Odd Things In Bags Of Grains

[Paul H]

I found one of these when emptying out my mash tun once:

View attachment 52500

I presume it came from the bag of rice gulls, as there's no way it would have gone through the mill. I'd hate to think what it would have done to the mill otherwise!

Riminds me of the time I used to work in a vitamin factory and we found an old rusted key inside one of the bags of herbs. You could just imagine the poor farmer getting home and thinking "where the hell did I leave the bloody house key!"

Cheers,
tallie

Where you charged extra for it??

:icon_cheers:

Paul

 

[tallie]

Whoops h34r: Can you return it please :lol:

Ross

What's the finders' fee?

 

[Paul H]

Beer would have had a sharp bite to it.. ^_^

Cheers

Paul

 

[mikesnothere]

Never found anything other than grain in my grain bag, thankfully. I have seen coffee grinders pushed to their limits at work (grinding poppy straw, of all things), and they do break pretty easily.

 

[stux]

After a piece halted my Marga I found a heap more gravel in a sack of TF* MO, but CB replaced it with no drama or fuss. There's plenty of dings in my mill's rollers, just about every batch I put through it has the odd crunch but there's really now't that can be done about it. There's always some admixture consisting of foreign seed or plant material, black oats, insects, snail shell, etc, premium German malts seem to have the least, Weyermann FM Bo Pils seems to be be the cleanest I've ever had.
*TBH I've not been happy with TF's packaging, apart from that sack of MO with contamination, by the time I lay my hands on it invariably the flimsy liner has been holed through mishandling but it wasn't even closed on a few occasions which kind of defeats the purpose of having it. Feedback via the wholesaler was that they're working on a new bag and liner plus upgrading the packaging plant so that there's less chance of contaminants, looking forward to seeing the effect of that flow through to us here and then I'll start buying it again.

2 out of 3 bags of TF I've had have had the inner bag open, ie the little orange grommet is loose. One of the bags was completely slack and got replaced.

I hope they change their bags soon!

 

[stux]

I've found little stones and heard them crunch through the rollers. Lots of other seeds.

In my latest sack of GP I found a sheep tail rubber ring

I think that's part of the packaging.

 

[jyo]

I think that's part of the packaging.

Ok, had no idea! So is it to hold the plastic sack together?

 

[RdeVjun]

Ok, had no idea! So is it to hold the plastic sack together?

Yup, the elastrator ring is used to securely close the plastic inner bag liner which helps keep the grain contained within it and away from moisture, weevils etc, thereby keeping your grain fresh and sharp. Or should do, if its been fitted properly at the packaging plant, sounds like a few haven't. Its academic though if the liner is holed anyway- many of the TF sacks I've bought have had the inner liner holed, presumably through a fair bit of handling. IIRC, apparently they're working on new sacks with an integral liner however I'll resist buying sacks of TF until they've sorted it out.

Edit: Lots of folks are more than happy with TF malts at present, and rightfully so. I should also qualify my remarks in that my own situation is that such the sacks quite often sit for some time before opening. If they're not sealed then there's every chance the malt degrades prematurely.

 

[Goldenchild]

I've never seen anything in my grain, but maybe it's just I've never noticed.

Out of interest, which brand of grain where these from?


QldKev

Sorry bit late reply but was found in weyermman Munich I

Interesting to read what others have found/heard.
If and when I move from BIAB and invest in a mill. I'll surely be looking out the corner of my eye for some random rocks when cracking.

 

[jyo]

Yup, the elastrator ring is used to securely close the plastic inner bag liner which helps keep the grain contained within it and away from moisture, weevils etc, thereby keeping your grain fresh and sharp. Or should do, if its been fitted properly at the packaging plant, sounds like a few haven't. Its academic though if the liner is holed anyway- many of the TF sacks I've bought have had the inner liner holed, presumably though a fair bit of handling. IIRC, apparently they're working on new sacks with an integral liner however I'll resist buying sacks of TF until they've sorted it out.

Cheers for that, mate!

 

[RdeVjun]

One of the bags was completely slack and got replaced.

Whoa- did you not mention to the supplier that it just might have been BIABed, or was the slackness noted before that point??!
Purely in jest of course, late- comers may care to refresh on past BIAB efficiency debates.

 

[RdeVjun]

If and when I move from BIAB and invest in a mill. I'll surely be looking out the corner of my eye for some random rocks when cracking.

Most amateur mills handle the inevitable admixture such as gravel, snail shell etc, without any more than a brief grumble and at worst a new mark smarting the rollers, however tough welding slag, foreign metal objects and so forth can stop them with disastrous results. Thankfully the overwhelming majority of retail malt is of quite good quality and completely free of that sort of thing, so having an issue with some would be rarer than the proverbial hens' teeth. If you are unlucky enough to hit a bag with a noticeable amount of admixture then your retailer should replace the product without any fuss. If there's something in it which wrecks your mill, then repairing it would be a decent and honorable remedy, but IIRC a little while ago one supplier did just that for a customer, so its not completely unheard of, but on the whole we should all sleep easy and keep buying lotto tickets- the odds are probably more favorable!

 

[Nick JD]

I've found that human body parts pass through my rollers with little effort.

These are the benefits of using a woodchipper to mill your grain.

Plus, I can mill a 25kg sack in 7 seconds.

 

[Fat Bastard]

I've found that human body parts pass through my rollers with little effort.

These are the benefits of using a woodchipper to mill your grain.

Plus, I can mill a 25kg sack in 7 seconds.

But it takes 6 hours to get the stringy bits of nylon, tendons and bone out.

 

[RdeVjun]

I've found that human body parts pass through my rollers with little effort.

Q. How does that affect them enzymes then?

 

[stux]

On a serious note

Bits of twig and some non malt seeds/weeds, like burrs are things I've seen

 

[Benchish]

Mummified grasshopper in raw organic wheat once, he didn't make it into the mill.

 

[Carboy]

This piece of quartz blew up my mill motor last year... got jammed between the rollers.

It was the size of a 10 piece, I left the mill running while I had dinner, when I got back to the mill the motor was not running, I looked inside the hopper and only about 1kg of grain had been milled. Couldn't work out what was wrong so I tipped everything into a container and found both pieces stuck fast.

Grain was BB Pale Malt

Cheers
C :icon_cheers:

 

[jyo]

Ok, this was not from the sack, but appropriate.

Milled up some grain for an EIPA just before and as I mashed in noticed this pour out of my cracked grain bucket. I use this for cleaning the kettle and keep it in a big container that holds my mill and some other buckets.. I have NFI how I did it, but it has had a trip through the rollers!

 

[peaky]

I've never seen anything in the grain that shouldn't go through the mill but I have heard it crunching on a few things at times, sometimes if I'm in the next room I've come back to keep an eye on it while it mills just in case something jams in the rollers. The sound of the crunching makes me wince a little at times....