Corn Flakes

[BigWilley]

I am planning on brewing a "Light Beer" with flaked corn and two row. I used flaked corn once before at another brewery and it was a mess, with a very long runoff. I remember we ran them through the mill which seemed like a mistake because the corn was very powdery unlike flaked barley or oatmeal. I do not have the ability to step mash so what percentage of corn can I get away with and should I dump it right in the grist case? I was thinking along the lines of 20-25% corn and the balance being two row. Will I have enough enzymatic power to convert that much corn?

[kugeman]

Willey,
I did something similar recently with fairly good success. Dump the flakes right in without milling. I also added a sizable amount of rice hulls to aid in runoff, I highly recommend it!

With 20-25% corn I think you'll have enough enzymatic power in the mash. Depending on how "lite" you want your beer to be, you may want to consider adding extra enzymes. In my case I added Convertase (alphaglucosidase) to produce a low-carb beer and attenuation was off the charts. If you decide to add enzymes just know that you won't be able to repitch that yeast crop unless it's into another "lite" beer.

[Cargill Malt]

Corn flakes can be added directly to the mash tun or grist case. There is no reason to mill them. From your description I would think that the powder created in milling clogged your lauter bed and caused the long runoff. Corn inclusion does not increase wort viscosity in any significant way so the mechanical clogging of the bed is the most likely culprit.

You should have plenty of enzyme available to convert the corn. A step mash is not necessary to accomplish this. I would recommend a long-ish conversion in the high 140's if you want a dry product. 45 minutes to an hour should more than cover it. Definitely confirm full conversion with iodine just to be safe. If you check at 30 minutes you might be good to go at that point. If you don't do a mash off step you'll get conversion all the way through vorlauf and lautering anyway.

I would only add additional enzyme if you are trying to get off the chart attenuation as was the goal of Mr Kugeman (low carb and all that). Otherwise Mother Nature should do the trick. Beware the addition of enzyme post cooling as you have no way to shut it off. Your beer will keep getting thinner as time goes on and you will be creating fermenatable sugar in your finished beer. If you must add enzyme, kettle additions are best for this reason.

Good Luck.

Cargill