CHAPTER 6 Building A Corn Cooker - The American Distilling Institute

PROCEDURE
Overnight: Soak 50 lbs. of cracked corn in a tub of hot water. The next day,
drain the tub.
Day Two: Repeat the process.
Day Three: Repeat the process.
[If you are planning to double distill, use three tubs, repeating the process
above to create 120 gallons of wash.]
COOkING THE CORN
1. Set up the cooker (See illustration pg. 28) by inserting the steam pipe
into the wash tub, making sure that it does not touch the bottom. Now add 40
gallons of fresh water to the tub.Turn on the steam and start heating the water
before adding the corn.
Mix 15 lbs of the crushed malted barley into the corn. (This small amount of
barley keeps the corn from becoming a thick porridge). Now, add the mixture to
the mash tub. As the mash heats up and cooks the corn will gelatinize, making
it difficult to stir. If necessary, add more water to mixture. An electric gear tank
mixer (agitator) will make this job easier. It can take a few hours to bring it up
to 212 º F.
Note: The mash water needs to be at least 15 ppm calcium and almost devoid of iron.
The pH should also be adjusted to about 6.0 (Most city water is 8-9 pH.) Not adjusting
pH is the biggest reason mashes fail.
2. Use caution and do NOT rush the cooking process as you are pushing live
steam through a thick mash. This is not for beginners.
3. Cook the mash for 1 hour, then turn off the steam system. Allow the copper
pipe to cool. Use gloves to remove the steam pipe.
4. Insert the copper “coil” heat exchanger into the mash. If you don’t have a
coil, you will have to wait hours for the mash to cool. When the mash has cooled
to 152 º F, remove the coil and use a wooden paddle stirring in 20 lbs. of malted
barley to the wash. Again, the easy way to mix the mash is with an electric, gear
drive tank mixer. Mixing in the barley malt will cool the mash another 10 º F, to
around 145 º F.
At 145 º F to 155 º F barley enzymes will convert corn mash to a sugar wash.
Don’t worry about the starch conversion temperature. If it is between 130 º F
and 160 º F conversion will happen because American 2-row barley has a lot of
enzymes. (Keep the agitator running during starch conversion).
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