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Buttered Corn on the Cob beer

Northern Brewer General
#1

First post - more of a what-if thread.

Yes I know DMS is bad and I know Diacetyl is bad as well (unless that is what you are shooting for)

Been brewing for a couple years, mostly extract but will be starting some BIAB all grain batches soon

So for a what-if beer

Test batch - 2-3 gallons

4-6 lbs of a pilsner or 2-row
Admiral or Target hops

30 minute boil to allow DMS

Ferment at 80+ (since its summer) to enhance Diacetyl levels

Should turn out to be a buttered corn-on-the-cob beer ?

Yes, I know everything about this is all wrong and I’m not going to try it because I don’t want to waste wort.

But thoughts on this?

#2

You’ll get a lot more than diacetyl if you ferment in the 80’s. Namely fusels.

Fusels are worse than this idea.

Go grill some corn and call it a day :cheers:

#3

If I were to attempt such a thing, I would try to incorporate a “buttered-popcorn” candy like buttered-popcorn Jelly Bellies at the end of the boil, as well as to a secondary carboy near the end of fermentation. A controlled mistake is very difficult to replicate; make your specialty beer by brewing a certain style, then tweak the flavors, aromas and/or body with adjuncts: such as, corn sugar late in the boil, or doing a partial mash with corn; no need to mess-up what you know works!

Additional malty corn-sugary sweetness can be better controlled by doing a small mash (or steep) of corn and six-row malted barley; your local homebrew shop will help you with this.

When fermentation temperature and short boiling times are utilized, there is no way to accurately predict what “off-flavors” will be produced. Be most proud of how you can brew a clean beer!

Hoppy Zymology, :cheers:
Rev. Leonidas

#4

Yeast do produce more diacetyl at higher temperatures, but they also clean it up faster at higher temperatures, too, that usually balances it out at higher temperatures. So if you’re really looking to maximize the diacetyl maybe don’t just ferment warmer than you would otherwise. Also drop the temperature back down to the bottom end of the range shortly before the end of fermentation (and hope you don’t get stuck in the process), and get the beer off the yeast the moment you hit terminal gravity. Also maybe make it a lager instead.

#5

And don’t forget to leave the lid on during the boil to keep in DMS

#6

Sounds absolutely terrible…but go for it and report back!!

#7

If you do this I volunteer to taste it! Send me a bottle.

#8

So you’re suggesting try this but using lager yeast instead?

Just ferment at the higher end of lager temps? Or ferment at ale temps?

#9

I’ll be the guy to say what most people are thinking: why mess with perfectly good beer? :shock:

This goes hand-in-hand with a text exchange I had with a buddy over the weekend:
Him: you ever think about brewing a beer with X?
Me: No. Why do people keep putting weird $hit in beer?

#10

I like the experimentation factor.

So many micro brews out there make fantastic beers, but they all eventually are the same style
over and over and over.

NOT a bad thing at all, I always know where to get good reliable and same tasting beer.

But I want to experiment with different flavors and styles - go totally non-standard.

Over the winter, I did 2 lagers, same recipe except each had a different hop and used
a yeast that is not widely known (got lucky and found it at a local brew house)

Recipe: 3 lbs Pils DME, 3.3 lbs Briess Pilsner LME, and 1oz hops boil time 1 hour - 5 gal batches

1st used 1 oz Cluster pellets @ 1hour

2nd lager used 1 oz Cascade whole leaf hops @ 1hour

Yeast used for both batches was Vierke Lager yeast

Both sat on the yeast for 2months-ish @ lager temps - both came out clear

Can definitely taste the difference between the Cluster and Cascade

Cascade was definitely a little sweeter and a bit more hop smell than the Cluster one

Sure the Cascade is not to style, but it was just a test, and I got 2 cases of each for summer sipping
at only $20 a batch - sure beats the cheap retail stuff!

#11

Extract goes through a boiling process when it’s being made. So most (if not all) of the DMS should already be boiled off

this is why people can add extract late in the boil with no DMS issues

#12

I’d go maybe 60% pilsner and 40% flaked maize. Lid on boil for no more than 15-20 minutes after hot break. WY2308 fermented in the mid-upper 50’s. Do a fast ferment test and then cold crash about 4 points before you hit your terminal gravity.

My prediction is something pretty gross, but you may end up with something similar to buttered popcorn. My money is on something more like margarine-infused cabbage, though. Please follow up on this post if you ever give this a try.

#13

Sounds like an interesting experiment. You might learn more - and pass it on to me - by changing only one variable at a time (fermentation temperature, boil time, and yeast clean up).

At the moment I’m progressively shortening my boil times to experiment with DMS; German beers (in Germany) seem to have much more DMS character than is tolerated in the US and I’d like to find the magic to replicate that character.

#14

Cook some corn in the mash water ??

#15

[quote=“beerme11”]Cook some corn in the mash water ??[/quote]I’ve done this before, not to get buttered popcorn flavor though, I was just doing a light ale. I had 2# frozen corn, pulled off about a gallon of a half of my mash water and boiled the corn for 30 minutes. I then added the rest of the mash water and, brought it up to my desired dough in temperature, mashed in the grain and brewed as usual.

#16

And definitely “dry hop” with salt & pepper

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