At least initially I am hand grinding my grain, so perhaps this doesn’t apply to my situation. Either way, is there any issues with breathing in grain dust? I thought I read something about this in the past.
Secondly, can/ should I chew on the raw grain to sample it.
Yes you can chew the grain. Some recommend doing that to get an idea of the tastes.
As far as dust, in big breweries they use face masks in dusty areas, if you don’t get much dust like I do, I don’t bother.
I believe the grain dust would be considered a nuisance dust unless you are pulverising your grains.
I believe the hazard is simply breathing particulates, not that there is something inherently harmful about it. So it’s no different than any other dust. Small amounts are fine.
This is somewhat beside the topic, but you shouldn’t crush grain in the same place in which you brew/ferment. It invites lacto bacteria which can infect your beer. Just thought I’d throw it out there in case you didn’t know.
I crush by my brew kettle, mash tun and HLT regularly. I do keep the fermenter and any cold side gear away though.
What do you mean?
How far are we talking? I intended on doing everything in the garage.
I mean I don’t think it is a big deal to crush grain around any of your hot side gear. I wouldn’t keep an open fermenter sitting right by by grain mill though, unless you planned to clean it and sanitize it after crushing your your grain.
Makes sense…I’ll keep the Speidel’s inside. I’m curious if the bacteria lingers in the air for long? For instance, if I crush at 8 AM, go through the motions and end up pouring the beer into the fermenter at 11 in the same area would it potentially be exposed by airborne stuff?
There’s always stuff floating around, but no I wouldn’t worry about that at all.
+1
I do turn on my overhead dust collector while I’m milling the grain and leave it on for 10 minutes of so after I’m done. I only do this to keep the amount of dust on stuff in my woodworking/brewing room to a minimum though.
Paul
You don’t want to breathe in grain dust. Get some disposable masks or tie a bandana over your mouth and nose.
Any specific reasons why a small amount of grain dust would be an issue?
We aren’t talking about that much particulate matter while milling 10 or 15 lbs of grain. If your immune system is functional and you don’t have any major respiratory issues I wouldn’t think there would be any risks. I admit I grew up on a grain and livestock farm back when safety issues may not have been the most pondered things but I’ve spent too many days to count in dusty grain bins with no known side effects other than filling a number of hankies with black phlegm.
Not looking for an argument but I really would like to know what else I did to myself while growing up. Something else to add to the list perhaps. 8^/
Paul
^+1 to that. In addition, w the BC and a bucket underneath it I don’t see much dust being a problem.
Avoiding grain dust is likely overblown for the home brewer. Chronic exposure would probably be more of a concern. You can see where exposure is a concern though here: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pel88/graindst.html
My favorite line is “Grain dust is a complex mixture of husk particles, cellulose hairs and spikes, starch granules, spores of fungi, insect debris, pollens, rat hair, and approximately 5 percent mineral particles.”
Mmm… rat hair…
At any rate the “spores of fungi” is likely the biggest concern with inhalation, other than general irritation.
If I don’t wear a mask while crushing my grain I get really bad asthma for an hour afterwards. That’s enough reason for me to avoid it.
(places order for milled grain)
That’s a reason I can understand. Thanks!
Shovel out 35 year old soybean beans out of bins for a week sometime and you’ll understand my “meh” response to grain dust. I took that job one summer. 25 - 3000 bushel bins of old sealed government contract grain (old grain storage program). Six days of pushing black soybeans into an auger for $9.50/hour. The respirators plugged up in 15 minutes. ::) I looked like a coal miner at the end of each day and cough up “stuff” for two weeks after. Sooo, a little cloud of barley dust seems easy to deal with but I don’t have asthma.
You don’t want to hear any stories about hog confinement buildings. ;D
Paul
Me too!
It also causes a rash on my face if I don’t have it covered. I usually use a bandanna.