Visit us at www.barleyandhopsbrewing.com like us on face book or just give me a call at 254-681-1760 We used Kellogs corn flakes in this video to prove their value in a recipe.
George, you are the man! :) Thanks for your videos, you have all the toys and equipment to have a play and do the things I often wonder about while I'm putting down mashes/running distillations but never have the time to actually do. As Gontro said below - details are great, so much information in general nowdays is compacted down into soundbites for those with short attention spans. I appreciate all the details you can include, brewing/distilling is all about details.. Thanks very much from New Zealand !
I just did a quick and easy corn flake run. 7 gallon wash, 3 pounds of cornflakes with amylase and 8 pounds of sugar. I like the results a lot, it was supposed to be just quick and dirty to give to the people who always ask for a bottle on friday nights...but I'm impressed enough to keep some for myself.
I'm new to your channel and find it very interesting. I've brewed wine for a number of years but recently have developed an interest in craft beer. At the moment I am experimenting with trying to turn pearl barley into fermentable sugars by using enzymes from fruit and the conversion seems to be working! So far so good... Time will tell!
I would be really interested in a recipe book if you have one. Especially if you have conversions to make large amounts and small amounts. Even better if you included trouble shooting tips, faqs, how to and how not to. I bet you can make an amazing book with your knowledge.
I just looked at the ingredients on a box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes. One of the ingredients is barley malt extract. It doesn't say how much is in it, but it does say it is 88% corn.
I used corn flakes once, my moon came out just fine, it ended up 100 proof and was aged in a oak barrel for a year. This Deer Season will be more fun now ! :)
Corn Flakes havr added sugar in them about 8% i think. So the result will be higher per given weight for the Cornflakes due to the inclusion of sucrose. Good stuff but you need to follow that through. brew them both up to a wash and then distil them and let us know which taste better. My money is on the stright Corn Meal. :)
i use plastic milk cartons full of water freeze them and unless Im stupid and over fill them no chance of glass cracking when ice cold meets very hot liquid.
Question after the Amalise had done its stuff what was the thickness of the Corn meal? I expect it to have gone all runny instead of it remaining a thick gloop.
I kept fermenting oat meal for a few days and decided to do iodine test. I poured a little of that oat meal and turned purple/black then, after a few seconds, the color had changed to beige color. Does that mean the starch has been converted?
Oh man, great information. So if my recipe calls for 8 onuses of flaked corn and I only have 6 onuses I can substitute the balance with Kellogs corn flakes, That is definitely good to know.
Sweetie you say that you dont want to bore us with the little things and we miss out on watching you make decisions, pour, measure, use your own method and it helps to teach us lesser ones and we need help the little do's and don'ts so please indulge us.
+gontro I will do the best I can to include more specifics in the future. Thanks you for your comment. I have received a few comments complaining that I explain too much and in too in depth thus wasting time . Not sure i agree with them but I do consider the value of the viewers time when doing these. You'r comment has swayed me back to the more in-depth type of video. Thanks again george
HEAR,HEAR,, I agree totally, which brings up old saying - (An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ) and I would have liked to see the end result of this, after fermentation, George, those that think it is too much, aren't interested in really learning, IMO they are more like Josh on the moonshiners show, he comes up with lots of good ideas but hurries through them, with out thinking past the start point, bless him he does try-and not afraid of work, makes me tired just watching him, I don't know if I will ever get enough information to try any of this, but GREAT info, Keep Up the Great Videos
So I’m new to all of this but have been doing my research. So my question it do u absolutely have to add something to convert the starch in your corn to fermentable sugar or can u just use table sugar and crack/flaked corn for your mash ???
No. There is no requirement to convert starch to fermentable sugars. If you don't the result will be the table sugar is the only thing that will ferment and should just skip the corn because it is just an additive at that point with no real value.
So I just did the corn meal mash. I'm wondering, how am I supposed to get it to ferment if it's that thick and goopy? Do I add a lot more water? Do I put it all in a strainer?
Did you add alpha amalase? That should thin it out (and it's necessary to convert the starches to sugars), but yes you will have to strain it at some point before you put it in your still (unless you can control scorching through means like a jacketed still). Some people prefer to strain prior to fermentation; some strain after (the idea is that fermenting "on the grain" adds more flavor and thins it out even more).
+Outback Nikos Yes, I've made a few batches where the recipe called for corn flakes as an additive and it turned out amazing. In my opinion they had more flavor than regular corn but I could be biased. George
Maybe corn flakes are different up here in Canada than in the states but I batch corn flakes all the time... without amylase. I got a pot still and usually on my dirty run I get about 5l out of 20l run at about 65%. Without extra sugar.
+Cihangir DURSUN Amazing how much we think alike. I was also postulating yesterday; what about corn starch? Can I convert straight corn starch into fermentable sugars? I guess we'll see. George
+Barley and Hops I tried to make beer from basic kitchen purpose flours, it was possible, also making DME(at least similar something) from flour. I am more focused on low pressure distilling system nowadays, but need some time and place for trials.
+Cihangir DURSUN WOW! I've been working on a vacuum still for a few months. I have a couple of vacuum pumps and after 3 failures finally got one system to work. I produced almost 100% pure ethanol. Not much but I did prove the theory and it did work. I still have some engineering work to do to get this monster working right. We do think alike...... Glad I am not the only one out there trying new stuff. George
VERY NEW to all of this so this might be a stupid question. Not counting for flavor but if the point is to turn "starch" into sugar could one just skip all the steps and start with "starch" i.e. corn starch or potato starch to make a "neutral" spirit or would you just start with a sweetener then add wanted flavors at the finish? like I said might be a stupid question. lol
hi! love your videos, thanks for posting.. it has been very educational for me and I appreciate what you do. I hear you can use honey as a replacement for amylase. is this true? if so can you test to see if it works? pros/cons?
Honey is not a replacement for amylase. If you use honey as a replacement it will fool you since you will be able to ferment but it is the honey fermenting and not the grain. It is easy to be fooled by this. George
Hi, I have tried to replicate what you've done here with a box of cornflakes, before I do a proper mash/brew. I brought water up to temp and added the cornflakes, and kept it to gelatinise for a period. checked for starch and its present I cooled it to 62C and added the amylase but nothing has happened, I have maintained the temp and added more amylase yet no conversion is taking place. is there a guide on how much amylase to use? in the UK we only get 25g tubs of it. how long does the conversion take? a normal mash takes about an hour.
+Gary If what you tell me is accurate about your process there is no way it is not converting. A very little amount of amylase is required (about a half teaspoon). Did you do the iodine test after steeping for 60-90 minutes? George
+Barley and Hops yeah I had and it was black. do I need to use both type of amylase to get a full conversion? I used 500g of cornflakes, 1 gallon of water, and ritchies amylase
+Gary Not sure what to tell you. When you add the iodine and shale the specimen does it dissipate and dissolve or just remain black? If it remains black the starch is still present. I look back in your post and you said it was at 62C. That is 143F and amylase does its job at 155 or 68C. This temp is crucial for conversion. Maybe that's what happened. It works fine when I or others do it. Also, I am not familiar with Richie's Amylase either but I am sure there is no difference. George
+Barley and Hops thanks George, I wasn't sure if only using alpha amylase would leave starch in the mash. yeah maybe that's it I was thinking that the enzyme would denature at that temp. thanks
ok odd ball question. now I've never run a thumper but on simple pot style still heating slowly and running slowly I can run quite a high percentage. now when and if I run a thumper with heat higher to push vapors through thumper how will I get an equivalent percentage? will if be higher or lower or same with a better purer taste and quality
+erwin snufelguss The ABV will increase if you add alcohol in the thumper. If not you are just running it through water and not adding anything to it. George
Great videos and I try to watch everything you put out. Now if corn meal is equal to corn flakes and the purpose is to convert the corn meal or flakes into starch - could you just start with corn starch? Or does no one use plain corn starch because it has no flavor? I can get corn starch very cheap and corn flakes (of the same weight) are more expensive and I have to go to a major city (I live overseas) to buy corn meal. If corn starch works but no flavor, I will mix corn starch and corn flakes to keep my price down but if there is no flavor, I will just take the trip to the big city and stock up on slightly expensive corn meal. Again, keep the videos coming and you put in as much detail as you like - if the viewer already knows it - then you are just confirming how smart they are. Happy Brewing
You got it kind of backwards here. We need to convert the starch to fermentable sugars not convert it to starches. Anyway, we tried using corn starch and had zero luck. Appears that there is more missing than I expected for conversion. Sorry, you need to use corn meal or corn flakes. My best advice at this point is to just use table sugar. It makes a real good neutral spirit and you can do almost anything to it after it is done. It is also inexpensive and simple. No converting, no steeping, just mix with water to dissolve and then add yeast. Happy distilling George
Hmm I'm gonna try fermenting corn flakes (and maybe canned corn) cuz you can get a bunch at food banks... (They have so much they are throwing them away lol). Also after mashing the corn flakes together do you think you can make a resin out of it, and 3D print it?
Hey George. Crazy question. You add sugars to the mash. Can you make it with Frosted Flakes? Haha. Just asking because it has sugar on them? I would think you could. Wife and I hope to pay you a visit soon.
George I know this is an older video but It was a bit of a thought provoker for me. I wonder, have you experimented with other cereals? Like raisin bran or any of the other grain cereals. Could be an idea worthy of experimentation for different flavors notes. Makes me want to leave work and go MASH!
Hi George, this question has nothing to do with beer making but, you mentioned that you purchased those pots at your local dollar store, well I I was wondering which company it was was it Dollar Tree, The Dollar Store or Family Dollar? Thanks so much, that was a great price for a 2 gallon pot. I guess you can tell that not only am I a wine, salami and cheese maker, I am also an avid chef too. LoL.....
+thastinger345 I would guess that they will work just fine. I haven't done them yet but may in the near future. Give it a try and let me know so I can move on to something else (smile). George
Well, in fact there is a tribe in Indonesia that does exactly what you are referring to. A bunch of old men sit around and spit into a container filled with local fruit and use the amylase they produce to break down the starches. I say; let them do what they do, I'll keep doing what I do and I don't spit in my mash LOL
Do a video on Cracked corn. Some people have said if cooked at 155-160 it releases the enzymes in the corn to produce the sugars needed in making shine. Their argument is that the ones disputing this are misleading their followers but dropping Tincture of Iodine one the mash instead of the strained wash, so I guess you can shut up these people by cooking cracked corn at 155-160 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour and strain off all the remaining cracked corn solids and dropping Tincture of Iodine on the wash or whatever that's called and proof them wrong.
