malty firstgold brew (sutton entry 1 of 2)

[Gurgeh]

My imagination stops short when i think about 'names' for beers. can't generally be arsed as it's not like i'm selling the stuff...

so i'm brewing 37Litres (8 gallons) of this

OG.1.046 31 IBU

6.5Kg MO
600g maize
600g crystal (basically very similar to london pride grist)

75g progress x 75 minutes
80g firstgold x 15 minutes
20g firstgold x 0 minutes

I'll ferment in two buckets - one with crouch vale yeast, the other with charles wells yeast.

I'll bottle 2 gallons of each beer, so that the best of the two can be entered in sutton, the remaining 2 gallons of each will be combined into one cornie. I know that's not SOP, but needs must!

[Matt]

How about 'Robin Hood's Gold'

[pantsmachine]

THE Crystal Maize?

[Toast]

THE Crystal Maize?

That is superb. I salute you sir!

[adm]

Why would you use Maize instead of barley in a beer?

The only reason I ask is that I would have thought that corn was an ingredient used for the sake of cheapness vs. quality - i.e. Budwieser etc...

I can see rice being used in Asian style beers, but wouldn't have thought maize to be a sought after flavour enhancer. What flavours does it bring out?

[Gurgeh]

Maize is quite a common adjunct in fact. it's not used as a cost saving alternative to malt, but lightens the beer and in this case balances out the crystal.

the ratios i've used are based on GW's FLP clone. i've brewed that clone several times and used that grist as a starting point when planning other recipes.

[Aleman]

I would have thought that corn was an ingredient used for the sake of cheapness vs. quality - i.e. Budwieser etc...

Actually Budweiser is made with 30% rice . . . and the rice is actually more expensive than the malt used by AB.

Corn syrup is used to cheapen beer kits and is made chemically rather than using a mash.

Corn does have a place in traditional US Beers a pre Prohibition American Pilsner would have been made with around 2-30% maize, and the reason for this is that the US 6 Row barley is very high in nitrogen and would have had a haze. . . . adding the corn which is low in Nitrogen dilutes the protein so that the beer is clear. . . . Corn also adds a creamy sweetness to a beer. As has already been said it does thin the beers body (in the case of rice it is also a flavour dilutant), but not by an excessive effect.

If using polenta, grits or corn meal a cereal mash must be used which is a bit like a decoction, but during the boil (of the cereal mash) the starches are released and gelatinised, when the cereal mash is added back to the main mash the starches can then be converted.

If using flaked maize the starch has been pre gelatinised so they can be used directly in the mash tun.

[pantsmachine]

I'm not a big fan of budweiser that's brewed here in the UK. Drank the real thing when was in the states and enjoyed it. Nice light sweet with vanilla flavour beer, good in the florida climate. Shame the version that's made in the uk is so pish.

[Stonechat]

How about....."Fer Pete's Sake".