How Long Can Grain Be Kept For?

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Stomps67

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Howdy,

I have just discovered around 15kg of un-cracked pale malt stored in a drum in the back of the shed. Tastes, smells and looks good and if i didnt remember buying it i would'nt be any the wiser. its been there since around 2005.
Question: How long can grain be kept for before its no good.

I also discovered a sealed 1kg bag of SAAZ pellets at the back of the freezer they are around 3 yo?? can they still be used??

Thanks for your thoughts,

Cheers

Tim
 
I think they are both leaning towards the old side. I heard that grains stored properly is usually 2 - 3 years and for hops I think they may be probably be a bit past it too.

You could use them but they wont produce a good beer. IMO
 
Howdy,

I have just discovered around 15kg of un-cracked pale malt stored in a drum in the back of the shed. Tastes, smells and looks good and if i didnt remember buying it i would'nt be any the wiser. its been there since around 2005.
Question: How long can grain be kept for before its no good.

I also discovered a sealed 1kg bag of SAAZ pellets at the back of the freezer they are around 3 yo?? can they still be used??

Thanks for your thoughts,

Cheers

Tim

Grain goes stale. Chew on a bit and it will be either crisp or slack. If it's slack/stale, I'd feed it to the birds.

Old hops start to smell. Smell them and see if you get any hint of cheese, socks or vomit. If they are, I'd look into lambic brewing or make a nice green bed in the compost (away from any dogs)

If not slack and cheesy but you don't want to bite the bullet and just brew and see, then try making some malt and hop teas and seeing what you get.

Fresh is better but unlike with an OOD kit, I'd probably be willing to knock out a brew and find out for myself unless it really was stale tasting and old sock smelling. Slack grain would be binned in with the plums in my house.
 
I was going to say find a recipe that asks for old hops. I think there is one in the latest Beer and Brewer. (or the one before??)
 
Could explain why he has had the shits! Literally!
 
Stomps, My current on-tap batch has 2g/L of 4yo cluster. It tastes delicious (obviously qlderps are into feline urolagnia). It has been in the freezer for half that time, and in the fridge for the rest

There is a BYO article on AA degradation vs storage conditions. It outlines how many more % of hops to use depending on its handling & storage
 
As far as I know its still poisonous to dogs then too. :eek:

But hey they do say if it doesn't kill you, it only make you stronger :D

I'm just regurgitating something i remember reading a few years back.. but i think its poisonous to a certain percentage of dogs that have a genetic disposition to the disease it gives them.. and in those dogs it will kill them.

So bottom line is, keep your hops well away from your dogs just in case. Your beer would taste too bitter to drink if it cost you your pal. See what i did there with hop bitterness.. genius. But seriously. Look after your dog.
 
So I'm curious.

Do cracked grains store for a lesser amount of time than non cracked grains?

I.e. If I buy a heap of grains, crack them and store them, are they going to die quicker than if I don't crack them?
 

Do cracked grains store for a lesser amount of time than non cracked grains?

I.e. If I buy a heap of grains, crack them and store them, are they going to die quicker than if I don't crack them?

Yes and yes. I suspect they also lose some of their diastatic power as well and this may apply to uncracked grains as well, although my evidence of this is limited and anecdotal.

Led to believe they'll keep longer in the bottom of your fridge but I haven't tried it out myself as after one bad experience on the stale grain front I tend to brew within a week or two max, of getting
my grain.
 
All depends on the storage conditions; we vacuum pack 1/3 bag portions of the slower selling specialty malts and they keep nearly indefinitely, I have even done some tests on vac packed cracked malt and after 6 months the time to reach Iodine normal hadnt changed.
If you can exclude air and moisture then your grain will keep, if not uncracked grain about 12 months (cool dry conditions), cracked a matter of weeks and it will start to show signs of degradation, again depending on the conditions.
Mark
 
Cheers folks! :D

Yeah I was actually thinking about the whole vaccuum packing process today, but had no idea of where I'd even start to look for vac pac stuff. Where do you get your goods?
 
Cheers folks! :D

Yeah I was actually thinking about the whole vaccuum packing process today, but had no idea of where I'd even start to look for vac pac stuff. Where do you get your goods?


I get mine from Duane at Amber Nectar but as luck would have it I drive past a his front door a couple of times a week and generally brew a day or two after getting my gear. Family, work and study commitments prevent me from brewing on too big a scale so bulk buying (and it's associated storage issues) is at this stage not a factor.
 
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