"I've read about using all of these. Flaked is the easiest, followed by cracked, and then whole kernel.

I'm a beer maker, and have a grain crusher (corona mill).

I look online and it's 52.99 plus shipping for flaked maize, and it's ~$12 for 50 lbs of cracked or whole kernel corn at my local feed store. Because of this I'm more inclined to give the feed store a go.

Malting corn, removing the endosperms, drying, then crushing sounds like a pain in the butt but I'll give it a go if I'm convinced it's worth it. If it isn't can I substitute cracked corn for the same volume of flaked corn in a recipe.

Basically I want to be convinced I shouldn't buy flaked maize/corn and should go with the local feed store. Thoughts? (fyi I know not to get corn coated in anything)"

"Flaked will do anything most of us want. Why not just use the Tried and true recipes and once you've made em a few times you will be able to see the difference between them.
The feedstore cracked corn will do but is gonna have extra goodies like rocks and dirt and cob bits, none of that will kill your wash or even be noticed in your likker but it just the idea I guess.
The flaked you get from the brewshop will be clean and do all you expect. But again try em all and let us know what YOU find works best for you."

The flaked corn is pre-gelatinized but not malted. So the advantage it you don't have to cook it you just have to bring it up to mash temp and then add your malt of choice.
Easier to work with doesn't neccesarily mean any difference in end product. But i could see the time savings being worth the money for some people.

Flaked corn shouldn't be confused with corn flakes which contain malted barley. Too bad they weren't cheap.

The cracked can be gelatinized after a boiling cook of two hours or better. Ive never used whole corn straight out of the bin. I do remember as a kid we had to soak the whole corn overnight before slopping the hogs. Good info to have if that's all that's available.( whole corn )

"


What are you going to use for malt??:)"

What would pouring 3gal boiling water on 7lbs of cracked corn and left overnight do to the corn?

I just put together a cracked corn recipe (sugarhead with boiled cracked corn).

7 lbs cracked corn, boiled (for too short a time, but I feared scorching the pot). Transferred to a bucket and capped it. I had to leave for about 3 hours for another obligation. When I got back, the stuff was really thick.

Boiled up some water & lemon juice and dropped it on 7 lbs of sugar in the fermenter, added some yeast nutrients, then put the boiled corn in the fermenter. Added some cold water to bring down the temp (still had to drop a milk jug filled with ice to bring it down some more).

I checked SG and it was ~1.0681 (I fear the starches in the corn may have interfered with the reading, but owell...).

Added some Beano, stirred, then pitched distillers yeast. Aerated for an hour. Foam cap had already formed. Capped the fermenter and retired for the night.

This morning, the heavenly aroma of bread filled the house. And it sounds like Rice Crispies in the fermenter.

Oh, and the Blichmann burner ROCKS!

It was about 8 gallons or more. But once the ferment ended, I scooped out the spent corn and was only left with ~4 gallons of liquid.

If you can get some Beano, put it in the corn when the temp gets down to ~100 degrees (or Gluco-Amylase Enzyme [Amyloglucosidase] when the temp gets down to ~150 degrees). That will thin down the corn slurry in a hurry.

If it helps, you can use a Rubbermaid BRUTE 20 gallon trash barrel. They are food grade. I just put a light blue trash bag over the top for my cap. Poke a few holes so it can "breathe".

Ditto on that. I still have 28 lbs of corn left myself. Might as well use that on up.

Manuel Labor ? I thought he was the prime minister of economics in Mexico