True Grits
Grits are a staple of southern cuisine, served at breakfast or other meals. Grits is a porridge made from boiled corn (maize), and is similar to polenta. Grits can be served hot or cold and is often served buttered or with cheese
Maize (Zea mays), or corn as it is called in the North America, is descended from teosinte, a grass native to Mexico. The domestication of maize involved selecting for traits beneficial to humans and possibly hybridization among one or more of the species of teosinte to breed desired characteristics into the crop. By weight, more corn is harvested than any other grain. (Rice and wheat come in second and third.) Corn is used as food, a source for starch in manufacturing, for biofuel production, converted to silage and used as fodder for animals and, of course, as an adjunct in beer brewing.
Grits are made from degerminated corn and the word “grits” refers to both the dish and degerminated corn used to make it. Germ is the embryo of the corn plant, and this portion of a corn kernel is more oily than the starchy endosperm. One way of degerminating corn is to cook it in an alkaline solution. Grits produced this way are called hominy grits. Grits can also be produced by dry milling. Either type of corn grits can be used for making grits (the dish). In addition, dry-milled grits can be used in brewing. Corn grits produced expressly for brewing are called brewers grits.
Brewing with Grits
Grits are used in the mash and so can be only used with an all-grain or partial mash beer. Simply steeping or boiling the grits would extract only starches and lead to hazy and biologically unstable beer.
The gelatinization temperature of corn starch is 143–161 °F (62–72 °C). In order for the starch-degrading (amylase) enzymes to have access to the starch molecules in grits, they must be cooked so that they fully “gelatinize.”
Cooking any starchy ingredient and adding it to a mash is called cereal mashing. When cereal mashing with grits, they are brought to a boil, along with a small amount (~10%) of crushed malted barley. Once the starches are gelatinized, the cooked grits are stirred into the main mash, composed of malted barley. The heat from the cooked grits raises the temperature of the main mash, usually from a initial low-temperature rest to the temperature range for starch conversion.
The maximum amount of grits you could use in a beer depends on the diastatic power of the malted barley you use. Corn grits do not contain sufficient enzymes to degrade a significant portion of their own starches. Thus, you must rely on the “excess” diastatic power of your malts. Domestic 2-row and 6-row pale malted barley has a lot of diastatic power. (Often around 120 DP for 2-row and 160 DP for 6-row, compared to around 90 for German Pilsner malt and around 50 for British pale malts.) With US 2-row, you can add up to about 30% grits to your grist and perhaps up to 40% when using 6-row.
Here’s how it works on a homebrew scale. For every pound of grits in your recipe, add about a handful of crushed 6-row malt (so roughly 10% of the grits mixture is malt by weight). Add water until the grits mixture is the consistency of a thin mash — around 1.4 qts. of water for every pound (3.0 L/kg) of grits — and begin heating. Stir the grits as you cook them to avoid scorching. The enzymes from the malt will degrade some of the starch from the grits, which will reduce its viscosity. As an option, you can rest for 5 minutes at 150–154 °F (66–68 °C) to get the most from the malt enzymes (even though the bulk of the starch degradation will occur in the main mash). Bring the grits to a boil, stirring often, and boil for 15 minutes. While the grits are cooking, add strike water to your main mash and hold until the grits are ready.
The initial temperature of your main mash depends on what your target mash temperature is and the percentage of grits used. A higher percentage of grits in your recipe means the increase in mash temperature will be greater. Getting the cereal mash to raise the mash the right amount can take some practice. Some brewing software packages let you calculate this. However, in order to be accurate, you need to know the “thermal mass” of your system — essentially, how much heat it will absorb.
In practice, it is easier to simply follow the temperature suggestions of your recipe, and make adjustments as needed. If adding the cooked grits causes you to overshoot your mash temperature, simply stir in some cool water to lower the temperature. If you end up too low after adding the grits, you can add boiling water to make corrections of a couple degrees. For larger corrections, draw off about 20% of the wort, heat it to near boiling and stir it back into the mash. (A heated recirculation loop, can also be used to solve this problem.) If you mash in your kettle, you can add heat directly and I do this whenever I am doing a step mash of any sort, including cereal or decoction mashes. This makes temperature corrections easy, but does mean that you will need to scoop the mash over to your lauter tun when the mash is finished.
The first time you brew using a cereal mash, consider that missing your mash temperature by only a degree or two is not going to ruin your beer. It is possible to turn a perfectly enjoyable brew day into a nightmare by attempting to correct for small differences in temperatures. Adding water multiple times to make temperature corrections leads to overly thin mashes. Likewise, every time you open the mash tun, scoop or otherwise remove small amounts of mash or wort, you are losing heat. Take detailed notes on your first cereal mash brew day — including the weight and temperature of your grist, the volume and temperature of every water addition and the resulting mash temperatures — and your second brew day will go much more smoothly.
With a little extra fuss at mash-in, you can also do a single infusion mash. To do this, cook your cereal mash as described before, but do not mash the rest of your grains in until the cereal mash is cooked. Measure out the correct volume of strike water and dump the cereal mash into your hot liquor tank while the water is being heated. When you hit your target temperature, just use the strike water — with your grits floating in it — to mash in as you normally would. You will need to clean your hot liquor tank after mashing in if you do this.
Once your cereal mash is stirred in and the saccharification rest is complete, proceed with the rest of your brew day as you normally would.
Most homebrew shops don’t carry grits, but you can often find dry-milled grits in the baking aisle of your supermarket. (I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill Corn Grits (Polenta) before, as these are degerminated, dry-milled grits — exactly what you want.) Do not use the instant grits sold in the breakfast food aisle as these often contain other ingredients that you do not want in your beer. (If in doubt, read the label.)
If you’d like to use corn as an adjunct, but wish to avoid the hassle of a cereal mash, you can simply use flaked maize. Flaked maize can be stirred into a mash without any preparation and contributes almost no flavor to a beer while grits can lend a distinct “corny” note, most likely due to flavors developed when the cereal mash is cooked. Of course, corn can also be added in the form of corn sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, but these contribute no corn character what-so-ever.
Zea Mays Hayes (Creamed Corn Ale)
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.044 FG = 1.007
IBU = 15 SRM = 6 ABV= 4.7%
Ingredients
3 lb 12 oz. (1.7 kg) 6-row pale malt
2 lbs. (0.91 kg) 2-row pale malt
3 lb. 6 oz. (1.5 kg) corn grits
3 oz. (0.08 kg) crystal malt (20 °L)
0.5 tsp. calcium chloride (60 min.)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
4 AAU Vanguard hops (60 min.)(1 oz./28 g of 4% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or US-05 yeast (1.5 qt./1.5 L yeast starter)
3/4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Reserve corn grits and approximately 0.5 oz. (14 g) of 6-row malt. In your kettle, mash in the remaining malts with 12 qts. (11 L) of water at 138 °F (59 °C), so the grain bed comes to rest at around 127 °F (53 °C). In a large kitchen pot, combine the grits and reserved 6-row malt with 5 qts. (4.7 L) of water and begin heating this mixture to a boil. Stir the grits mixture frequently. (Option: when you reach 152 °F (67 °C), hold for 5 minutes before resuming heating.) Boil the grits mixture for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir cooked grits into main mash. Your goal is a combined mash temperature of 150–152 °F (66–67 °C). If required, adjust temperature by directly heating the mash, or by adding cool water. Hold at this temperature for 45 minutes, then heat the mash to 170 °F (77 °C), stirring the mash frequently as you heat. Scoop or pour your mash into your lauter tun. (If you have a false bottom, add enough foundation water (at 170 °F/77 °C) to cover it.). Recirculate until the wort clears substantially (but don’t recirculate for more than 20 minutes). Begin running off wort, sparging with 190 °F (88 °C) water until the grain bed temperature reaches 170 °F (77 °C); then add cool water to your hot liquor tank and continue sparging with 170 °F (77 °C) water. (Heat sparge water to a greater temperature if grain bed temperature drops below 168 °F (76 °C). Boil wort for 90 minutes. Ferment at 65 °F (18 °C).
Zea Mays Hayes (Creamed Corn Ale)
(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.044 FG = 1.007
IBU = 15 SRM = 6 ABV= 4.7%
Ingredients
1 lb. 12 oz. (0.79 kg) 6-row pale malt
14 oz. (0.40 kg) 2-row pale malt
1 lb. 3 oz. (0.54 kg) grits
3 oz. (85 g) crystal malt (20 °L)
2 lb. (0.91 kg) Coopers Light dried malt extract (late addition)
1 lb. (0.45 kg kg) corn sugar
0.5 tsp. calcium chloride (60 min.)
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 min.)
4 AAU Vanguard hops (60 min.)(1 oz./28 g of 4% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or US-05 yeast (1.5 qt./1.5 L yeast starter)
3/4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Review the all-grain recipe for the basic idea of cereal mashing. For the partial mash version, boil your grits and about 0.25 oz. (7.1 g) of crushed 6-row malt in a soup pot for 15 minutes. While grits are cooking, add the remaining grains to your brewpot and stir in 5.0 qts. (4.7 L) of water at 138 °F (59 °C). Hold at around 127 °F (53 °C) while grits are cooking. Add cooked grits to brewpot and stir. If temperature is outside the 150–152 °F (66–67 °C) range, add cold water or heat to adjust it. Hold at this temperature for 45 minutes, then heat mixture to 170 °F (77 °C). Scoop the contents of your brewpot to a 2.0-gallon (7.6-L) beverage cooler lined with a large steeping bag. Rinse brewpot. Recirculate, then start collecting your wort. Collect 1-2 cups of wort from the cooler, then gently pour the same volume of hot water (170 °F/77 °C) on the top of your grain bed. Repeat until you have collected 2.25 gallons (8.5 L) of wort. Add sugar and calcium chloride and bring to a boil. Add hops at times indicated. Add malt extract and Irish moss during final 15 minutes of the boil. Cool wort and transfer to fermenter. Top up with cool water to 5.0 gallons (19 L), aerate and pitch yeast. Ferment at 65 °F (18 °C). Rack to secondary to clarify beer. For bottle conditioning, prime with just over a cup of corn sugar (about 6.0 oz./170 g).
