Home Distiller

Racing pigeon feed is the best quality corn i have found.
It malts well, and is well selected/sorted.

To malt it :
Take 5Kg of cribbs maize.
(Pick out any undesirables if present)
Put maize in a large tub, cover with water.
Make sure the maize is over-covered with water, leaving at least 30mm of water above the maize.
(So that when the grain expands it isn't out of the water drying back out...)

Leave to soak overnight (12 Hrs)

Tip the maize into a large sack.
(For instance : Amazon : Jute Sacks 60 x 105 cm Natural Pack of 3, Multi-Colour)
Note, these sacks have been treated. You MUST wash them first on a 95º cycle in the machine)

Drain, and place on a large ventilated/slatted shelf, on large folded wet towels.
Cover with large folded wet towels.
Leave 24hrs.

Remove towels, and soak in water (in the bath, for instance)
Take the sack and dip into room temp water that covers the bag.

Drain the sack and wring the towels out slightly.

Place sack in between towels again.
Leave 24hrs.

Repeat the rinse/drain process, keeping towels moist.
If they are drying out (warmer months) keep them wet...

The germination humidity required is about 20%.
Too much water, regardless of temp, etc and you will end up with a rotting / smelly mess.

Once the corn has sprouted to over 1" / 25mm long, this is about ideal.
You can now either (if you have sun) place the jute sack with grain inside on an outside wooden garden slatted table, and let the sun dessicate the sprouts.
Or you can tie in a pillowcase and tumble dry...

The other option is to grind it whilst still green (sprouts attached / not dried out)

Either way, you now have 5Kg of Malted maize to use at your leisure.

I have tried several methods, from various sources.
This one works for me, without fail, every time.

I malted the corn with bath / dry cycles of about 6 hours and it worked. Sometimes I have had a difficult germination but this depends on many factors (quality, freshness, temperature etc ....).

Nice! Looks like I found a local shop with better quality corn and some other grains.

Cheers,
jonny

Will this malt convert more unmalted maize? What is your mashing procedure with this malt?

zach wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:05 am Will this malt convert more unmalted maize? What is your mashing procedure with this malt?

Waiting for an answer, I report my experience. Generally I find that corn does not have a great diastatic power, in my experience it is inferior to barley. Perhaps a small amount of unmalted corn will be converted but not a large amount.

(Demy) agreed.
Zach, IMO, the malting of corn is (almost all) for flavour.
As regards mashing, I basically use it as an adjunct, and add most to already boiling water.
(Which of course stops any (and its a minor) activity already).
This gelz the starch, and dissolves the (already present) sugars into solution.

I also add some as the temp drops to <65ºC.
At the same point as (mostly) Rye & Barley (both malted).

The main diastatic power i use is (Crisp) Malted Rye, with approx 60ºL.
lt is similar to malted Barley; but i use it at approx Rye/Barley 5:1
Combined with a much smaller amount of (Crisp) Maris Otter 2-row, which is min (50ºL).
I like High Corn (*/- 70%) High(ish) Rye (Malted) +/- 25% and 5% Barley (Malted)

IMO, the recipes I have seen where they use only malted corn will ultimately have low conversion.
(Which might be fine if you're using a swimming pool worth of mash)
And are (usually) supported by a large sugar dose.
I don't mind adding sugar (Dextrose or cane), but I do it for flavour, and sparingly to support a weak O.G.
I experiment...