Using Flaked Maise In Mashes

[gjhansford]

I'm making an English ESB and my recipe calls for 1kg of flaked maise. Usuallly I just add it to the mash water first, give it a stir, and then add the rest of the grain bill. But I've read that you can also 'cook' the maise first. Any one got any experience or comments?

ghhb

 

[donburke]

I'm making an English ESB and my recipe calls for 1kg of flaked maise. Usuallly I just add it to the mash water first, give it a stir, and then add the rest of the grain bill. But I've read that you can also 'cook' the maise first. Any one got any experience or comments?

ghhb

if its flaked maize then put it straight in the mash, it shoudl be pre-gelatinised

if its polenta, then it needs to be cooked first so its gelatinised

 

[Ross]

No point in cooking if using flaked maize - just add to the mash.

cheers Ross

 

[Bribie G]

Some polentas - advertised as "three minute" are precooked then dried again (a bit like they make Instant cous cous etc) and cook up / gelatinise quickly - but they end up the same price or more as flaked maize. Plus a dirty pot to clean up. Unless you are going for a particular style such as a Classic American Pilsener that you are going to brew regulary as a "house beer" where getting in a few kilos or a sack of Polenta is of benefit, I'd just get the flaked maize and see how it goes.

 

[gjhansford]

Thanks everyone ... first runnings is looking, tasting and smelling good!

ghhb

 

[Thirsty Boy]

You can of course just put a pre-gelatinised product like flaked maize straight into the mash tun.... But if you can be bothered doing an actual cereal mash on it you'll probably get a slightly higher yield and i have heard tell, a nice flavour akin to (because it pretty much is) that you might get from a decoction.

My preference is to do a cereal mash on any unmalted adjunct at all, whether or not its pre-gelatinised or has a low gelatinisation temp in the first place - But then again my laziness overrules my preference at least as often as it doesn't.

 

[Bribie G]

About to do my first Midnight Train malt liquor of the season, including 1kg rice, 1kg polenta, both of them cereal mashed. :super:
I'll be interested to see if my spot on Skid Row is still free or whether I'll have to evict that bloody bag lady again. :angry:

edit: TB, why has maize never been a component of Aussie Megas? We grow masses of it here and I thought it would be a match made in heaven for our full strength lagers - especially with our high diastatic domestic malts.

 

[mika]

Is Flaked maize easy to come across in the east ? I haven't seen it at any of the shops over here, so have used Polenta.

 

[Bribie G]

I'd guess CraftBrewer and Grain n Grape, Marks Home Brew and the other larger outlets would be the main source. I haven't seen it in LHBS, but there again they mostly seem to cater for kits n bits and moonshinez. I actually spotted maize flakes in the supermarket today in the same section as wheatgerm, Psyllium husk etc but it works out about $6.50 a kilo.

Edit: I'm now getting my Polenta from a big Indian supplies store in the Valley ( Chinatown / Ethnic area ) for about a dollar twenty a kilo in kilo repacks. Might hit them up for a sack and see what they reckon.

Edit: oops divide-by-two error, actually $2.40 but still half the price of Woolies.

 

[ekul]

I've used rice a few times and really like it, have been thinking about using corn, how would cracked corn from the feedstore go? Just boil it up and treat it like any other adjunct? Its pretty 'cheep'.

They have massive bags of dextrose there too, and oats. Heaps of stuff to ferment!

 

[Bribie G]

I've used rice a few times and really like it, have been thinking about using corn, how would cracked corn from the feedstore go? Just boil it up and treat it like any other adjunct? Its pretty 'cheep'.

They have massive bags of dextrose there too, and oats. Heaps of stuff to ferment!

I'd be wary of the cracked corn. Maize contains a "germ" as in "wheat germ" and (Britannica 1911):

The germ of maize contains a considerable proportion of an oil of somewhat unpleasant flavour, which has to be eliminated before the material is fit for use in the mash-tun

You would need to check that the maize doesn't contain that - probably a big bonus as animal feed but not in the mash tun.

 

[ekul]

polenta it is

 

[NickB]

I used popcorn in my last Cream Ale. Got given an 25kg bag of it a while ago. Not yet fermented so will keep you posted.

Usually just use polenta though. The homebrand cheapy stuff works great in a cereal mash

Cheers

 

[Bribie G]

Nick, do you pop it first or mill it?
Also I have used 500g of ALDI cornflakes right into the mashtun, but you can't use too much as there's a bit of salt in there. Just the one box works ok. I once did a kilo o' cornflakes lager which I left a bottle at Ross's old shop for them to try. Good reception but they reckoned it was a bit toasty and they got morning wood immediately

 

[NickB]

Sorry, didn't have the time or room to pop it, so tried to mill it and the mill would not play ball. Ended up pulverising in the blender before a cereal mash with 1/2 kg BB Ale malt.

Cheers

 

[crozdog]

2 quick ontopic question for those that have used flaked maize....

When using flaked maize, do you find you get a thicker / stickier mash that results in stuck sparges? Do you use rice hulls to help overcome the gumminess I hear you can get?

As far as wheredoyaget it? as mentined cornflakes is 1 option or I've just found that stockfeed supplies sell "micronised" maize. Hygain is 1 manufacturer cost is about $26 / 20kg.

 

[Bribie G]

As a BIABer I find that maize "disappears" during mashing and seems to give a much freer-running drain, not sticky at all.

Edit; you may be getting confused with either wheat or rye. I recently used 250 of supermarket cake flour in an Aussie Sparkling and got the BIAB equivalent of a stuck sparge which required me to massage my bag to clear it -_-

 

[Thirsty Boy]

About to do my first Midnight Train malt liquor of the season, including 1kg rice, 1kg polenta, both of them cereal mashed. :super:
I'll be interested to see if my spot on Skid Row is still free or whether I'll have to evict that bloody bag lady again. :angry:

edit: TB, why has maize never been a component of Aussie Megas? We grow masses of it here and I thought it would be a match made in heaven for our full strength lagers - especially with our high diastatic domestic malts.

Because we also grow masses of sugar cane, and sugar as adjunct not only doesn't require you to install an extra mash-kettle for cereal mashing, it actually allows you to increase your volume throughput with the existing equipment.

I'm actually more surprised we dont do more wheat beer - we grow shitloads of that and the climate is right for weizens and Wits.

Croz - corn will, like any other huskless grain, increase the load on the husks you do have in your mash from the barley malt. So you might get a stuck sparg out of that. But corn and rice dont contain the large whack of beta glucans that you get in wheat/rye/oats that leads to a really gummy mash. If you are planning on gong over 5 or 10 percent flaked corn - why not throw in a hand full of rice hulls just to help share the load - but its not going to have the same stick effect that a similar amount of wheat or rye would give you.