Up until now all mashes have been at least 50% corn. Cracked corn from a feed supplier or flaked corn from a local brew shop. Prior to distilling I had no experience at all. Have never done a beer kit or otherwise.
Talk about a learning curve learning to mash using corn! Flaked corn is easier than cracked corn but it can turn into a pretty solid mass in a big hurry.
On Thursday the corn got left in the bag and this is what went in the mash…
Pale malt 10 pounds
Peat, apple, cherrywood smoked malt 30 pounds
Black malt 1 pound
Quick rolled oats 1 pound.
16 gallons water. One Camden tablet.
Alpha amylase 1 Table spoon
Glucose amylase 1 Table spoon
Enzymes were used because I have them.
Black malt was very old but had been vacuum packed and was in the freezer.
Yeast starter 1/2 L converted mash with SG 1.084 (I use metric and Imperial measurements. I think it’s a Canadian thing) with 2 Table spoon distillers yeast, 2 Table spoon Flieshman’s bakers yeast and 1 teaspoon of Turbo. My theory is that each yeast does better under different conditions that develop as the mash ferments.
Ferment is on grain. BIAB 800 micron. Normally I don’t check SG because using enzymes the conversion of the starch continues after fermentation is well under way. I have checked SG of my corn mash’s but by the amount of alcohol produced it is easy to confirm conversion continues after yeast is pitched. I consider Fermentation done when Co2 production has stopped.
This recipe and yeast combo resulted in a violent fermentation. :scared-eek: I mash and ferment in a 20 gallon Blichmann engineering SS pot. They sell a silicone seal that wraps around the lid and pot on the outside to do this. The BIAB inflated and lifted the lid right out of the seal! I had to pull the bag and using zip tie ensure the grain was tightly wrapped in the BIAB. Put a SS colander between the bag/ ferment and the lid. My lid has a 2” tri clamp installed. Had to leave this open to allow sufficient venting. Blichmann uses a very small air lock that plugs pretty easily. (Will have to fix that…)
The fermenter pot sits in a livestock water trough. The trough has a thermostatically controlled 300 watt heater. This prevents the ferment from getting to cold and stalling out. Holding temp at 75* F.
Compared to corn the MASH was real easy! 16 gallons of water with 2.5. 20L pails of milled barley. It NEVER got thick! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Looking forward to seeing / tasting how this turns out.