc.

Dnders right...you can sift out or kill the bugs...but the eggs hatch later and you'll have just as many if not more. I think the key is to use it up before they really have a chance to get bad. As I said before, they usually stay mostly in towards the bottom of the bag, but if they get bad enough, they'll crawl out and get into other things. Storing them in separate ziplock bags tends to help some. At least they can't get out. The lack of O2 once the bag is sealed..slows them down a bit. And if you get one bag with a really bad infestation, the other bags are still good.

Mostly, I just grind them up with the meal, and pour boiling water over it. They'll float up after it mashes, and I just scoop them off. Still a few in there, but they get caught when I filter/screen the fermented mash before I run it.

if you live where is is cold put grain in a container out side

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/0 ... r_food.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

what doesnt kill you might get you lifted

WalkingWolf wrote:So I guess, 'whatcha sayin is ya gotta use it up fasta dan da bugs can eat it' I guess if I'm going to buy 50 lbs I should have ambitious intentions (or have a neighbor with a horse)

WalkingWolf

Exactly.

I just leave the buggers in the wash and use use them as nutrients for the yeast. Noboby can tell me that a few bugs or rat hairs - as the folk here have shown http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow ... r_food.htm - will do me any harm. As they said, "To avoid all unsavory food components, it seems, would be to stop eating all together." I assume the same applies to drinking.

I once found a drowned rat in some shine I was aging. I panicked and tossed the lot. All I had to do was to re-distill it. We live and learn.

blanik

Popcorn Sutton had a funny story in his book about "Possum Brandy". He said he and another un-named fellow had put up a couple of barrels and went back to run them. When they uncovered the barrels...the other guys barrel had a dead possum floating in it that had started to come apart. Popcorn said..he was "swole up fit to bust". So, Popcorn asked him if he was going to kick it over and he said..no..I'm gonna run it anyway. So, Popcorn said he went first and got 2 gallons of likker when all was said and done. The guy went second..got 2.5 gallons! He said..I guess that possum was worth a half gallon. Popcorn asked him what he was gonna call it, and he said..Possum Brandy". He finished by saying..on the way back, they usually sample each others likker....but not this time