Brewing Master

Question:

Stephen White asks about using cornmeal in a decoction mash. I have used up to 500g of fine polenta (which is effectively flour) as an adjunct in extract brews. This doesn’t seem to need pre-boiling in order to convert completely. It still results in a large deposit in the primary, as it escapes through my straining systems. This doesn’t bother me, as I presume the polenta contains very little tannin or lipid. I am surprised that your deposit found its way into the secondary (and also wondering how you ever managed to sparge the mash in the first place).

Response:

A little while ago I mage a lager that called for 300 gm of maize flakes along with the malt. As these seemed to be unobtainable here I used corn meal instead I boiled this with some water to make a sticky glue like paste and added it to one of the decoctions gave it a good boil and added the mixture back to the mash.

    <Snip    Any suggestions very welcome Stephen White P.S. As an aside Wyeast has recently become available here (in NZ) and is well worth trying.

I just started using corn as an adjunct myself.  I chose to use corn starch rather than corn meal because it requires no processing (can be added directly to the mash w/o boiling), it’s readily available, and it’s cheap ($0.97/lb).  I tasted some while I was bottling my first batch yesterday and the addition of corn seemed to have the desired affect; golden color beer with a light body and taste. BTW, I had no crud in the fermenter.  I did have a heck of a time getting the corn in the mash to convert.  I went 2.5 hours a 150 degrees F and the iodine test still showed some starch.  I used British 2-row pale malt which is reported to have low enzyme potential.  I made another batch a week later use Klages (American 2-row) which is reported to have much higher enzyme potential. It seemed to convert more but if I stirred the drop of iodine in the mash sample it would still go black. I’m not sure if I had 100% conversion or not.  BTW, the corn starch was 20% of the total grist weight. Hope this data point helps, Steve

Response:

This "crud" has a vague yellowish tinge and looks very like cornmeal that has been boiled for hours in beer and allowed to settle out. As time goes on a second white layer is forming on top, presumably the yeast settling out on top of the yellow layer.    My questions are    1) has anyone used cornmeal as an adjunct ?         2) why did the cornmeal not convert to sugar ?         3) should I leave it all as is or do somthing (what)?

Don’t know why the conversion didn’t happen. Perhaps not a long enough gelatinization temperature.  Also, with corn meal, part of this might be husk or embryo material, which adds lipids to the brew. Not good.  I would suggest flaked maize, which is more processed than people usually think.   Slainte. — — BeeRich Malting, Brewing & Distilling Science Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland

Response:

: A little while ago I mage a lager that called for 300 gm of maize flakes along  you didn’t cook the mash long enough to gelatinize the meal… use generic cornflakes… they are already about 80% gelatinized by the extreme heat they go through when thy are rolled into flakes…. The other ingredients in generic flakes are usually Malt extract and sugar, (maybe a little salt and brown sugar too) Note same with oats in making an oatmeal stout… I cook rolled oats for about an hour before adding them to the mash. — Jim W                   My opinions are just that. !!! Do not assume that your freedoms are assured!!! Be Proactive!!! Brew and let Brew… Homebrewing is fun.

Response:

A little while ago I mage a lager that called for 300 gm of maize flakes along with the malt. As these seemed to be unobtainable here I used corn meal instead I boiled this with some water to make a sticky glue like paste and added it to one of the decoctions gave it a good boil and added the mixture back to the mash.         Things proceeded as normal with the boil etc and after a week of primary in a plastic fermentation bin I transferred the wort to a glass carboy. Much to my horrer I found that after a day in the secondary there was a layer at least 3cm thick (1") of crud in the bottom of the secondary. This "crud" has a vague yellowish tinge and looks very like cornmeal that has been boiled for hours in beer and allowed to settle out. As time goes on a second white layer is forming on top, presumably the yeast settling out on top of the yellow layer.         My questions are         1) has anyone used cornmeal as an adjunct ?         2) why did the cornmeal not convert to sugar ?         3) should I leave it all as is or do somthing (what)? I am using a Danish Wyeast for the fermentation T = 8 – 12 deg C         Any suggestions very welcome Stephen White P.S. As an aside Wyeast has recently become available here (in NZ) and is well worth trying.

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