UJSM question -- all my corn is floating?

[carl1078lewis]

Hi all,

Been a while since my last post. A move across the country, change in careers, and changes to almost everything else in life will do that to you. Now in the deep south in real bourbon territory, so now my whiskey will be more legitimate maybe. I had made a few gallons of whiskey using the gerber recipe before the move, kept one gallon of it aging on oak. Got maybe one shot of that left and I'm too poor to buy booze now (and living in a dry county), so it's time to fire up the still again. That's been aging for 6 months and is almost as tasty as my favorite bourbon (Woodford Reserve).

Anyway, this time I got space and access to cracked corn (stealing food from my chicken flock), so I'm starting my 1st mash using the UJSM recipe, rather than the old gerber action. I put the recipe together yesterday evening and it's definately active and working, but my one question is that all the corn seems to be floating on top. My understanding was that the UJSM technique involved removing 'spent' corn, which usually comes after one or more generations of sour mash on the same corn, but this is my 1st ('sweet') mash. This is corn of unknown age and type (found it in the garage, was told that it was from last year's corn harvest). I picked through it good and ground it by hand (have a grain mill now, too, yay!). Any thoughts on why this is floating? Is that ok or is my corn jacked up or something? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to planting barley soon and trying my hand at malting it this fall for making beer and whiskey. Maybe a pure corn whiskey is in my future if my corn crop does well. Got about 20 different hops plants growing well, also (for the beer). 1st time growing any of this stuff, though, so no promises, only lots of hope. Hope to keep you all up to date on my escapades. Stay well and safe everyone, again thanks for any help.

[airhill]

Just a guess but the moisture content of the corn could be very low (old) and the high sg with the sugar is just keeping it up. If its fermenting I wouldn't worry

[Ayay]

See what the corn is doing after a day or two. Washing the corn first is a good idea, that will float off many of the bugs and cob, and wet the good corn at the same time.

I used to skim off the floaties after adding the new sugar in the next generation. The sugar will make the liquid more dense and the floaties will be more floaty.

It's not all by the numbers. Just replace roughly what you took out and keep going.

[goinbroke2]

Something to think about too, be VERY careful when malting your own barley. I can't remember the exact name but some real nasty shit can be grown on it without you knowing. Somebody else will chime in no doubt as I've got a good memory just that's it's short.

Bottom line, read up on malting barely. Definately a health warning.

[rad14701]

Here is what you are referring to, goinbroke2... LSD...

[carl1078lewis]

Ergot, I'll avoid that for sure.

The corn has stopped floating, I'm about 5 days into my ferment and the bubbling has slowed, I'll probably rack my mash tomorrow. Most of the corn has sunk to the bottom as you all have said it probably would. A bit is still on top, which I'll probably just ignore for now and remove in a couple more generations. Hopefully I can distill this sometime this week before the wash gets old (even though it'll be racked). My still is in pieces from the move still and I need to get a couple parts to re-assemble it. Town is a ways away and all my cars are broke down, so it probably won't be for a few days unless I luck out. Anyway-- the corn has stopped floating, I guess that's the important thing to report back on. Thanks again for the feedback and the input on my malting plans everyone.

[blanikdog]

Forming a cap which is quite normal. Push it down and when the ferment is finished it will sink - as you have discovered.