Home Distiller

NOTES - CORNBREAD AND BUTTERMILK WHISKEY

July 5, 2015 -

At this point, just an idea.

Make cornbread cakes from coarse milled cracked corn – water and cornmeal mixed to a cornbread batter consistency and baked in the oven to a dark golden brown. I'll bake at around 315 dF for the Maillard reaction (284 to 329 dF).

The cakes will be equivalent to 2.5 – 3 lbs per gallon of water. That would be about 10 to 12 lbs of milled grain per 4 gallons of water. That's not to say that I will use 4 gallons of water for the batter mix, but what the grain to water ratio will be for the mashing process.

Crumble and mash the cornbread using the steep (no cook) method with the SEB enzymes for conversion. Use much the same protocol as used for the AG SF recipe.

For fermentation – add 1 pint of cultured buttermilk to the ferment. Question – add the buttermilk before or after fermentation is complete? A little research would seem to indicate that the buttermilk should go in with the yeast. I think I'll put it in just before aerating so it gets well mixed before pitching the yeast.

Distillation – For a test run (4 gallons), I think I'll run it with the thumper attached and do a slow single run. This is because there won't be enough low wines for a spirit run. Depending on the quality, I'll do a followup with a 16 gallon batch with stripping runs through the boiler and a spirit run with the thumper attached.

Aging – Same as for the AG SF recipe, but with one used stick.


July 15, 2015 -

This is for the cornbread batter - I'm using 12 lbs coarsely milled corn in a 5 gallon HDPE bucket. I brought 3 gallons of PH adjusted water to a boil. Calcium carbonate was used (approximately 2 Tbsp) to adjust the water to a PH of approximately 8.0 to 9.0. The purpose of the high PH is to give it a high alkaline environment for the Maillard reaction. I'll probably need to adjust it back down to 6.0, or so, for the enzyme conversion. I don't know what effect the corn will have on the PH.

I measured out the boiling water – adding 1 pint at a time into the grain. It took about 12 pints to get the consistency I was looking for – a heavy batter (porridge). So, that works out to 1 pint of water to 1 lb of grain. This may, or may not, be the desired amount. I'm sure the grain will absorb some of the water and may leave it a little too thick – we'll see.

I set the bucket on a milk crate with a folded towel under the bucket. I sealed it with a lid and wrapped the whole thing with a heavy towel. I plan to let it sit for about an hour before proceeding to the next step. I should have taken a temp before sealing it, but didn't. I imagine the water got cooled down considerably by the room temp grains.

After an hour+, I spooned it into 3 flat baking pans lightly sprayed with non-stick vegetable oil spray. I think the pans are something like 12” X 16”. I put it in a 315 dF preheated oven. I set the timer for 2 hours and will add more time if needed. The consistency of the batter was what I was looking for, so I'm happy with the mix of 1 pint water to 1 lb corn. I used the 315 dF temp because it seemed it would promote some cooking and it is a few degrees below the maximum for the Maillard reaction. An optimum temp might be something requiring further experimentation.

I checked it after 2 hours and it is browning up nicely, but not where I want it. I set the timer for another hour. I imagine the heat is cooking the corn to the point that I should get a good conversion with this. I still plan to use the same mashing protocol I used for uncooked grains.

I removed it from the oven after 3 hours. I had 2 pans on the top rack and 1 pan on the bottom rack. The two on the top rack had a nice dark golden brown on the top surface. The 1 on the bottom rack was less brown on top, but appears that the bottom may be a bit browner. This is the first time trying this, so I'm sure there will be some need to tweak the process. Its all in the basement cooling at the moment. I should get a better assessment when I break it into pieces. Smells damned good.

It may be a few days before I get the time to mash this. I think I might use a 6 gallon fermenter with 5 gallons of water for the steeping and conversion. I may even go with 2 five gallon buckets and 6 gallons of water – haven't decided yet.

I had the 3 pans in the basement cooling. I went down and crumbled them into containers. The stuff is a little moist (not wet) and sticky. Seems that the oven cooking may have completely jelatinized the grain. I'm now a little concerned that it may not keep for very long. I think I need to try to mash it
sooner than I first thought.

July 16, 2015 -

I decided to go ahead and do the mashing today because I was concerned that the grains may spoil if left for more than a day or two. Decided to split it between two 5 gallon buckets. The grains have swollen considerably – about 2 times their original volume. What was originally 6 lbs of grain fills a bucket near half full. I've done the first stage on one bucket. I put 3 gallons of water in my 5 gallon still boiler and adjusted the PH to around 5.0 to 6.0. After coming to a boil, I put the water in with the grains and further adjusted the PH. The temp was around 170 dF. I put in 4 mL of SEBstar HTL and stirred well. I placed a folded towel under the bucket, sealed with a lid, and wrapped the bucket with another towel. The bucket is also sitting on a milk crate to keep it off the concrete floor. The second 3 gallons of water is heating up.

The lbs of grain to gallon of water ratio is about 2/1. After fermenting and squeezing the grains, I should have about 5+ gallons of wash to distill. This should work well for a single run charge in the boiler and thumper.

I hope to get both buckets to the point of adding the SEBamyl GL before having to leave for a doctor appointment in the early afternoon. I feel a little pushed for time. Well, that didn't happen. The temp was still too high, so I wrapped both buckets with extra towels and went on to the doctor appointment.

Well, back home and after sitting for about 3 hours, the temp of the first bucket was around 148 dF and the other about 152. I checked the PH and no adjustment needed. I added 4 mL of SEBamyl GL stirred well and wrapped with a towel. They will sit overnight and I will check for conversion and get it ready for the ferment first thing in the morning.

July 17, 2015 -

OK, that was pretty much a bust. Went down to the basement to check on the mash. The OG's were – bucket 1, 1.028 and bucket 2, 1.029. I did an iodine test and both buckets were dark purple. I'm a little stumped as to the lack of conversion. I think the grain was altready mostly cooked from the 3 hours in the oven. It was also steeped using the same protocol I've used with raw grains. Other than raising the PH to a highly alkaline state for the Maillard reaction, the PH adjustments I did seemed to bring it to the correct levels for the 2 enzymes. The only conclusion I can come to at this point is that maybe my enzymes have lost their potency. I'll do a test with maybe a gallon or so of mash to confirm this.

As far as this wash goes, I think my only alternative at this point is to turn it into a sugarhead. I don't really have a viable way to heat it up to try it again. I'll need to do a little research to figure out how much sugar I need to add to get it up to 1.060, or so. As far as I can tell from the sugar wash sg calc on the Parent site, it looks like it will take about 3 lbs, or so, of sugar per bucket to get me to where I need to be. Forgive me Jimbo for I know not what else to do.

I heated up two gallons of water – should have used less. I forgot to account for the water I was using to dissolve the sugar, so I dissolved about 7 lbs of sugar and started adding it to my two buckets and realized it was too much added volume – had to use a 3rd bucket and divided the mash pretty much evenly between the 3. The OG is now about 1.055 – that's good enough. I added about a pint of buttermilk to each bucket, aerated with my air compressor, and pitched about 3 Tbls of baker's yeast to the surface of each bucket. I placed each one in separate cardboard boxes, placed lids loosely on each one, closed the box lids, and draped a towel over each one. They're also sitting on milk crates to raise them off the concrete floor. Hopefully the heat will be contained in the boxes. The ambient air temp in the basement is 70 dF.

Oh crap!! Forgot to add the prenatal vitamins. Oh well, maybe they won't be needed with all the added sugar.

ranger_ric wrote:I thought the Maillard reaction took place below the boiling point?.

The reaction is a form of nonenzymatic browning which typically proceeds rapidly from around 140 to 165 °C (284 to 329 °F). At higher temperatures, caramelization and subsequently pyrolysis become more pronounced.

Browning, or the Maillard reaction, creates flavor and changes the color of food, the taste and color to baked bread and even the turning of beer brown. Maillard reactions generally only begin to occur above 285°F (140°C).

S-Cackalacky wrote:Could it have maybe been a typo on his part - typed 194 instead of 294. 294 makes more sense in the context of the before mentioned references. I can see doing what I did with the cornbread batter at 294 dF for 6 hours - makes sense.

ranger_ric wrote:S-Cack
Thank you for the physics lesson on the bucket level and the mess they produce... LOL

BTDT