My Spec Grain Has Weavils

[RobH]

I'll be doing my partials today without the addition of my Carahelle ... pity, as it sat in the measuring bowl little brown weavils started crawling up the sides ... the damn critters are all through it!

Now I am going to find out just how much difference the spec grains actually make

It's all "experience"

PS: I had kept the cracked grain for months sealed in plastic, but not in the fridge/freezer.

 

[felten]

I bought some spec malt back in november, it arrived partially stale, checked it last month and it had weavils as well so I binned it. The other spec malts I bought with it were fine however, all stored in glad bags.

 

[BoilerBoy]

PS: I had kept the cracked grain for months sealed in plastic, but not in the fridge/freezer.

I think you may be in strife here, better minds than mine will know, but back years ago when I use to get my grain cracked at the HBS I was told the enzyme viability in milled grain has a life of about 2 weeks.

BB

 

[DUANNE]

I think you may be in strife here, better minds than mine will know, but back years ago when I use to get my grain cracked at the HBS I was told the enzyme viability in milled grain has a life of about 2 weeks.

BB

seeing as you dont need to mash spec malts i dont think enzyme viability is of any great concern.

 

[BoilerBoy]

seeing as you dont need to mash spec malts i dont think enzyme viability is of any great concern.

You maybe correct, I interpreted a "partial" as a " part mash" including the addition of spec malt.

Cheers,
BB

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I think you may be in strife here, better minds than mine will know, but back years ago when I use to get my grain cracked at the HBS I was told the enzyme viability in milled grain has a life of about 2 weeks.

BB

Funny that i generally get my recipes made up from site sponsers - milled to order.
They come vac packed and last months if stored cool and dark with no ill effects.
82% mash efficiency from one that was stored for a bit over a month.
Beer turned out great.

 

[RobH]

I think you may be in strife here, better minds than mine will know, but back years ago when I use to get my grain cracked at the HBS I was told the enzyme viability in milled grain has a life of about 2 weeks.

BB

Yes it is a partial, but the base grain (2kg Pils, 500g Munich) was purchased & milled at my LHBS yesterday - so they are fine .... I am binning the weavil infested stuff.

 

[j1gsaw]

Same drama here last week, had to throw out about 4kg of assorted left over spec grains from assorted recipes, i just had them rolled/taped up. Bloody weavils galore. Will be storing in a barrel from now on.

 

[Aidan2000]

Same drama here last week, had to throw out about 4kg of assorted left over spec grains from assorted recipes, i just had them rolled/taped up. Bloody weavils galore. Will be storing in a barrel from now on.

If none of your other grain has weavils in it then its likely to have been contamindated before it got to you.

Grain can actually be contaminated at the silo and the weavils will die in processing, however its very very difficult to kill the eggs.
Eggs can actually survive alot of harsh environments right through to end product.

I once had a pack of Honeywheats and it went from packet to Airtight tupperware container, i never managed to open it because i forgot they were there. 12 months later i opened it up and the entire packet had this grey spidery like web/nest. Weavils.... the eggs had survived or it was contaminated whilst being packedged.

Best way to get rid of weavils is to ditch the whole container they are housed in and dont open it inside.

So yeah i dont think its your storing process more likely contaminated from scratch.

 

[Tony]

just mash em......... they dont add any taste and die in the hot water

 

[RobH]

just mash em......... they dont add any taste and die in the hot water

LOL! I actually considered that! But I found 500gms of un-opened CaraRed to use instead ... yeah I know it is not the same... so I am going to have some nice red-hued lager to drink in about 4 weeks time

 

[RobH]

Photgrphic evidence (not of the weavils though)

The boil is just about to break ... see the spec grains (carared) to the right in the white bowl ... I soaked them for 30 mins and added to the boil later.
Also visible is the immersion chiller.


Boil about to break ... time to stir so it does not boil over!


Bag of grain draining into fermenter ... see how I use the fermenter handle to clamp the bag so it is suspended above the base of the fermenter ... handy little trick that! Once the bag has drained enough, I tip the rest of the liquid into the boil, and tip the grain into the green container to the right. Also note the red ice box in the background ... that's where the pot sits for the duration of the mash so the temperature remains stable.

 

[Tony]

i mad a CAP once and found my bag of maize infested.

I recon i mashed hundreds of them, and the beer was fantastic.

I was given some acidulated malt y a friend and it was full of them. I just seperated it from all my other malt and used it anyway..... they dont hurt.

Mate... if you saw what went into most of the food you eat........................

a couple of weavils in the mash are nothing to wory about.

the main thing is to seperate it from all your other malt stocks (and i have hundreds of kilos on hand) to stop them getting into everything.

cheers

Edit: See that white foam on the boil as it starts to break. Try skimming it off into a container and smell it. You will become a skimmer for the restof your life...... its not stuff you want in your brew.

I stand armed with a spoon and jug and scrape that **** off!

Its all hot break and fine grain particles that you dont want in the boil. Smell it and thats the taste it adds if you leave it there. Its one of those little things that isnt really needed but gets you a slight improvement. Put all these little things together and you have superb beer!

and do you steralise the fermenter after you use it to catch the last of the mash liquor. Before its boiled its full of all sorts of bugs.

 

[RobH]

Steralise fermenter after catch: Yes ... I had assumed that as it isn't boiled it is potentially a bug-fest!
Skimming ... new concept to me, but I will give it a try... I have another brew to do this afternoon... will report back on what it smells like

 

[Tony]

awsome!

have fun mate

 

[Lobby Lobster]

Mate... if you saw what went into most of the food you eat........................

a couple of weavils in the mash are nothing to wory about.

the main thing is to seperate it from all your other malt stocks (and i have hundreds of kilos on hand) to stop them getting into everything.

I reckon you are on the money there Tony.
Unless it's teeming with them I'd be tempted to mash the buggers.

Weevils are bloomin' hard to get rid of. I found some in some flour once, then looking closely at all our other food found more. Ended up having to chuck just about everything except tinned food and bleach the kitchen top to bottom.

They'll get into zip locked bags, jars and tupperware. If you see a moth in your house, show it the door.

 

[RobH]

See that white foam on the boil as it starts to break. Try skimming it off into a container and smell it. You will become a skimmer for the restof your life...... its not stuff you want in your brew.....

Ok did that... the smell......

Are you talking about that sort of smell the dishcloth gets if you dont rinse it out properly & leave it for a day or two still semi-moist?

Yeah it aint the sort of aroma that I would choose to have in my beer! Very interesting! I imagine the next hour of boiling goes a way to get rid of that, but not having it there as much in the first place has gotta be better.... right?

 

[gregs]

Weevil juice?

 

[Tony]

Ok did that... the smell......

Are you talking about that sort of smell the dishcloth gets if you dont rinse it out properly & leave it for a day or two still semi-moist?

Yeah it aint the sort of aroma that I would choose to have in my beer! Very interesting! I imagine the next hour of boiling goes a way to get rid of that, but not having it there as much in the first place has gotta be better.... right?

Yeah that dirty musky muddy smell. If that stuff smels like that, id hate to have it im my boil for 60 to 90 min, and im not so sure it boils off...... more like boils in. I find i get cleaner beers by removing this unwanted stuff.

like i said... its just one of those little things that goes towards making the perfect beer.

cheers

 

[DKS]

How do you get weevils?
Do they have to be brought into your brewery in infested grain or can they just show up out of nowhere?
I've heard pumping your grain sacks with CO2 will kill them if you happen to see them before plague no*s ruin the lot.
Daz