Yes I think this is sufficient moisture barrier as long as you can keep rodents away.
How many bags are you planning on buying?
One 30 Gal garbage can is about $10-$12. You probably could put 2 bags in one can.
Would there be any issue to keep the bags in middle of the living room?
It could be your temporally coffee table ;D
I think my wife might have an issue with the redecorating - I was lucky enough to put a bar/kegerator in the family/dining room area - I think a new “coffee table” might be the proverbial straw.
I am planning on purchasing ~10 sacks of grain, or enough to last me one year or so.
I had an idea to get these:
I would think that these would provide an extra barrier of protection against moisture/humidity.
At $5 a pop, the ~$20 in shipping savings still makes it worthwhile and if we do another bulk grain buy next year, it will start to really payoff.
Thoughts?
How many bags you think you could fit in there?
They say that dimensions are:
[quote]Extra large packs are 27-1/2 inches wide and 40 inches tall
[/quote]
One 55 lb bag is about 24" X 18" X 12" (I mean you can stretch it then it will not be that fat).
You might be able to fit two bags in there.
I think I am going to go down to my local farmer’s CO-OP and see what they have to offer in ways of storage. I live in a humid part of the country, so I definitely will need a moisture barrier. The rodent problem I will definitely have to think about as well. I have seen those dog food storage bins before at the CO-OP and they seem like that might work best for me right now. Thanks.
I haven’t started to buy in bulk yet, but I plan to. I’ve been researching this exact question for a while. I’m leaning towards a container like this: Amazon.com
I think these will work great, they come in various sizes and I like the fact that they are on casters.
Yep, I simply buy 5 gallon buckets w/ lids at HD. Each bucket holds right at 25lbs. It works great with nil moisture and does not invite rodents.
I use the Rubbermade Roughnecks. one18gal holds a whole 55# bag. But they cannot handle
the weight of more than 75# stacked on top. So two stacked roughnecks will hold 100#.
I recently bought some of the 10 gallon sized ones. they hold 25# for split bag orders…
There really are only three things that ruin grain and one of them doesn’t count.
1 - rodents - simple solution, put in a rodent proof container
2 - moisture - simple solution, put in a container which will not allow moisture in
3 - bugs - bug larvae are in the grain and will hatch under certain conditions. The only true way to avoid those conditions is to freeze the grain for a day or more and most of us cannot pull that off.
With that in mind, here is my method which has worked for more than 10 years. I split the sack into individual gallon ziplocks holding 4lb each. Then I put the sacks either back into the sack the grain came in, especially if it is a woven sack with a liner sack, or into a large rubbermaid tub. Generally what happens when the bugs come out is they infest all the grain they are in contact with. Since the grain is in zips at most they infect 4lb unless ALL the zips hatch bugs. Keep in mind you can still brew with buggy grain, it will just freak you out a bit. Bugs tend not to hatch in colder temps so the cooler the grain is kept, the less likely it is to have bugs. I keep mine under the house in the crawlspace. Some mice and rat killer baits thrown around keep any mice away 
I keep my caramel malts in 5 gallon buckets. As someone else pointed out, they will hold 25lb with ease.
HTH
I use the Vittles Vault. A bit pricey, around $45, but they stack and look pretty. And they have a gamma seal. In my fantasy home brew store that I open I envision using a bunch of these.
Likewise…2 pails per sack, cheap and easy.
If you add a gamma seal lid to the bucket it makes life a bunch easier.
http://www.gamma2.net/new/GSL.html
In my first year of brewing I made the plunge and bought a mill for about $50… I wasn’t sure that I would ever recover from the sticker shock. It turned out to be one of my best brewing investments, and mills have (more than) doubled in price since then. It’s a great investment, and my LHBS charges $0.20/lb to mill grain, which would cost around $70 bucks a year for me.
On storage I have used 5 gallon HDPE buckets to store grain, as well as rubbermaid tubs, and a steel 30 gallon barrel (which is overkill, but I got it for 5 bucks). I haven’t had problems with mice or bugs in any of these, but have had rodents chew through the HDPE bucket we were keeping birdseed in when it was left outside (probably squirrels). If you had a “problem” with mice, they might get through a rubbermaid storage container.
I use Corney kegs. I freeze the grain for a day or two and then put it in the kegs. I can get 25 pounds in a key. I have grain 4 years old that still makes great beer.
Interesting idea if you have enough kegs.
Where are you getting your grain?! I’ve never seen any bugs or larvae in mine. Is it really that common?
petstore.com sells the 50lb/13gal vittles vault for ~$37 with free shipping over $75. Each vault holds just about a 55lb bag. The remainder goes in a food saver bag (or into the daily mash).
Not every grain supplier includes a moisture barrier bag. Every imported malt that I’ve ordered does indeed include one (Best, Thomas Fawcett, Franco-Belges). But the two domestic malts I’ve purchased, Breiss and Rahr, do not have a moisture barrier bag. Just the fiber weave of the sack (or paper, in Breiss’ case).
A large garbage bag is sufficent for a moisture barrier, just tie the top tightly.
Yes it is that common. Pretty much all grain has bug larvae in it. The question is whether or not the conditions will cause them to hatch. It’s rare that they will hatch, but when they do you certainly know it. I knew one brewery that got in sacks and within a few days they all went buggy. I believe they returned them to the maltster. In the old texts it talks about opening the doors where the malt is stored during the winter to control pests.
MDixon
do you think the pressure of vacuum sealing will be enough to prevent hatching?
Yep, freezing the buggers would work. I’ve also been told a CO2 purge of an airtight container also works.
Let me tell ya about the time I made a tap handle out of a piece of Cocobolo. I got a piece that was half sapwood. The tree fills in the sapwood holes caused by boring worms when it transforms it to heartwood. It looked real cool (white and black sides) on my keggereator. A few months after I had turned and finished it I started finding dust under the handle. While looking at the handle and pondering the source, a boring worm started to emerge from the sapwood. They’re about 1/16" in diameter.
Into a ziplock bag it went and spent the next 6 months in my self defrost freezer. It has been sitting for 6 months inside the same ziplock bag at room temp. No more dust!