Storing Grain In The Shed

[Rossy]

What about some co2 and then sealing it up, or better still pressurize the drum with a few psi, that must stop most bugs

 

[Dacky]

What about some co2 and then sealing it up, or better still pressurize the drum with a few psi, that must stop most bugs

Putting CO2 in there will work the same as simply having it airtight (it deprives whatever wants to be in there of oxygen).

Pressurising it is not a great idea for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that CO2 itself doesn't kill bugs like phosphine or methal bromide, it just means the more CO2, the less oxygen, which will happen anyway if something is using all the oxygen in there.

The second reason is that when you pressurise a space, things can go wrong. If you pump up your container, you run the risk of it blowing open its seal. There is no need to go right into it, but when the air temps and atmospheres change outside the container, the atmosphere inside will change which means you can damage your seal. If this happens, you probably won't know about it and you will open it up to find bugs in there. (This is the same reason an airlock is put on the top of a fermenter, to allow for these changes in air pressure)

I'm going on a bit about all this, but this is what I do 50 hours a week! The rest of my week is largley to do with beer...

 

[Ross]

As long as it is air-tight, you won't have a problem, bugs need oxygen to survive and if there is any in there, they will soon die.

Surely airtight is not going to do much other than keep new bugs out. The amount of oxygen in an airtight grain bin is surely going to be more than enough to sustain a few mites??

cheers Ross

 

[Dacky]

Surely airtight is not going to do much other than keep new bugs out. The amount of oxygen in an airtight grain bin is surely going to be more than enough to sustain a few mites??

cheers Ross

Yeah, your right, it will keep old bugs in and new ones out. It all depends on how much headspace is in the bin, that is how much of the bin is grain, and how much is just air. If it is a 100L bin with 500g of barley, then yeah, kiss it goodbye (should of just kept it in the fridge). If the bin is full, then there will not be much oxygen/air in there. When grain insects are active and mating and feeding, they will use a lot of oxygen. And we are not just talking about 'a few mites', there will be about 100 times more than what you can see with your eyes.

 

[domonsura]

The amount of open space/oxygen in a bin complete full of grain is absolutely MORE than enough to support a population of bugs for quite some time. By the time they've come even close to using the oxygen that is available to them, you already have a serious problem. Just ask anyone who has open an airtight cereal container to discover that weevils have taken over the joint. And there's a huge difference between purging a container with CO2 (which is all that's required to achieve the purpose we're talking about) - and pressurising a container with CO2. It's extremely easy to purge a container with CO2, not necessary to pressurise it - just displacing the oxygen in the container and creating a seal is enough.
The fact is that you don't need 100% CO2 in there for it to be virtually un-inhabitable for aerobic creatures, as CO2 is toxic to us all at much lower concentrations. At 1%, we become drowsy, 2% concentration is enough to cause confusion, laboured breathing & mild blood acidosis in humans when exposed for a few hours. 5% is toxic to us over a reasonably short period of time, and concentrations of 7% or higher will result in death sometimes within minutes of exposure. This is the reason we are all so careful (or should be) with our CO2 bottles, and placement of them and checking that they don't leak/turning off the bottle when not in use if we're not sure about it. AREN'T WE. ......Because CO2 kills. If you don't believe me, start a leak in your CO2 gas bottle and go to bed. Chances are you won't be with us before the concentration in your home reaches 10%

So all you really need to do (if you really need to do anything at all except make sure the bugs can't get in in the first place) is give your bin of grain a decent shot of CO2 and close her up. If you have achieved 10% CO2 concentration, I think you can safely say that most bugs/aerobic organisms are going to be having a damned hard time - the last thing that will be on their minds will be mating
Having said all that, I think the whole excercise would be pointless, & an completely un-necessary expense.