Home Distiller

For my last mash I didn't have access to any cracked corn so I went to my local bulk food store about bought 12lbs of popcorn (cost me around $14 so it wasted cheap). I started running it through my hand mill and the first few lbs just about killed me. After that I pulled out the magic bullet and it did a much better job in breaking up the popcorn. I've since then done one run with the fermented wash. I was aiming for sort of a rye/bourbon hybrid which I've done before with success. Sort of like a bourbon without the corn bite that some rye drinkers aren't fond of.

Anyways, the corn flavour is interesting. It's kind of strong in a good way, but smooth. Like buttery smooth. Is it my imagination or is popcorn made up of possibly a much better tasting corn for the purpose of mashing? Makes sense to me since cracked corn isn't exactly meant to be used as a human consumed food product.

Has anyone else used unpopped popcorn in the mash?

Thanks! I will be looking for some super cheapo popping corn and jump on it when the opportunity arises. Seems like a worthy experiment. I think the animal feed variety of corn means it's not as washed as human corn and isn't as pretty with more bits of sticks and leaves n things as added prizes. Are you in the GTA? If so I can see you're issue with finding cracked corn, have you tried sweet talking a food wholesaler to sell you a sack of corn meal for cheap?

All around a pig's ass is pork . Humans are just another animal that eats , or drinks , corn . There is no such thing as human corn and animal corn .
Different corn varieties have different aspects that impart different flavors to whatever is being prepared .

Now everyone knows that Julian is a rum drinker...it never leaves his hand. Rum and coke, imagine that.

But since you're trying to make a bourbon, certainly popcorn is acceptable, although expensive. And the kernels are smaller than field corn. But you could also use sweet corn, i.e. - "roasting ears". Perhaps, even frozen corn from the freezer case at the grocery. Still expensive, but usable just the same.

But, I choose to use cracked corn from the farm supply store. It's very inexpensive...$10 per 50 lb. bag. They also have crimped oats that you can use too. But I've used "quick oats" from the grocery. It's flaked and mashes quite easily with the malted barley addition. If rye is your choice, you can buy malted rye at the local home brew shop (about $1.15-1.25 per lb.).
ss

Hmmm I sense a smooth Butter Bourbon on the horizon... thanks for the write up

If you are using popping corn. Pop it. You will make your mashing procedure so much easier. It's already cooked to expose the starch. Grin and mash to dough in temps.

yakattack wrote:If you are using popping corn. Pop it. You will make your mashing procedure so much easier. It's already cooked to expose the starch. Grin and mash to dough in temps.

I am kicking myself now, my daughter just did a school project where she popped a bunch of popcorn of different brands and it never crossed my mind to mash all the popcorn we threw out, I'm so ashamed lol

aircarbonarc wrote:Thanks! I will be looking for some super cheapo popping corn and jump on it when the opportunity arises. Seems like a worthy experiment. I think the animal feed variety of corn means it's not as washed as human corn and isn't as pretty with more bits of sticks and leaves n things as added prizes. Are you in the GTA? If so I can see you're issue with finding cracked corn, have you tried sweet talking a food wholesaler to sell you a sack of corn meal for cheap?

Yeah Im in Toronto. I can get cracked corn but the closest places that I know of is the TSC in Milton or Barrie and I don't make it out that way so much. Next time I'm in the area I'll buy a 50lb bag. After this little trial I might just be looking for buying popcorn in huge bulk.

still_stirrin wrote:Now everyone knows that Julian is a rum drinker...it never leaves his hand. Rum and coke, imagine that.

But since you're trying to make a bourbon, certainly popcorn is acceptable, although expensive. And the kernels are smaller than field corn. But you could also use sweet corn, i.e. - "roasting ears". Perhaps, even frozen corn from the freezer case at the grocery. Still expensive, but usable just the same.

But, I choose to use cracked corn from the farm supply store. It's very inexpensive...$10 per 50 lb. bag. They also have crimped oats that you can use too. But I've used "quick oats" from the grocery. It's flaked and mashes quite easily with the malted barley addition. If rye is your choice, you can buy malted rye at the local home brew shop (about $1.15-1.25 per lb.).
ss

I'm very much like Julian and even had my own Corey and Trevor back in the day to do my dirty work.

I do buy malted rye from my local place in 55lb bags for a pretty decent price. I use at least 12lbs in most 10-12 gallon batches. I don't might spending the $ when I can get a decent end product. In home distilling the difference between cheap materials and good materials isn't that much at all compared to how the liquor store differentiates things.

yakattack wrote:If you are using popping corn. Pop it. You will make your mashing procedure so much easier. It's already cooked to expose the starch. Grin and mash to dough in temps.

That can certainly work I've read but it's easier for me to not have so much volume of solids in my 15 gallon fermenter.

Truckinbutch wrote:All around a pig's ass is pork . Humans are just another animal that eats , or drinks , corn . There is no such thing as human corn and animal corn .
Different corn varieties have different aspects that impart different flavors to whatever is being prepared .

I grew up around corn fields.. they're now all big box store parking lots but that's another discussion... there certainly is "feed corn", "ethanol corn", and "eating corn". Try actually eating feed corn sometime and you'll see how bad it is compared to a nice yellow or peaches n cream corn.

speedfreaksteve wrote:

yakattack wrote:If you are using popping corn. Pop it. You will make your mashing procedure so much easier. It's already cooked to expose the starch. Grin and mash to dough in temps.

That can certainly work I've read but it's easier for me to not have so much volume of solids in my 15 gallon fermenter.

You would still run the poped corn through the mill. And as soon as the starch is hit with the malt it will liquifye. You'll be close to what you started with .

speedfreaksteve wrote:

aircarbonarc wrote:Thanks! I will be looking for some super cheapo popping corn and jump on it when the opportunity arises. Seems like a worthy experiment. I think the animal feed variety of corn means it's not as washed as human corn and isn't as pretty with more bits of sticks and leaves n things as added prizes. Are you in the GTA? If so I can see you're issue with finding cracked corn, have you tried sweet talking a food wholesaler to sell you a sack of corn meal for cheap?

Yeah Im in Toronto. I can get cracked corn but the closest places that I know of is the TSC in Milton or Barrie and I don't make it out that way so much. Next time I'm in the area I'll buy a 50lb bag. After this little trial I might just be looking for buying popcorn in huge bulk.

Cornmeal works great also if you ever see some huge bags of that, I think 25kg sacks were $35 at a restaurant supplier. I was buying flaked corn at my local home brew supply but it was pretty pricey. I'm in a major West coast Canadian city so I have to also drive a bit to pick up feed corn. I make it worth it but a few sacks. It's $15 a sack for cracked corn so it's cheap and worth it. Keep an eye out for cheap as dirt frozen sweet corn, that really gives an intense corn flavor. I'd like to hear how it works if you pop the popcorn first.

speedfreaksteve wrote:

Truckinbutch wrote:All around a pig's ass is pork . Humans are just another animal that eats , or drinks , corn . There is no such thing as human corn and animal corn .
Different corn varieties have different aspects that impart different flavors to whatever is being prepared .

I grew up around corn fields.. they're now all big box store parking lots but that's another discussion... there certainly is "feed corn", "ethanol corn", and "eating corn". Try actually eating feed corn sometime and you'll see how bad it is compared to a nice yellow or peaches n cream corn.

Try growing up where I did 60+ years ago . We ate what ever the fuck we could get to the table and was damned glad to get it . Still got my grandfather's grist mill . Still grinds whatever grain gets dropped in it . Don't care one whit what it's gonna be used for .