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Howdy ya'll

I have been to a local mill shop yesterday, they had a nice cracked corn but the old dude refused to sell it because it wasn't food grade. I appreciated his honesty. It's hard to find the good stuff this time of the year, he said he was not sure if there were preservatives or not, so I guess YES.

What about using corn meal? I've seen some youtube videos but I'm not convinced. You can't separate the backset with corn meal.

Thanks

PS: I live in a 18th century mill house, there are 2 big stone mills left, one is complete. I'm planning to restore the water wheel in the future so I can crack cereals by myself

I sifting my cracked corn once and cooked up a mash with the meal . It turned to cement and I couldn't strain it.
Guess I didn't do something right.

Too hot, too much cornmeal, missing amylase. You mit have made some nice Polenta though

You know the cracked corn used by most is from the feed store. It is not "food grade" as it is for animal feed. Nothing wrong with that. You are not eating it, you are fermenting it.

Think about how you get impurities out of water to make bad water drinkable..... you distill it. Same deal with your ferment.

that's totally right

but there might be some chemicals that can run with vapours: think about crude oil and gasoline

attilhacks wrote:that's totally right

but there might be some chemicals that can run with vapours: think about crude oil and gasoline

Most commercially produced feed grain will have a tag on the bag with an ingredients list. One of the biggest issues seems to be the presence of propionic acid in some feed grains which can inhibit the yeast. It has been demonstrated here on the forum that the propionic acid can be pretty well removed with a couple of good clear water rinses.

I don't think feed producers would be putting petroleum products in feed grains. It wouldn't be too good for business to be killing their customer's animals.

S-C

S-Cackalacky wrote: I don't think feed producers would be putting petroleum products in feed grains. It wouldn't be too good for business to be killing their customer's animals.

S-C

Haha very true. I also use the standard feed grade cracked corn from the feed supply place. Mill it to a meal and it ferments well with great flavour, so I guess they don't have the problem chemicals in there.

The propionic acid problem usually occurs with feed grains coming from big commercial distributors like "Producer's Pride" at Tractor Supply. I'm sure they must be putting it in there so they can warehouse it for extended times. If you go somewhere like a Southern States, or a mom and pop that bags their own from bulk suppliers, you probably won't have the problem with chemical preservatives. I've been using TSC's All Grain (SF) and it has propionic acid listed as an ingredient. I was just assuming that the propionic acid was part of the feed grade molasses they were using in the mix - not so sure about that now, even though I've never really had a problem with a ferment slowing down.

S-C

Just ask the guy at the counter if he wants to sell cracked corn or not...!!! It's none of anyone's business what you do with it once the money is in the register...

Did you go in there telling them you were gona make shine with it?

Thanks for all the hints.

Shine is not a big issue here, but I just had a chat with the dude that sells corn to that mill, he told me they cut it with some bad corn to keep the price low.

Next september I'll be covered in corn. Just got some organic stuff at the shop to run my first mash. I'll see if it works...

I seriously doubt feed corn has gasoline or diesel fuel poured into it before sale. They want livestock to eat their product and be healthy. I think what makes it "not for human consumption" is that it is not processed in an FDA approved kitchen. Like I said before, you distill it clean anyway.

I doubt as well, it was just an example to say that not all the "crap" stays out of vapours

PS: apologies for my English.