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Cereal Mashing with corn grits

twhitaker

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;D To those who have wondered about doing a cereal mash for cream ales or other brews and been advised against it, I say try it. You will be amazed.
I have read and found that in the Beersmith authors opinion;  since  flaked corn has made into the regular supplies of Homebrew suppliers that there is no longer a  need to do a cereal mash. Well I recently found myself not wanting to order and pay shipping on a small amount of flaked corn and opted to buy corn grits from the local bulk food store and do a cereal mash instead for my favorite cream ale recipe. An online B.Y.O. article and recipe called "Cream Police" was used as a basis for a concurrant cereal mash- mash the grits with a bit of malt separately at the same time as the main mash is holding at a protein rest temperature. Everything else was the same except for the cereal mash replacing flaked corn. Today I poured one from the keg to taste test. Let me tell you the difference is like night and day. The cereal mash beer is far superior in flavour, body, mouth feel and overall just a great beer. I will never use flaked corn again. My efficencies were better than usual, better than anticipated by the software and didn't take too much longer. It was hard stirring the grit mash though and when boiling  it needed constant scraping of the bottom to keep from sticking. The mash was quite thick, i started it out thin but it thickened quickly. Next time I will use more strike water with the grits. To quote the BYO author, a cereal mash is indeed a great tool for the brewer to have under his belt for any situations that may call for it.
 
twhitaker said:
I say try it. You will be amazed.
...opted to buy corn grits... Let me tell you the difference is like night and day. The cereal mash beer is far superior in flavour, body, mouth feel and overall just a great beer.

I'll second this. I make CAP using polenta, instead of the hominy grits, but it's the same sort of difference. I start with 3 quarts of water per lb of polenta/malt. About 20% of my cereal step is malt and I hold at conversion temps.

The 2013 AHA BOS winner (Homebrewer of the Year) was an American Light Lager, which uses polenta, cooked in the microwave.
 
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