Corn mash with Koji

[rhinus]

Hey Guys,

I have done several rice wine runs using Koji and the product was very good but labor intensive. In converting the starches in rice, I only use red rice yeast (Monascus Purpureas) and koji (Aspergillus Oryzae). As my first attempts were successful, I wondered if I could get it to work on corn. Not much research is out there but I did find one guy who tried it with nixtamalized corn (masa). He doesn't report back about whether he succeeded or not.

So I just started up a batch this week. I boiled 4 gallons of water and then added 4 kg of masa. I let this steep overnight and added more water and the two types of koji - nothing else. I stirred it vigorously for a while and then airlocked it. For 3 days, I waited and nothing really happened. No bubbles, no sound when I listened to the side of the fermenter. On day 4, the airlock started to bubble and it has been bubbling constantly since. This is promising but I have no idea what to expect. I'm not sure when it will be done, how much conversion will take place, or how it may taste.

Anyone else have any experience with grain conversion without malted grain or with koji? What was your experience?

I will keep you all posted.

Rhinus

[RumJohn]

@Rhinus: Koji will work on corn. In some African countries they use saliva to get the process going for making beer.

[chill]

While true, I am NOT leading the charge on a All Grain Saliva Wash. Looking forward to Rhinus' results. I have some frozen Koji that I need to use for something.

[Easydrinker]

What a sheltered life I have led;I had to google Koji!
Robert.

[rhinus]

Yeah Chill,

I'm not sure there would be any takers for that Saliva Wash. I will keep you all posted. It's been a week and its still bubbling away. I'm curious how it will turn out. It definitely has a different smell than pure corn. The corn smell is still there but there is a fruitiness to it also.

[rhinus]

So it's been a super long time since I've been around. Right after I posted the last response here, my wife went into labor - with twins. Needless to say, for the past year, I had no time. I wanted to circle back and report the koji results. After about 8 days, I figured that I got all that I could get out of the wash. The wash looked like fruit punch and smelled like corn with fruit. I can't remember (and have since lost my notes) on the SG it started and ended at.

I used a brew bag to strain the wash out, which was a giant mess because the masa was just sludge. After some trial and error, I got 4+ gallons into my carboy and let it clear. I did four strip runs resulting in enough to make one 30% spirit run. Now the interesting part...I never ran the strip run and just let it sit in a glass gallon jug for a year. I just ran it and it is a mighty fine smelling treat. The fruity hints with the corn are an interesting twist to the normal white dog. Tasting it gives me hope that this experiment plus accident may just be my finest work so far. It is on oak now and I will check its progress in a couple of weeks.

So just to report back, koji does work to create an all grain wash but be prepared for some nasty straining. Seriously, do it outside because you will have a mighty red mess everywhere.

Glad to be back.

rhinus

[chill]

Congratulations on the twins and the wash! Thanks for the update and welcome back.