Adding Polenta/rice To Mash

[edddy57]

Ive previously added rice to the mash.... just boiled and added the mush to the grains. Couple of questions:
1. Do you do the same with polenta ie. its already ground up, or is it important to boil first to improve conversion?
2. What adjustments (if any) do you have to do in the mash tun to get the right water to grain ration. I use around 2.5 litre H20 to 1 kg grain?

What Ive done with the rice is throw it in the hot water in the tun and wait for it to drop to the right temp (approx 73 C) prior to adding the crushed grains. Wasnt sure whether thats the right process given the rice & polenta would add more bulk and may continue to absorb water and throw the ratio out..... or maybe it isnt that critical

Value some advice
Eddy

 

[Swinging Beef]

Cook the polenta first so it is edible.
(Try not to eat it because this stuff is so damn tasty with butter and pepper and fetta mixed in!)
Hoik the whole lot into the mash tun with your regular mash.
Adjust your mash temps accordingly.

 

[Brauhaus007]

Why?What do you hope to get out of adding polenta? Would like to know how it goes though.

 

[Bribie G]

Polenta (or flaked maize as a more expensive alternative) goes very well indeed as a substantial adjunct in:

Classic American Pilsner
American Malt Liquor

And in lesser quantities:

Pale Continental Lager (Swiss, Austrian, Belgian breweries outside the Reinheitsgebot area use it extensively and UK breweries use a shitload in their versions of Stella and Carling)
Historical UK bitters and best bitters where you can make a stronger ale without it becoming cloying as the maize lightens the body and can add clarity. I normally add around 300g dry weight

The best variety is the 3 minute polenta which Woolies had on a good spec the other week, boil it up to a thin porridge, allow to cool to whatever your mash temp is and just stir in well.

If using a big amount in something like a CAP you might like to try a cereal mash as they do in the USA, a lot of frigging around but I find it gives a lovely smoothness. When it comes to maize you often hear people muttering "cheap lousy adjuncts", well I usually pay over 50% more for polenta than I do for the base malt and it gets added for a purpose, horses for courses :icon_cheers:

Edit: I do BIAB with liquor to grist ratios of up to 6:1, I wouldn't stress too much about the ratio as long as you can fit it in your tun, but if I were 3V mashing I'd probably not count the dry polenta as being grain, calculate the volume of strike liquor as if you weren't adding any polenta, to get 2.5:1 and take the polenta boiling water out of that. During the mash the polenta gets 'nuked' and being huskless it just disappears and gives back the water it absorbed during cooking. So you should end up line ball with a bit of a stronger wort. Any little variations would be fixed during sparging I guess.

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

I've added polenta to cream ales and the like with good effect.

My procedure is a little less complicated; I use instant polenta, which I pour from the pack into the mash and then forget about (I do dispose of the packaging thoughtfully). It's yum.

I've made the same recipe beer without the polenta, substituting its weight with base malt and I get about the same gravity wort in either case, so I guess that it is being processed somehow. Either way, it doesn't matter to me because it is yum.

 

[Bribie G]

Spills, what brand Instant polenta and where do you get it? We are in a bit of a Polenta desert on Bribie as we only have about six Italians and the rest of the population is 15 years behind any cooking methods not involving lamb chops and three veg, although gradually catching up

If I can get some today I'll try it in my latest batch of Yorkshire Red that I'm firing up this afternoon.

 

[Brauhaus007]

Good thing. have not used it obviously, will try it out. Thanks for the info

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Spills, what brand Instant polenta and where do you get it?

In Stock right now *cough* is a Woolworths Natura brand. It came from a supermarket in Brunswick because I was but passing by. My local Coles now has some as well (Brand forgotten), but I haven't bought any yet to try.

One day, I intend stealing some frozen corn from the kitchen and boiling the crap out of it to see if it does anything of value.

 

[Malted]

Spills, what brand Instant polenta and where do you get it? We are in a bit of a Polenta desert on Bribie as we only have about six Italians and the rest of the population is 15 years behind any cooking methods not involving lamb chops and three veg, although gradually catching up

If I can get some today I'll try it in my latest batch of Yorkshire Red that I'm firing up this afternoon.

Grab some from Caboolture or Morayfield, they have big shops. Surely you'd leave the island from time to time?

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Coles Online have their own brand (Coles) polenta for $4.46/kg in 500g packs. My records suggest that my Woolworths polenta is about $6.00/kg.

I once held a packet of black and yellow no-name polenta in my hand, but thought it was too expensive. It clearly wasn't when you look at those prices.

I don't want to drive to Castlemaine for starch, either.