I hung my malting barley I grew this year from twine from the ceiling in my shed until I had time to thresh and winnow it. Something ate it, all of it. It was probably red squirrels that climbed up to the ceiling and down the twine. All I’m left with is straw for the chicken coop. Bummer!
Its not too bad in that I didn’t get a huge crop but I did learn a lot about growing barley (and obviously storing barley). I think I’ll buy some seed to get my malting system down then try again next year.
I planted a little barley in our garden plot. Once the kernels were getting mature, something ate it. Could be anything from squirrels to turkeys. Had to give growing barley a try but it was varmint feed.
are you sure it didn’t shatter and fall to the ground?
once dry I put mine in a retired fermenter bucket. still waiting to winnow and finish threshing.
All grain goes in buckets for me now since I lost nearly 50 lb of munich to cockroaches this summer. (they didn’t eat it all but I felt uneasy about using it when they were all crawling around in there.)
I will never complain about fruit flies again…
:o
One bundle was on the ground, I assume something knocked it off while climbing on it.
I don’t know whether this extends to fruit flies, but house flies are purported to be filthier than cockroaches. Google offers lots of information, but here is a recent article:
http://www.wtsp.com/story/life/2014/08/14/are-flies-dirtier-than-roaches/14073699/
That said, I’d have discarded the grain as well. I’m proud of never begrudging the time to clean gear, but there are some things I just can’t imagine washing off.
haha yeah flies are pretty nasty but ususally your grains wouldn’t be absolutuly crawling with them. I keep my grain in air tight dog food containers or small buckets for my specialty grains. I just meant to say when making meads the fruit flies often take over for awhile until the vinegar traps get them under control. They are certainly gross but thankfully not (visually at least) crawling all over my brewing ingredients lol.
we make lots of mead and have just gotten kind of used to them. We sometimes have to put a napkin over our glasses of mead while drinking them. I did have good luck this year using mead as a trap. I put 1/2 cup in a pint mason jar and made tiny wholes in the cover with a finish nail. Now I have half a cup of cranberry mead vinegar full of fruit flies and with a mother but much fewer live fruit flies than most years at this time.
So glad I started t use vinegar traps this year. Cheap and effective. Flies are incredibly gross. Just another reason I don’t brew in the summer, as I do not want that in my wort.
I guess I’m a real country boy. Flies and such don’t gross me out. Just part of life. We consume all sorts of things. Its the sterility of the modern world that messes up immune systems and makes some sick.
Oh I don’t kill all the fruit flies because I’m worried about germs from them… I kill them because they annoy the crap out of me flying around in my face…
Well, I’ve lived in the country for most of my life, and the things that I see flies like are crap, garbage, and mold. The first one in particular grosses me out, and I do not want that on me.
I guess I’m fine with them while brewing until I’m enjoying the finished product. The boil, fermentation, and alcohol takes care of most of the gross stuff.
If the weather is nice, I brew outside. Bees are my annoyance (they’re attracted to the sweet smell of wort) so I stir in a bit of DME into an Erlenmeyer flask of water. The bees enter but cannot get out. I feel bad about it but its not worth getting stung.
Do you have a severe reaction to bee stings? Otherwise it seems pretty unnecessary. I also doubt it decreases your chance of getting stung which is already minimal if your careful to not crush or swat a bee.