Crushed Grain - How old is too old?

Brewing Processes
1

Hi everyone,

I got ambitious last time I went to the homebrew store and bought two bags of crushed grain.  I did one, in fact drinking it now, but I got busy and haven’t gotten around to the second.  It’s probably 4 - 5 weeks old and crushed.  Is it too old now?  I’m figuring we keep flour in the cupboard for weeks/months so not sure why this would be too different but does it go stale?

Of course I’ll give it a look and a sniff but wondering what you folks think?

2

Give it the taste test. If it tastes ok then its probably ok. Where did you have it stored? Was it vacuum sealed or at least sealed? Again, I think you’re going to be ok.

3

It will last for months. Possibly even years is kept sealed. There will be some degradation that starts to happen as soon as it is crushed but flavor wise it takes a long time to notice it.

4

Briess says their pre crushed grain is good for 2 years.  Ive kwpt it 5 months with no problems.  A loy depends oj storage conditions.

5

Thanks all.  It’s just in the brown paper bag I got it in.  I live in Phoenix though so pretty dry conditions.

6

If you have a vacuum sealer and plan to store them longer you might seal them up.

7

The enemy of crushed grain is moisture/humidity more than age per se. If you use those grains before the year 2087, you’ll be fine.

8

This is all anecdotal but if you store it in a cool dry place in a sealed bag I’m thinking it would be good for a few months but if it does get exposed to humidity take some moisture from that it might start breaking down things from the starches and you might not get the best efficiency out of it but as I said cool dry place sealed bag even better if you have food saver.  I used food saver and milled grains and stored them  for 5 months before using it. I did not see a loss in extract or noticeable flavor contributions

9

At one point in time, I would mill my base grain after buying it and store it in vacuum sealed bags made up with a specific batch size expected.  When ready to brew, I had precrushed grains at the ready.  At that time I was buying precrushed specialty malts to add to it at brew day.  I never encountered a problem, but I moved on to milling just before mashing in, while the strike water was heating.