A question for those with brewing experience.

I have never brewed with rice, so I am not aware what the difference is between broken and whole grain rice. I will say that when it comes to ingredients, technique cannot make up for an ingredient of inferior quality. If the difference is one of processing the rice that does not affect the quality, there should be no difference. If one is a better quality product, you won't make up for the difference through technique.

 

The end effect would be small if at all. It could lead to minor oxidation if left for a long time. But you need to know that some homebrewers brew with grains crushed at an online company and shipped to them and they make good beer. You can buy 50 lb bags of crushed malt.

Three Sticks was know for being all about the quality* of the beer, including the ingredients. It may not be so quality focused these days, as the Brazilians have an eye on the bottom line.


* quality in the manufacturing sense, making a defect free product that meets the customer expectations.

 

I really don't see why there's any need to specifically bash inbev over the use of broken or whole rice when used as an adjunct in budweiser / other cheep beer products. You could bash them for lots of other reasons! I mean how many of us are really such connoisseurs of American adjunct lagers that this is going to have a large effect on our overall well-being?

As far as homebrewers go, just use whole rice if you want to use rice as an adjunct.

 

Brewing with crushed grains that have been sitting in a crushed state for a long time can lead to grassy off flavors. Im not sure this applies to rice. With AB's high turnover im not sure how long these rice grains would be sitting from processing to brewing. It's hard to hide off flavors in a light lager so I doubt there is any negative impact on the beer from using crushed rice. I think people just like to bitch about Inbev.

 

Shouldn't have much affect as the rice is only used to up the alcohol and keep the body frail. For a flavorless beer like Bud, only the protein content of the rice matters much

 

You need to do a cereal mash first for corn or rice. You know that, right?
Or you get flaked rice or corn, which have been pre gelantinized.

 

Not saying it isn't a less expensive ingredient or a lighter flavor, but I did stumble across this article while browsing the interwebs and found it an interesting read:

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/30/food/fo-beer30

 

Oh my. Does this mean that Budweiser will no longer be delicious?

Seriously, my only concern would be what hopfenunmaltz said. Oxidation over time.

 

Stupid question... how finely do you grind your flaked maize/corn for the mash? I've been thinking of doing a milk stout with some flaked maize in it, but wasn't sure how it needs to be processed.

 

You know, I haven't used flaked maize, but I would probably do what I always do with other flaked grains, i.e. run it through the grain mill and say "Well that didn't do anything," then mix it with the other grains.

 

I learned the hard way to not put flaked grains in the mill when I first started. I mixed in a lb of flaked barley or something with my grain mill and ran it all through the mill. It clogged it up pretty good and took forever to run through the mill. The brew store guys had to help me and were none too pleased. Flaked grains dont need to be milled.

 

Flaked maize and rice are just about gone when the mash is all done. You can just mix in with the grist and mash in.

 

I am pretty sure you dont have to mill flaked grains, but I generally run it through with my other grains anyways.

 

Glad to know I'm not the only one that says this to myself every time I brew a wit bier, lambic or oatmeal stout.

 

I routinely run it through the mill with everything else, though I don't know if that's strictly necessary. Never had a problem with it. Not sure what you might have done differently.

 

Thanks. That helps a lot.

 

Your grain mill not be set as tight. Flaked grains dont need to be milled though. The point to milling grain is to crack the husk to get to the starch. Flaked grains dont have a husk. My LHBS has a sign over the grain mill stating "no flaked grains". YMMV.

 

I recently posted the below in another thread which may have prompted drtth to make his OP:

“It is only fair to give Anheuser-Busch kudos for resisting the move to use cheaper broken rice in the past. As a homebrewer I am very uncertain what the flavor/beer difference would be between brewing with broken rice vs. whole grains but there must have indeed been a reason for using whole grains.”

So, as you can read in my above statement I personally don’t know what the consequences are to the quality (where quality = quality in the manufacturing sense, making a defect free product that meets the customer expectations) of the beer but I am sure that there must be a consequence otherwise Anheuser Busch would have switched to using broken rice prior to the acquisition by InBev.

I use flaked maize all the time in the making of my CAP beers. I have never milled flaked maize.

Cheers!