# Weavles In My Grain



## SJW (2/2/08)

I have some flaked Rice and I have noticed it is full of weavles. What should I do about it? Is it ok to use? A little extra protein should not matter?  or should I dump it and just boil up some rice and mash that?

Steve


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## mika (2/2/08)

I'd say dump it, you don't know what those little buggers have been up to in there :huh:


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## NickB (2/2/08)

Dump it, and fast! They'll turn into moths shortly, and fly about laying eggs in anything grain-like. I suggest burning, or flushing the remaining flaked rice down the toilet....


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## SJW (2/2/08)

Thanks fellas, its gorn. I guess I will just boil up 1kg of rice now and dump it in my mash, and hope I hit the temps.

Steve


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## mfdes (2/2/08)

Hi Guys,

Weevils are beetles not moths. If you're desperate you can freeze the grain for 24h to kill everything, but I'd not recommend it. Flaked rice is cheap.

MFS


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## Ross (2/2/08)

Personally i wouldn't have worried, they wouldn't have done your brew any harm. nothing like a little extra protein B) 

cheers ross


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## Pumpy (2/2/08)

Weavles in your grain ,
alchohol on your brain .
Steve dont get your gun out to those weavels and take aim,
and blow out the poor little creatures brain .
that really would be so insane, 
Steve dont tip your flaked rice down the drain ,
they dont affect the flavour of your beer and make it plain .

I am going to bed Pumpy


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## big d (2/2/08)

I agree with you Pumpy.GO TO BED.  
That was plain aweful.

Big D


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## neonmeate (3/2/08)

i once had heaps of weevils in my malt but made the beer anyway. turned out fine. good head retention!


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## mika (3/2/08)

On the farm we fill the silo's with some foul smelling chemical to kill the little critters, based on that I say nuke them


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## SJW (3/2/08)

> Weavles in your grain ,
> alchohol on your brain .
> Steve dont get your gun out to those weavels and take aim,
> and blow out the poor little creatures brain .
> ...



Your on some good stuff Pumpy :lol:


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## Tony (3/2/08)

:lol: :lol: 

Ahhhhhhhh i have a stich pumpy. That is the funniest thing i have read on here in years!!!!!!!!!!!

SWJ........... Im with ross and the other weavel mashers.

I made a CAP a while back with 20 something % flaked maize....... 2.5kg of it.

It was crawling with them when i opened the bag...... lots of them.

I chucked it in anyway after squishing a few and sniffing them so see if they smelt like an ant of stink bug when squished. they didnt and the beer was great.

I even double decoction mashed it (really brought out the corn flavours!!!) and no problems.

Mate..........mash em!!! 

cheers


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## T.D. (3/2/08)

Yep, cook 'em up I say. Somehow I have managed to stay weavle free but unless they'd really torn the grain apart I'd just mash the little buggers. That'll learn 'em!


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## SJW (3/2/08)

OK I wil call it a CAWP. Classic American Weavle Pilsner. A real meal in a glass.

Steve


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## scott (3/2/08)

An appropriate topic. I have two pilseners brewing in the fridge at the moment and a pale ale bottled. Weavals in most of my grain. Sorted through it and removed as many as I could then brewed it. It takes too long to get stuff up here so I wasn't going to waste it. Boil the hell out of it should help sterilize what's left after the mash.


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## oldbugman (3/2/08)

just set your crush to a finer setting and keep cracking.


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## Screwtop (3/2/08)

scott said:


> An appropriate topic. I have two pilseners brewing in the fridge at the moment and a pale ale bottled. Weavals in most of my grain. Sorted through it and removed as many as I could then brewed it. It takes too long to get stuff up here so I wasn't going to waste it. Boil the hell out of it should help sterilize what's left after the mash.




Maize does seem to be worse for weavil infestations for some reason. Treat it like a wheat bag for muscular pain. In a pillowslip or cloth bag and into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Kills the weavils and eggs, dead weavils possibly raise the protien level :lol:


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## jimmysuperlative (3/2/08)

I think I read in an old "Aussie Brewer" magazine about a brewer having similar problems ...

His solution was to dump the grain into a bucket with lid. He then shoved a CO2 gas line into the very bottom of the bucket and slowly applied the CO2.
The poor little buggers ,who were apparently having difficulty breathing, crawled the way up to the top of the bucket to escape the suffocating gas, only to be scooped up and disposed of.

Apparently it was effective and minimised wasted grain.


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## SJW (4/2/08)

I took someones advice and put the bag in the freezer and it would appear that the little buggers are all dead now!


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## warrenlw63 (4/2/08)

Steve it's an omen.

Once had an earwig floating in a Hefeweizen mash. Turned out to be the best wheat I've ever made.  

Warren -


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## SJW (4/2/08)

Whats an earwig :huh:


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## warrenlw63 (4/2/08)

SJW said:


> Whats an earwig :huh:



 

Warren -


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## TasChris (4/2/08)

SJW said:


> Whats an earwig :huh:




Like a merkin but for your ears!!

Chris


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## warrenlw63 (4/2/08)

TasChris said:


> Like a merkin but for your ears!!
> 
> Chris



:lol: :lol: 

Warren -


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## SJW (4/2/08)

Thats looks nasty. Speaking of things in our brews, my last brew I did was a English Bitter and during the boil I was eating one of the kids ice-creams and while I was peering into the boil the top of the ice-cream fell off into the boil. I guess it's a English Cream Bitter now. Very nice though!


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## TimBob (4/2/08)

Go buy a bag of bay leaves, then scatter them around in the cupboards / boxes etc that you keep your grains etc. My wife reckons she read about it in New Idea "Handy Hints", and it works a treat for keeping the buggers out of the kitchen pantry.

I'd expect that if you mixed them in with the grains they'd impart some flavour, but should be fine outside of the packaging...

Cheers,
Tim


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## ham2k (4/2/08)

warrenlw63 said:


> Steve it's an omen.
> 
> Once had an earwig floating in a Hefeweizen mash. Turned out to be the best wheat I've ever made.
> 
> Warren -



Yesterday, i was starting the (manual) recirculation from my mash tun and the liquid spluttered until a wasp flew out of the hosetail, i'd only cleaned it out 2 hours before!

Massive lad, probably has the same adventurous spirit as the wasp that blocked up my BBQ side burner with his nests.


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## winkle (4/2/08)

OT. Who'd be a judge? " This ale seems to have more body than I would have expected".
A Kit&kilo mate showed me a bottle of his Blue Mountain Lager complete with a very large cockroach in the bottom of the bottle. 
I wasn't so keen on trying his beers after that.


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## Tseay (4/2/08)

winkle said:


> OT. Who'd be a judge? " This ale seems to have more body than I would have expected".
> A Kit&kilo mate showed me a bottle of his Blue Mountain Lager complete with a very large cockroach in the bottom of the bottle.
> I wasn't so keen on trying his beers after that.



I'd go for the earwig over the cockroach - it's the lesser of the two weevils :huh: 

(Apologies to R Crowe and the English language)


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## bugwan (4/2/08)

Beat me to it Teasy..

"Two Weevils grew up in Idaho, one went on to become a big hot shot in Hollywood, the other stayed at home and did nothing. Naturally he was known as the lesser of two weevils".

Not as funny when you come second...


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## SJW (4/2/08)

knock knock....who there....Weevil.....Weevil who.....Weevil make this CAP with the flaked rice!

Steve


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## kevnlis (4/2/08)

winkle said:


> OT. Who'd be a judge? " This ale seems to have more body than I would have expected".
> A Kit&kilo mate showed me a bottle of his Blue Mountain Lager complete with a very large cockroach in the bottom of the bottle.
> I wasn't so keen on trying his beers after that.



Up here in Bundy I have learnt to ALWAYS piss off a bit of the beer into a bucket before racking into the keg or bulk priming vessel. This gets rid of the vinegar flies and cockroaches which quite often get into my taps, and yes, even when they are fermenting in the fridge they somehow manage to get in...


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## warrenlw63 (4/2/08)

Always best when listening to ELO's "You Weevil Woman". B) 

Warren -


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## newguy (4/2/08)

Weevils in your mash are better than having a hornet in your glass. :blink: 

I was nearing the end of the boil outdoors, and was busy running in & out to get the sanitizer, CFC, carboys, yeast, etc. I had a glass of beer on the go outside. My mother was visiting and was sitting outside. She was sitting next to my beer and talking to her sister on the phone. While I'm in the house she sees the hornet land on my glass and proceed to fall into it. Because she's talking on the phone, she can't actually get up to pour him out.....because apparently she can't do two things at once.

So I come out of the house, put down whatever I had carried out, and quickly take a swig of my beer. Luckily the hornet stung my tongue before I could swallow it, as I don't think getting my esophagus and stomach stung would have tickled. At this point I spit it out and then proceeded to river dance all over the little sonofabitch. After the hornet had been turned into paste, my mom, who was still talking with her sister, says "Hold on Doris, hold on. Yeah, hold on...... Mark! There's a hornet in your glass!" :blink:

WTF?!??! Apparently saving her son from near certain death (I'm allergic to hornet & wasp stings you see) is impossible if she's on the phone. Luckily the sting wasn't a bad one. An allergy pill and I was okay, except for the numb tongue. And I take every possible opportunity to pester my mother about it. And I will continue to do so until one of us dies. :angry:


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## dicko (4/2/08)

Hi Guys,

If moths are present it is not usually a weevil but a meal moth. They have a larvae that lives on the surface of the grain and has a very fine cocoon like webbing that tends to bind some of the grains together into a lump.
In the brewing situation I would not spray malted grain with any insecticide but the advice with microwaving chilling or CO2 in the above posts is good.

Here is a link for some identification info

http://www.hannafords.com/disease.php?id=26

BTW I just use the grain if I get the moths with no affect on my finished product.

Cheers


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## Pumpy (4/2/08)

warrenlw63 said:


> Always best when listening to ELO's "You Weevil Woman". B)
> 
> Warren -



I had a pet weevil ,ex flea circus, he was trained to ride a stunt motorcycle ,called him 'Weevil Kinevil' 

pumpy h34r:


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## goatherder (4/2/08)

Thanks for that dicko, that's the perfect description of the critters which live in my chook food bin.


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## Muggus (4/2/08)

SJW said:


> Whats an earwig :huh:


Thats the wierdest coincidence!
I managed to come across an earwig in a box of grapes at work today. Mentioned to one of the fellas there how they only rarely crop up in boxes of produce, and then this. Scary looking little things they are!


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## Tony (4/2/08)

they arnt getting any better pumpy!


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## Pumpy (5/2/08)

wally said:


> That's a shocker Pumpy.
> 
> 
> Wally



Its sad really , I have to laugh at my own jokes 

Pumpy


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## warrenlw63 (5/2/08)

Pumpy said:


> I had a pet weevil ,ex flea circus, he was trained to ride a stunt motorcycle ,called him 'Weevil Kinevil'
> 
> pumpy h34r:



That joke was pure weevil Pumpy. B) 

Warren -


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## RobW (5/2/08)

I recall reading somewhere that pound for pound (or maybe that should be gram for gram) the earwig is one of the strongest of all animals.
Apparently if a man was as strong as an earwig he could pick up a house! 
Probably only a 3 bedroom brick veneer - not your MacMansion size house though.

I wonder how they measure that? :huh:


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## Doogiechap (5/2/08)

aah Pumpy...

:lol:


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## Paleman (5/2/08)

RobW said:


> I recall reading somewhere that pound for pound (or maybe that should be gram for gram) the earwig is one of the strongest of all animals.
> Apparently if a man was as strong as an earwig he could pick up a house!
> Probably only a 3 bedroom brick veneer - not your MacMansion size house though.
> 
> I wonder how they measure that? :huh:



Funny you say that Rob, i was watching a doco on Pay TV the other day, and some kind of ant ( cant remember the type ) was named as the strongest animal on Earth, weight for weight.

Although those little earwig buggas are strong, one attached itself to my dogs lip once ( not ear  ), and we had hells own job getting it off !!


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## LethalCorpse (5/2/08)

RobW said:


> I recall reading somewhere that pound for pound (or maybe that should be gram for gram) the earwig is one of the strongest of all animals.
> Apparently if a man was as strong as an earwig he could pick up a house!
> Probably only a 3 bedroom brick veneer - not your MacMansion size house though.
> 
> I wonder how they measure that? :huh:


They put them in the bottom of a jar and slowly apply weight, seeing how much weight they can put on there before the buggers are crushed. And you thought the kids who pulled wings off'f flies were into torture. 
They then multiply the weight by the ratio of an average human's bodyweight to the average earwig's. They don't need to do the weight torture thing to figure out how much the humans can lift, because funnily enough, we do it to ourselves in gyms.

<insert witty weevil pun here>

-LC


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## kook (2/3/08)

Just crushed some Marris otter only to discover its full of weevils :-( Probably now infested the ~ 6kg bag of vienna I had in the same storage bin.

Little buggers.


edit: Oh, and I've doughed in with it


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## Vlad the Pale Aler (2/3/08)

kook said:


> Just crushed some Marris otter only to discover its full of weevils :-( Probably now infested the ~ 6kg bag of vienna I had in the same storage bin.
> 
> Little buggers.
> 
> ...





Just give it a protein rest, it'll be fine.


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## kabooby (2/3/08)

Same thing. Went to my grain stash today to find a 21kg bag of marris otter with weavles in it  
Looks like the bag is going in the freezer


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## kook (2/3/08)

I'm actually starting to wonder whether it was something to do with the M.O. I heard that a WA retailer had issues with some bags of UK malt that was bought in - weevils through them.

I've never had this issue with any of my other malts (Weyermann, B.B., Kirin). They were all stored in the same area too.


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## clay (2/3/08)

well, yesterday I crushed some grains for an alt I put down today and found a few weavils in some dark munich that I've had for ages. Only spotted six or so in 1.5kg so it didn't concern me too much. 

Anyway, my first runnings were a bit slower than normal but thought little of it till two halves of a cockroach dropped into the jug I use to recirculate. 

Other than that the brew day went OK

clay

PS I asume they were weavils...red/brown colour, bit like a bit flea?


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## mika (2/3/08)

:huh: :icon_vomit:


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## peas_and_corn (4/3/08)

LethalCorpse said:


> They put them in the bottom of a jar and slowly apply weight, seeing how much weight they can put on there before the buggers are crushed. And you thought the kids who pulled wings off'f flies were into torture.
> They then multiply the weight by the ratio of an average human's bodyweight to the average earwig's. They don't need to do the weight torture thing to figure out how much the humans can lift, because funnily enough, we do it to ourselves in gyms.
> 
> <insert witty weevil pun here>
> ...



that explains those giant jars I saw in the gym that time...


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## wessmith (4/3/08)

These little beasties will almost certainly be a grain beetle of some species. It is unlikely to be a weevil. Some info on grain beetles:

http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/S...ain_beetles.htm

They can and do infest any grain and seem to love malted garins. We have seen a totally infested sack of Carahell malt reduced to hollow shells with just the one small hole bored in the husk. You cant do much other than freeze, or fumigate with CO2 but you are unlikely to kill everything. Just use up the malt quickly...

Wes


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