Corn

[wombil]

G'Day Fellers,
I see here blokes putting all sorts of stuff in their beer,fruit,rice,etc but no mention of corn.Why is this so?
I recall many years ago an old bloke making beer with corn only.Never had any of it myself but lots of others drank it.Pretty remote area tho and any beer is better than none.
Just wondering.
wombil.

 

[ekul]

Do a search for flaked maize. Or polenta. People use it like they would use rice. I bought a kilo of polenta but i've never got round to using it.

 

[wombil]

Arrrrr,so that's what polenta is.By the name I thought it was some kind of macaroni stuff.
Thanks EKUL.

 

[Bribie G]

Maize (flaked or ground as in Polenta) is a must in a Classic American Pilsener.

A lot of UK breweries, historically, used maize to lighten the body, as well as producing a clearer beer using the malts of the day, but nowadays they have nearly all gone back to all-malt brews for their bitters although I believe Carling Lager and Stella Artois are chokka with it as all malt versions of those brews wouldn't taste pissy enough .

It's easy to use, just boil up half a kilo to a mush and tip into mash. The excess enzymes in the malted barley will convert the maize. You can do a cereal mash which is a bit more involved but you can just do the tip in method. Goes great in Aussie style lagers as well as our malts such as Barrett Burston are highly diastatic and convert corn and rice like maniacs.

 

[Nick JD]

Can polenta be thrown directly in the mash?

 

[Bribie G]

I tried it once and it worked to a point, but I don't think it gelatinised very well. Possibly the 3 minute "instant" polenta that comes in the vacuum pack from Woolies might work but the regular variety needs about a good 20 minute boil.

Also a cereal mash starting with the pre cooked slurry fairly cool and then ramping gradually up to boiling bursts the starch granules and makes it more available to the enzymes in the Alpha range, as MHB explained to me.

 

[DKS]

G'Day Fellers,
I see here blokes putting all sorts of stuff in their beer,fruit,rice,etc but no mention of corn.Why is this so?
I recall many years ago an old bloke making beer with corn only.Never had any of it myself but lots of others drank it.Pretty remote area tho and any beer is better than none.
Just wondering.
wombil.

One time I tried to find a supplier of corn. Impossible around these parts, cost effectively that is, then Bribie put us all onto the polenta. Readily available cheap and you dont have big sacks hanging around for the mice. Its good stuff for the right styles. If you have a supply of corn you can use it thats for sure.
Daz

 

[punkin]

One time I tried to find a supplier of corn. Impossible around these parts, cost effectively that is, then Bribie put us all onto the polenta. Readily available cheap and you dont have big sacks hanging around for the mice. Its good stuff for the right styles. If you have a supply of corn you can use it thats for sure.
Daz

Feed stores are good for corn. You can get micronised (presteamed) flakes for horses.

 

[QldKev]

Thats why I use Flaked Maize over Polenta, while Polenta should be boiled first, Flaked Maize is ok to throw straight into the mash.

QldKev

 

[Bribie G]

I get Polenta from Geeta Enterprises in the Valley - Indian supermarket - for $3 a kilo - as opposed to $6 plus freight for the flaked maize from brewing suppliers. I've got a sack of Galaxy coming so some blonde ales, CPAs and non-Reinheitsgebot Euro Lagers are on the cards B)

 

[emnpaul]

Thats why I use Flaked Maize over Polenta, while Polenta should be boiled first, Flaked Maize is ok to throw straight into the mash.

QldKev

Nice tip Kev.
The few times I've used polenta it stuck to the bottom of the pot like $#!& to a blanket and the extra water I needed to prevent this threw out my mash volume when I added it back to the main mash.

I can remember from a few years back watching Getaway with Ernie Dingo doing a segment from a place in Peru where he drank an all corn beer which were allegedly quite common in parts of South America. Can't remember what he said about the taste though.

 

[Bribie G]

The trick with Polenta is to cook it extra runny and just remove the necessary water from your urn / HLT etc first so it doesn't throw out your volumes.

Rice is easy, it usually cooks using three times its volume of water, but polenta needs far more.

However I'll agree that it will spit like Lindsay Lohan on meth if you aren't used to handling it and it needs a bit of close attention for the first few minutes.

 

[loikar]

Why not?

 

[NickB]

Works, but you need to look for the low sodium brands...

Cheers

 

[QldKev]

Nice tip Kev.
The few times I've used polenta it stuck to the bottom of the pot like $#!& to a blanket and the extra water I needed to prevent this threw out my mash volume when I added it back to the main mash.

I can remember from a few years back watching Getaway with Ernie Dingo doing a segment from a place in Peru where he drank an all corn beer which were allegedly quite common in parts of South America. Can't remember what he said about the taste though.

I'm a slack brewer, I always look at what is easy for me. Don't think I've ever done a recipe that has called for more than 1.5kg in a batch (3 cube batch) Flaked Maize $9, Polenta $4.50. For $4 odd I'll take the easy way, and I would probably end up using half that saving in power? And this is probably the highest % maize recipe I have.

Wonder what a straight Corn beer would be like, it would make Corona look like a big beer.


QldKev

 

[QldKev]

Works, but you need to look for the low sodium brands...

Cheers

Aren't they also packed full of preservatives?

Not 100% sure, never tried using them


QldKev

 

[fawnroux]

I can remember from a few years back watching Getaway with Ernie Dingo doing a segment from a place in Peru where he drank an all corn beer which were allegedly quite common in parts of South America. Can't remember what he said about the taste though.

:icon_offtopic: The beer you speak of is called Chicha. Peruvian women traditionally chew up the corn kernals to help convert the starches (our mouths have lots of lovely enzymes), this corn goes in the 'mash'. Could have a very interesting taste :lol:

 

[emnpaul]

The beer you speak of is called Chicha. Peruvian women tradi :icon_offtopic: tionally chew up the corn kernals to help convert the starches (our mouths have lots of lovely enzymes), this corn goes in the 'mash'. Could have a very interesting taste :lol:

Ewww!~ :icon_vomit:

 

[A3k]

yeah, i had some of that about a month ago. the one i had was kinda like warm murky cider beer.
I was told that they ferment it to the desired sweetness/alcohol strength then serve, so no conditioning or anything.

i've had worse things.

[EDIT] they didn't tell us it was pre-chewed before handing it to us though. Maybe that's where i got the gastro from.

 

[QldKev]

:icon_offtopic: The beer you speak of is called Chicha. Peruvian women traditionally chew up the corn kernals to help convert the starches (our mouths have lots of lovely enzymes), this corn goes in the 'mash'. Could have a very interesting taste :lol:

and during the break they chew on each other for the yeast