Grain Storage

[spog]

i use 60 litre wheelie bins from " cheap as chips" a cheapo shop they cost $12.00 ,fits a 25kg bag of grain perfectly.
i havnt had any troubles with mice (yet) or weevils, but to get around the moisture problem i put a packet of silica beads (those little bags that come in electrical appliance boxes to absorb any moisture) into a piece of stocking and tape it to the under side or the lid
works a treat.....cheers....spog.......

 

[srcossens]

.......Doubtless you have happily brewed with urine soaked grain.....

I can safely say that we would have all brewed with urine soaked grain from mice, probably birds as well. There is an old story, from the 90's about the owners of Guinness who went to check on the various malting houses that they owned. They were at Warminster maltings when they opened the door to the malting room and there was a cat sitting there on the grain with half a mouse!! :icon_drunk:

I keep my grain in 2 x 110lt old olive/pickled onion/gherkin drums. They seal great and only cost $12. I have seen places where you can get them for free, but they were too far away for me.

 

[punkin]

Bunnings often have large (50L?) clear/white rectangular plastic storage containers for <$10.

Fit a sack perfectly in them and stack up nicely to limit space.

Ive got 6 or 7 of them which I use for base malts and a few larger amounts of specs.

For small amounts of spec malts I use plastic buckets with tight fitting lids that used to hold donut icing/fondant as I could get them for free from working at one a while ago.

The place still sells them cleaned with lids for $2 so might be worth asking around anyways. I often see similar things in the fruit market/deli near my house which would also work quite nicely


Sponge

Got a pic of these please mate?

 

[QldKev]

I used the large clear plastic boxes for grain storage for a year or so. The ones I had could just fit a full bag of grain in them. All now have gone to plastic heaven, as after the year one by one started cracking and falling apart.

I'm now using a large old chest freezer to store the grain bags in. Not turned on, and the drain hole left open with a bit of flywire over it.


QldKev

 

[altstart]

I can safely say that we would have all brewed with urine soaked grain from mice, probably birds as well. There is an old story, from the 90's about the owners of Guinness who went to check on the various malting houses that they owned. They were at Warminster maltings when they opened the door to the malting room and there was a cat sitting there on the grain with half a mouse!! :icon_drunk:

I keep my grain in 2 x 110lt old olive/pickled onion/gherkin drums. They seal great and only cost $12. I have seen places where you can get them for free, but they were too far away for me.

In 2000 I was called to a house in Brisbane to fix a car. The guy who called me had a dozen of these 200ltr ex pickle barrels at the back of his house filled with water as a precaution against the dreaded Millenium Bug. He stated that he did not know how to dispose of them now they were no longer needed I offered to take 6 of them even though it meant another trip back to his place as I could only fit 3 in my van. Over the years I have used them as a fermenter, rotary composter, grain storage, and made liquid manure in one. All in all these are very handy to have around.
Cheers Altstart

 

[sponge]

Got a pic of these please mate?

Wasn't sure which you were asking for so thought I'd post them both up

(pics taken from google, not from personal stash)

for the 5/10L fondant buckets from the donut shop

For the bunnings storage containers. They have small wheels on them which make them pretty convenient to move, along with being able to stack them.

And yes, I'm aware the picture is of a 35L one, but pretty sure the 50/60L ones fit a sack perfectly :icon_cheers:


Sponge

 

[dago001]

I use the small wheelie bins for base malts. Holds a 25 kg bag. Cost about $14.00 from the cheapo shop. I used to use the clear plastic 50 litre jobs, with wheels. When you start stacking them on top of each other with 25kg of grain, the lids eventually break. They also get brittle over time.
With my spec grains, I vac seal them in different size bags, from say 500g through to 5kg depending on the grain. Crystal malts in smaller sizes and base type malts in larger sizes. With the larger bags, as I use some, I can then reseal the bags.
Cheers
LagerBomb

 

[Wolfman]

I went down the path of the olive bins. They are great. Air tight and rodent free now for almost 12 months, touch wood. Great to see so many differant ideas on grain storage.

 

[Dazza88]

Everything in suitable containers now. Got traps set and the cat had a good sniff of another mouse invaded food item found un another cupboard.

 

[hoppy2B]

I can safely say that we would have all brewed with urine soaked grain from mice, probably birds as well. There is an old story, from the 90's about the owners of Guinness who went to check on the various malting houses that they owned. They were at Warminster maltings when they opened the door to the malting room and there was a cat sitting there on the grain with half a mouse!! :icon_drunk:

I keep my grain in 2 x 110lt old olive/pickled onion/gherkin drums. They seal great and only cost $12. I have seen places where you can get them for free, but they were too far away for me.

I use the 200 litre ex pickle drums for my grain storage. Straight into the drum off the harvester. I have never suffered insect damage to a single drum of grain, even after several years of storage.

I wonder what a Health Inspector would say if he walked into a craft brewery and saw mouse damaged bags of malt lying around.
Would a craft brewer be confident to inform patrons to his premises that the malt bags were chewed on by mice but not to worry because we threw away a fist full of grain around where the bag was chewed ?
That said, I've heard stories about how in England when they're making cider, all sorts ot things end up in the crusher like rats and mice etc. Apparently it makes for a better brew because the little critters add protein for the yeast. :icon_vomit:

 

[Midnight Brew]

Would a craft brewer be confident to inform patrons to his premises that the malt bags were chewed on by mice but not to worry because we threw away a fist full of grain around where the bag was chewed ?

On a homebrew scale it makes bugger all of a difference as you are talking about 150g tops of grain. I'm not sacrificing a whole sack of grain to the beer gods because of a little mouse that ate 0.0001% of the contents. Do you know of anything accosiated with mice that can survive a 60-90 mash then a 60-90 minute boil?

 

[punkin]

Thanks sponge, it was the bunnings ones i was interested in. I have a hundred of those fondant/cheesecakeshop/maggigravy buckets mostly with a stack of 1-1/4" holes in em for growing gourmet mushrooms.

The bunnings ones sounded interesting, but unfortunately they wouldn't be robust enough for the likes of a punkinheaded ogre.
Also i have many many moths from my other hobbies, some involving feedstock grains that require me to store grain airtight. These wouldn't last 10 mins without fluttery invasion.

ATM i use a combination of olive drums and really neat 40l chlorine buckets. Just a pity that i can't get the chlorine buckets anymore as they hold a full sack of grain and stack nicely while being mothproof :unsure:

Bloody OH&S has them in 10l buckets now in case someone strains a heart muscle.

 

[seemax]

On a homebrew scale it makes bugger all of a difference as you are talking about 150g tops of grain. I'm not sacrificing a whole sack of grain to the beer gods because of a little mouse that ate 0.0001% of the contents. Do you know of anything accosiated with mice that can survive a 60-90 mash then a 60-90 minute boil?

A new strain of nasty bug called Noi Chillus Botulism !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Midnight Brew]

A new strain of nasty bug called Noi Chillus Botulism !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm doomed!! I no chill

 

[spog]

LB, you said you did use the stackable 50l boxes? on wheels but the lids break.
this is why as you do now use the small wheelie bins,i reckon they are the best for me as i can wheel them out of the storage area,take what i need then wheel them out of the way without having to lift and shove boxes about the shed....cheers.....spog......

I use the small wheelie bins for base malts. Holds a 25 kg bag. Cost about $14.00 from the cheapo shop. I used to use the clear plastic 50 litre jobs, with wheels. When you start stacking them on top of each other with 25kg of grain, the lids eventually break. They also get brittle over time.
With my spec grains, I vac seal them in different size bags, from say 500g through to 5kg depending on the grain. Crystal malts in smaller sizes and base type malts in larger sizes. With the larger bags, as I use some, I can then reseal the bags.
Cheers
LagerBomb

 

[jackmarshall77]

I went with the handy pail. At bunnikins. 2 of the 20 litre buckets hold 25 kg of grain neatly and are easy to handle. Also very good bottling buckets or small batch fermenters. Beware many of the square tubs on wheels are deliberately not airtight, especially if they are big enough to put a small child in. They have little ribs under the lip of the lid which hold it up a bit so that no one suffocates. For reference a 25kg sack of grain is just under 40 litres when poured in loose. I would estimate that the same buckets would hold around 7-8 kg milled for those of us who do it a few days in advance - so would suit most batches.

 

[Amber]

I use an old green plastic army trunk. It seals up perfectly. Due to a reno it is actually outside right now but no problems with moisture or critters.

 

[PTG]

Your responding to a 6 year old thread

 

[scomet]

responding to a 6 year old

still a good read/thread but; these old threads seem to pop up?? the forum must be getting a bit jaded…

ps, knocked over a 5kg pail of milled grain, swept it up and called it ‘Hairs of the Dogs Bitter’ tasted gr8 :-}

 

[Dilligaf]

so 2 of these should do the trick for 25 kg you would think...
https://www.bunnings.com.au/handy-storage-35l-all-purpose-storage-barrel_p2583956