# Malting corn



## alan anderson (Mar 2, 2014)

Why do you malt the corn for mash? I tried to sprout some and malt it by the directions.[wet,let sprout,remove roots,dry and grind it up.] This stuff is nasty,smells like vomit.I use to be a heavy drinker,all day every day[been sober 23 years now].I wouldn't drink this stuff on a dare.

Is malted corn used to replace the yeast? Anybody have a recipe they would share? Pm me if you don't want to publicly post it.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

The malted grain has an enzyme (Amylase) that will convert starches into sugar for fermenting. You don,t use all malt, just a small amount in with your other grain/s and add heat at a specific temp for a specific time until the starches are converted and you have a nice, sweet wurt. 
It sounds like you let your corn get too "hot" and it soured. There are recipes a plenty and other info here...
http://homedistiller.org/


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Yes to what Vicker says, but in addition, various grains produce different levels of amylase needed to break down the starches.

Barleys are recognized as the top enzyme producers, and it is common to mix a measure of sprouted barley along with your other sprouted grain, usually wheat. The exta enzymes that barley produces helps chop up the starches in the other grains.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Yes, bourbon makers usually use around 6% malted barely, if I remember right. When you mash it all together you end up with a very sweet and pleasant tasting wort.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

You can make straight corn whiskey and use corn for your malting. Corn is fairly easy to malt, as the grains are relatively large. But, you can't just wet it and wait for it to sprout. You should soak it for a while to get it hydrated, and then lay it out on wet blankets or something and turn it frequently so it doesn't get too "hot". You want it to sprout, not ferment and mold. Once you get good sprouts you need to dry it gently, but quickly, Break the sprouts off and you have your malt. You don't want to grind it too fine, the corn or the malt, but crack it. Too fine and you have a problem with it clotting up and sticking to the bottom when you cook it, and there won't be enough fiber to easily run water through it in your mash tune. If you can only grind it fine you can add wheat hulls, or other small grain hulls to give you the flow through that you need. You mix your grains and malt and it has to be held at a pretty specific -+ temp until you get the long starches converted to simple sugars. That can be tricky when working with small batches, but in, say, thirty gallon batches the residual heat is usually enough, maybe wrap a blanket around it once you get it near but below the high range.
Making alcohol is not rocket science, but you're not going to just boil some sprouted corn, run it through a still and get alcohol, much less something drinkable. It is pretty much the same as making beer, except you distill the beer. There is plenty of info out there on doing both. There are byproducts of the distillation process that can make you sick or worse. Find out what those are.


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

Or you could get a bunch of people together, chew the corn and spit in a crock and make chincha :nana:


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## alan anderson (Mar 2, 2014)

Vicker Thanks for the link.It was very helpful.

MichaelK,have not been able to find any barley malt at the local Walmart.

Riverdale,I can use all the help I can get,since I don't have a single tooth left.The wife hides my dentures because I'm bad about biting her on the ear.


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## ||Downhome|| (Jan 12, 2009)

The byproducts vicker talks about are deadly poisons.

the process breaks down as the Head,Heart, and Tail.

The head is first to distill and its got the real bad stuff, the Heart is what you want but not tail. 

The point where you switch is the cut, to much head or tail and you got popskull.

Find a brew shop ,you will find Malt.


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## bryant (Aug 8, 2014)

Making malt is, as Vicker says, fairly easy. I malt barley, corn and rye for my distillations. The easiest way is to soak the grain for a day or two, then spread it out on old window screens in a space like a barn, every day you will turn the grain. The Large Distilleries use a floor that has air holes and they use rakes to turn the grain. 

Once you have the sprouts at the same length as the kernel or even up to 1.5 the length of the kernel, it is time to dry the grain. The process of drying for me includes smoking the malt, this gets the drying started, then warm air is used to complete the process (this is why I like old window screens), make this part easier and faster. 

In the drying process, you are going to be turning the grain and this action will usually break off the sprouted root tips. Once again the window screens are a big help since those broken root tips will usually fall through the screen. The next step is to make your mash, a process that a lot of beginners mess up quite well. I use corn for most of my mashes. This can be cracked corn or even a coarse corn meal it is cooked for up to two or three hours, you want to gelatinize the corn starch. Next is the addition of the malt, put in when the mash cools to around 75 degrees, you don't want to kill the enzymes you worked to create in the malt. If you have enough enzymes in the malt, the mash will begin to liquefy after a while( which can be up to two days later for a pure malted mash, some folks add commercially prepared enzymes to help speed up this part of the process.)

At this point you can add some sugar to raise the quantity of alcohol produced or not, this is a matter of personal choice. You then will thin the Mash to a thick soup consistency (the temp should be around 67-74 degrees f by now), toss in the yeast, seal with an air lock and let it sit to ferment. (All this takes place one step after the other so the mash doesn't go cold and need to be reheated). 

After 5-7 days the mash should be ready for the distillation step.

during distillation, the first quart or two are simply tossed, this cut will contain methanol and other bad compounds, it will also smell terrible, it does have uses like lighter fluid or paint stripper though. From that point you are into heads, the alcohol content will a little low and still have some bad compounds in it, these are usually saved to reclaim the alcohol in a later run of heads and tails. The hearts will smell sweet and taste wonderful, then begin to taste more and more like the grain used, this is the point where the Tails begin, usually out of ten quarts collected, the first two will be heads and the last two will be tails. The middles will be the "good stuff". 

Heads and Tails can be combined, diluted with pure water and put through the still again, this will give you more product that is good, the same foreshot, heads, tails separations will be made.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

"Vicker! We're over here."

I'm always amazed at the combined knowledge of everyone at HT. Always truly interesting stuff.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Bryant, " (the temp should be around 67-74 degrees f by now)" are you sure you don't mean degrees C here?


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## joens (Aug 23, 2013)

vicker said:


> Bryant, " (the temp should be around 67-74 degrees f by now)" are you sure you don't mean degrees C here?


degrees F is correct the yeast has a narrow temp window where it thrives


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