Storage of grains

[trueblue]

A black plastic dustbin a few pounds from a DIY shop perfect size for a 25kg sack. Dry and cool conditions are the most important thing to consider uncrushed grain will last longer than crushed.

 

[GerritT]

Well, you only need some good buckets with lid *, once you have the sack you can distribute 25 kg over the buckets (5 kg > 5 litres though). And specialty malts can be stored in kitchen ware.

*googe-cache link, original site said no.

 

[Edison]

I’ve used this calculator before:

https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substance/grain-blank-barley
25kg of uncrushed grain is approximately 42 litres.

16kg of bread flour is about 27 litres, as I found out after having to buy a sack of it after all the supermarket shelves were cleared of it!

 

[Clint]

I keep mine in bubble wrap lined,hand woven,black silk sacks. In the bedroom.

 

[Session]

I keep mine in bubble wrap lined,hand woven,black silk sacks. In the bedroom.

and where do you keep your grain?

 

[Arnhambrew]

Given that barley in the UK is harvested in June / July, it will have been in storage for anything up to a year before it’s malted. After this it’s difficult to establish how long it’s been kept in store prior to packaging. Given these uncertainties I aim to buy fresh malted barley direct from a local farmer / malster in September. Then keep the unopened sacks over winter in an unheated shed & decant into an air-tight plastic box/crate before use - also easy to scoop out, when measuring out the grain bill. This seems to work for me as I get consistent results both in term of taste, smell & extraction % over the year. My only issue is keeping the mice away from the sacks - but that’s another story!

 

[St00]

I've only recently ordered Malt in bulk due to room and storage issues. Someone on the David Heath Forum pointed me to these

I ordered mine and it came the next day, 25kg of Maris Otter fitted in very well and it's airtight. Plus they stack.

 

[Edison]

They look just the job, very nice! Not sure I can justify that kind of money right now though.

 

[St00]

I gave up trying to justify the expense of my hobby to myself about 5 years ago. I only got a sack of Maris Otter though it's not like I got 25kg of Pilsner and 25kg Pale Malt like my shoulder devil wanted.

 

[St00]

View attachment 27842

They look just the job for storing made up PBW and Chemsan in, thanks.

 

[Cwrw666]

Corona mill will set you back some tens £, but there was a brulosophy experiment where half year old milled malt vs half year old unmilled malt didn't make a difference.

I switched to whole grains a while back and get much much better efficiency than I do when I buy crushed grains. I don't know why, might just be that the grind is better for my system. But I've even tried regrinding crushed grains and that didn't help any.
Mind you there's always some `expert' who will tell you that your experience is b****cks.

 

[dwhite60]

Friend of mine buys wheat in bulk. He grinds his own flour to make bread.

He stores it in 19 liter buckets and drops a chunk of dry ice in, puts the wheat in, then puts the lid on. He vents it periodically until it stops building pressure. Says it seems to get most of the air out and keeps it fresh.

 

[St00]

I've milled my own grain for the last two beers, it's fixed my stuck mash issues and I've ended up 2 points higher both times. It's the biggest improvement to brew day I've experienced so far.

 

[GerritT]

I've milled my own grain for the last two beers, it's fixed my stuck mash issues and I've ended up 2 points higher both times. It's the biggest improvement to brew day I've experienced so far.

The satisfaction of the learning curve :) Been there, done that, never minded the t-shirt