Trivial Corn question...

[admiralty]

So I don't do bourbon, but a friend and I were talking and wondered if anyone ever uses fresh (undried) corn at harvest time? I know everyone uses dried for obvious reasons the rest of the year and maybe I'm not looking in the right places- I sure can't find a reference to doing it that way.

Any thoughts? Ever tried?

[Huffy2k]

It's my understanding that any corn that is harvested by a combine must be already dried on the stalk. Moisture content should be around 14% so the combine can effectively harvest. While 14% is adequate for harvesting,  we have our farmer dry our corn further for long term storage. Couldn't imagine using fresh corn for mashing..

[HedgeBird]

I have not heard of anyone using fresh un-dried feed corn, probably because its not really available like Huffy said.  I know there are a number of folks who have done sweet corn liquor, some without mashing as modern sweet corn is already filled with sugar.  Lots of info on the home-distiller based forums.  If using sweet corn some might argue that it would actually be a vegetable liquor (brandy perhaps?) and not a whiskey, as apparently corn is actually a vegetable, a grain, and a fruit at different times..

[SpiritedConsultant]

I would imagine fresh corn being a nightmare to mill and difficult to mash. It is definitely doable to work with sun-dried corn though.

[Silk City Distillers]

 

On 3/7/2019 at 9:31 PM, Huffy2k said:

Couldn't imagine using fresh corn for mashing..

Agree, what would the workflow even look like?  Shuck corn by hand and then manually cut off the kernels?

On 3/8/2019 at 9:31 AM, HedgeBird said:

I have not heard of anyone using fresh un-dried feed corn, probably because its not really available like Huffy said.  I know there are a number of folks who have done sweet corn liquor, some without mashing as modern sweet corn is already filled with sugar.  Lots of info on the home-distiller based forums.  If using sweet corn some might argue that it would actually be a vegetable liquor (brandy perhaps?) and not a whiskey, as apparently corn is actually a vegetable, a grain, and a fruit at different times..

I was always under the impression that the total fermentables from fresh sweet corn were actually considerably lower than dry feed corn.

[HedgeBird]

2 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

I was always under the impression that the total fermentables from fresh sweet corn were actually considerably lower than dry feed corn.

That may very well be true; I honestly have no idea.  I know in the conversations I have read it was pointed out that if using sweet corn you should get it fermenting quickly as the sugars begin converting to starch immediately after picking; or blanch it after picking to stop the conversion to starch.  I will point out again that this info was not from a commercial distillery, and I cant imagine it being practical in anyway.

[captnKB]

an average ear of corn has 800 kernels......oh wait this isnt corn trivia? 

I cant even begin to imagine the mess that would be trying to use fresh corn. Most folks use some variety of dent corn as it is simple, has high yield, and is scalable 

[admiralty]

14 hours ago, captnKB said:

an average ear of corn has 800 kernels......oh wait this isnt corn trivia?

 

I'm starting to wonder if I have 800 kernels between my ears...

Anyway, thanks. I hadn't thought about the starch conversion. I was sort of running the assumption that the lack of water was most of what we were talking about and the mass of fermentables wouldn't shift that much.

For shucking I don't see it at scale, but as usual some good ol' boy engineering with a screw, cordless drill and a loop are available on Youtube solves the picnic size problem.