Grain storage

How long can I keep pre-crushed grain around before it goes over? Storing in big ziplocks in another tightly sealed heavy plastic bag in low humidity. I’m going to get a mill but other expenses have taken priority.

Thanks

If you can refrigerate then that will extend the freshness of crushed grain. I looked into this as well and the gist was that it was ok for several months in a fridge. But I can’t speak from actual experience, maybe someone else here can.

I Have kept grain, milled and unmilled for close to a year in a plastic pretzel tub in my fridge.  i am happy with the results

Triple sealed with all of the air removed and/or vacuum sealed if possible, then refrigerated is your best bet for the longest shelf life.

I buy whole sacks and split them into 5 gallon pails (pales? :slight_smile: ).  These have seals on the lids with rubber gaskets so they are at least water tight.  Since they are HDPE they are not complete oxygen barriers but the grain seems to last until I get through it.

Ziplocks are not my first choice.  I bought a foodsaver for storing my hops in.  At harvest, I’ll dry & weigh out an ounce, seal that into a foodsaver bag & keep those in the beer-fridge’s freezer until brew day.

Can’t say that I’d recommend the refrigerator for grain storage (crushed or not) because even with Ziplock bags, there’s the chance to get humidity, oxygen and neighboring fridge flavors in your grain.  When I used to work at Caribou years ago, part of the coffee education we received covered storage of coffee and why not to keep it in the freezer or fridge — it’s safe to say the same would apply to grains.

Keep it in a cool, dry, dark place for certain.  Squeeze out as much of the air as you can, vacuum seal it if you’ve got the gear to do so, and then keep it in a small air-tight, opaque container or in an area that won’t get any light.  If moisture is a concern, maybe take a handful of white rice and put it in a small mesh bag to soak up any moisture from condensation or the like.

But don’t put it in the freezer or fridge.  It’ll be fine at cooler, basement temperatures.

I was reading recently about using diotamaceous earth as a pest control in stored grains. not related to crushed grains but for whole grains it might be worth checking out. basically you just add a cup or so of food grade DE to the sack of grain and shake it up to distribute. as long as everything stays dry it should kill any bugs that get into the sack. I don’t know what it would do in terms of water effects but I would think it would just be treated as a little additional chalk.

I’m not sure I follow how that would help…

DE gets under the bugs skin and through a combination of dehydration and mechanical abrasion kills them. not saying it would do anything to extend the shelf life of the grain beyond making sure the bugs don’t get in.

That stuff is so fine, I’d be worried that a grain bed wouldn’t filter out all of it.

I’m sure it wouldn’t. In fact I think it would disolve in the low pH of the mash, the question I would have is does that matter? it’s pretty inert stuff chemically speaking but I don’t have the science to answer that question. It’s not going to hurt you in the beer though. Some people eat the stuff. They claim it has all kinds of health benefits.

http://www.probrewer.com/resources/library/bp-filtrationtips.php

Don’t use DE with iron in it.

that makes sense, also be sure to get food grade

i have never noticed anything penetrate a plastic tub (not ziplock).

does anyone ever throw in those little dessicant packs?

Rats chewed into my shopvac once. I had vacuumed up dog food and didn’t empty the bin. They chewed right through the drain plug at the bottom. I’ve had duct tape over it ever since.

they were just trying to save you the labor of dumping the thing ;D

;D

I hate rats. One of the most destructive animals on earth. Just be glad it was a shop vac and not the wiring under your car hood. They can chew through heavy copper.