StillSmart

Out of boredom, I watched a couple of episodes of "Moonshiners".

I know that the programmes are basically a load of hyped up bollocks, but I was curious about his mash.

Corn mash, presumably ? Is it malted in some way ? Or what ?

How would you actually process/prepare corn meal/ground maize for fermentation ?

You would need to add malted barley or enzymes. I've done it with the regular enzymes (Alpha and Gluco) and also with Diazyme (you can read about it on Modern Distiller). It is a PITA to stir and mix once it gelatinizes. Mighty tasty result, though.


Chuck

Hum? I wonder if there's an idiots guide site about how this is done ?

As soon as you mentioned enzymes etc, it went straight over my head. I know bog all about beers, mashing, converting and the like.

Hence an idiot guide would be great to start to get a handle on how to actually start in the first place.....

Here is a good guide to doing a sour mash, the cook is the hardest bit, I found it pretty unworkable with the equipment I was using.

Ok TVM for that CC. It'll give me something to have a read through. I basically just wanted to try making some "corn whisky" type moonshine to see what its like but I know bog all about mashing etc.....

With Diazyme there is no cooking. Just add ground grain, water, Diazyme, yeast, and relax. Aidan has been looking for a European source. There is a similar product called StarGen SG2.


Chuck

Hi Phantom: There is insufficient sugars in corn to ferment. The corn kernal is made up of starch, as with other grains. And this is why grain is malted. the natural enzymes converts starch to sugar at the beginning of germination. Cooking will convert starch to sugars

However, you can also convert the starch with enzymes. The enzymes in spit will do the job. Try a small piece of bread in your mouth and let is sit a while. It gets sweet. Spit is unacceptable so the addition of store bought enzymes or what I use, the juice from fresh ginger.

I have not tried it, but you can purchase the enzyme used to convert the starch in rice to sugar. Cant remember the name off hand.

If you try making a pure corn whiskey, start with a crushed corn but not corn flour. Good luck.

I watched this series on tv and i read all over about how crucial it is to have sterilized areas / equipment and cant let fly's in etc but these guys are doing it in the middle of a forest how can that be clean.. why is the yeast not getting infected and dying.

RumJohn: Spit may be acceptable if you don't tell anyone I think you are thinking of Koji (Aspergillus oryzae) which is what the Japanese use to make Sake. It is a bit of a process, harder than mashing malted grains.

Richy: Sanitation is less crucial with a product that will be distilled than with beer or wine. Is it possible to distill some nasty tasting / smelling washing into a nice drink.

Chuck

Chill: Koji - that's it. Thanks. In China they have a different name again. Only tried it once and then went to ginger juice which works fine.

I rinse my equipment but don't sterilize anything. I don't use an airlock either and will keep the fermentation tank uncovered the first day to allow exposure to natural yeasts. There is heaps of them out there and a sterile environment is difficult to maintain.

Well I'm gonna read the .pdf that Capt-Cudellez posted for me in a minute.......

I was hoping that there might be an off the shelf enzyme for this, because not being a beer maker I don't have a mash tun or boiler etc. Plenty of fermentation buckets normally for my wines, meads and cider etc so to be able to just get a bag of flaked maize and mix it in with water and enzyme would be ideal.

I'd be quite happy messing with my smart still to get something to drink/try, hell even if I have to just so a max everything stripping run, then let it down to do a spirits run, that'd be Ok. It's just a case of seeing something that I know works, but not having tried it myself as I'm pretty happy making sugar turbo neutrals etc and commercial flavouring essences.....

Now at least, I can start the search for the enzyme off the shelf too...........

The enzymes I got from someone who imported them from the US.

There should be enough emzymes in the malt you add to do the job too. The problem with the emzymes I got was it was active in a narrow temp range (85oC+ I think from memory) but the mixture went like wall paper paste at about 60oC. So I didn't get the conversion I was after.

If I was using a direct fired pot (I don't have a pot big enough) and a paint stirrer on a drill, I reckon I could have got it working. I have the materials on hand to make a manifold to inject the mash with steam from my keg boiler to cook it in my big mash tun, hope to give this ago in the next few months.

The cold enzymes that chill was on about sound amazing, if I could get them, I would love to give that a try.

CC (AKA "Al Q" on MD, fatbloke)

Well having now read the .pdf that CC posted for me, as nice as it would be to try that, it's not gonna happen as it's too much hard work especially with nosey neighbours......

So I'll have to search for the enzyme and try that approach. It's likely to be less smelly and more discrete. I mean, it's likely that the wash will stink a bit when distilled anyway, especially the first stripping run, so it'd be best if I could keep such issues to a minimum...........

Hey ho, off too search.

Oh and TVM too CC for posting the .pdf and to pintoshine too for producing it. Brilliant, an excellent read.

Well the only stuff I could find about the diazyme brewing enzyme is the "Danisco" .pdf about brewing enzymes - though nothing about where it might be bought in smaller quantities.

Virtually nothing about "Stargen SG2" other than it's main corporate connection and that it might be available through a place in Hertfordshire, but nothing about minimum quantities and identifying it from the local agents listing was damn near impossible.

But, I figured a look at Brouwland might be worth the effort. There's a number of listings for "brewing enzymes" and the one that seemed most likely from the rather minimal descriptions was Brewferm beerzym MULTI 100 ml. My problem is lack of knowledge about such things and beer making in general. Not knowing arse from elbow is rather a hinderance with this kind of thing. Because what with making keg steam boilers and all that kind of stuff to make a mash, without even thinking about other issues probably means it's a no-no for me......

Which is rather a shame as I'd like to have given it a try.......

I got my Diazyme from the USA:
http://www.beutilityfree.com/Fuel/yeast%20and%20enzymes

They were very helpful about shipping to Canada, thought it was a bit costly. There is a Flat Rate Box that the US Postal Service has. The plastic one pint bottles would fit (at least two) if you can convince them to use that box. This would be a lot cheaper.

The no-cook enzymes don't produce any odour during fermentation, beyond that of the grain itself (like cooking oatmeal). So far the stripping run has been stinky, I am not sure why as the wash does not seem so. It might be form a secondary infection with something as my first washes were slow as they were too cold and not finely ground enough.

Chuck