Hi fletcher
I used to get those bricks all the time from Woolies when I lived on Bribie Island, it's brilliant as an adjunct.
The simplest way to use it is to boil it to a mush (takes a surprising amount of water, this stuff swells like The Blob as you boil it).. then let it cool to your chosen mash temp and pour into the main mash and stir in well.
Another thing you can do is to "pre treat" it by letting the mush cool to around 74 degrees and mix in a kilo of your base malt and stir like buggery. The Alpha Acids in the base malt will zap the polenta very quickly and turn it into polenta soup, then pour the results into the main mash.
I used that brick often as a food item, love polenta. In the kitchen found that although they call it "instant" it still needs boiling, so I have always tended to play safe and not put it in raw to the mash in case it doesn't gelatinise at mash temperatures.
Now you've got me in research mode :blink: - I might just get a brick from Woolies next week and try a direct addition.
However for the time being I'd err on the side of caution and boil the polenta, doesn't take long in a stockpot. :beerbang: