"Hey boys, I made my first all corn wort the other night and I'm not to sure about the smell.

I used all whole corn, steeped the corn till it was soft, then blended the whole corn to a paste. I then reheated the corn mash to sparge temperature and held there for a couple hours. I used enzymes to convert sugars, then a boil to sterile.

The wort taste fine, it's like sweet watered down corn flavor but the smell is rancid. My question is, what does a corn mash/wort smell like? I assumed it would smell like then water left over from a corn boil.

I just pitched the yeast and going to go ahead with the fermentation, then decide whether to dump the batch after it is run through the kettle and sampled unless this really pukey smell is a classic sign of an infection. I used live stock feed corn.

Comments appreciated!!"

This shouldn't be done yet as of this date but wondering did it ever take off and start a ferment????

Ya know a sour mash wash will smell kinda pukey like ---- REALLY! I know what that sounds like but when you ferment on the grain that's kinda the way it is, even if your wash smells bad give it time to finish the ferment and run it, it may be the best ever. If it sucks canal water (the distillate I mean) then you gave it your best shot and maybe even learned something NOT to do next time. Good luck with it though.

Good to hear sir.
I'm considering what to do with 10 55 gallon food grade drums of silo dried food grade corn.

I'm looking into the distilling and fermentation kits. I've never done this before but I think it will be fun.

550 gallons of corn is a lot of corn, you could stay busy all winter mashing, fermenting, distilling, drinking.

What kind of kits are we talking here? If you plan on spending the money on kits only to remove the flavor after distilling, I ask, why spend the money on the kits when sugar will do the same. Forgive me if you plan on pot running the kits.

The Brewhaus is very nice, it's simple to use, being all stainless its easy to clean and it stays shiny as it should, it's a beautiful piece of work. But you need to buy copper packing from time to time as copper in the column during reflux runs makes the sprit taste so much better. A copper still will make a different tasting product but, my opinion, that only matters if you are going to run a lot of runs in pot mode.

The PS11 is all you would ever need for your personal consumption as you can easily make 2 to 3 gals of 186 proof a day.

Good question, I have the 8 gal pot that came with the ps11. I guess you could use a brush on a handle. PBW is a great cleaner for stainless. Mix up a batch in hot water and let it soak, rinse and you are clean and sanitized, no scrubbing required. I only just started using PBW and I thought my kettle was always clean before until I cleaned it with PBW and watch the stainless shine like new again. I poured out the PBW mixture and it was black.

Powered Brewery Wash(PBW), can be bought pretty much anywhere at the homebrew shops. In Canada I paid $9 dollars a pound but I just found a place that wants $6 so I'll be getting it there next time. PBW was invented for the Coors Brewing Company, they fill the brewery with a PBW solution and let it soak, with all the pipes in a brewery that can't reached, this stuff is great for cleaning without scrubbing.

I never liked spending money on cleaners, like that Pink and White stuff from the homebrew store used for cleaning wine equipment, but now I swear by PBW.

As long as you are carful not to add solids to your kettle when you fill it, you shouldn't scorch any solids in you pot anyways. I always rack over to the kettle trying not to get any solids. As soon as the run is over, I put on leather gloves, take the tower off the kettle and pore the leftover wort out, then rinse the kettle out. Once the tower cools, I pull the copper packing out and rise it with vinegar, rinse the vinegar off with water, lay the copper out flat to dry.

Give Google a search if you're not close to a homebrew shop.

Aluminum, you're safe.

Give this a read

http://www.fivestarchemi...tent/uploads/PBWTech.pdf

And if your not distilling on the grain, A good rince after your run should do it
If not OxiClean works very well and is cheap(and alot like PWD)

Edited by user Monday, January 05, 2015 1:30:46 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Sorry, I missed it when you asked about the aluminum keg being safe to use as a pot, I thought you meant PBW as a cleaner on aluminum. I was fed a good many boiled dinners out of an aluminum pot by my mother, but maybe that's what's wrong with me. My personal choice in life has been stainless. Somewhere sometime ago I read that aluminum cooking pots could be linked to Alzheimer's, I don't bake potatoes anymore wrapped in aluminum foil and they have yet to prove aluminum is the cause. It's your choice.

The neighbour that lives two miles down the road has an aluminum keg, he said he's had it 25 years, they did come in aluminum.