Storing grains.

[Truman42]

About to get myself a grain mill and start bulk buying grains.

I have a spot in my laundry under a bench where I was going to store them.
I don't have a mouse problem but do have a bloody ant problem.

Will ants try to get into my grain or go they generally leave it alone?

If they do I will have to buy some canoe drums with screw in lids or similar.

 

[manticle]

Canoe drums are a good idea.
I've never noticed an ant near my grain and doubt they could digest it. Rodents are a far greater concern.

 

[QldKev]

When I was back in town every time it rains ant would come in the store room to keep dry. The ants never looked at the grain. Some other bugs and rodents though, could smell it from 100miles. I now store all my grain in an old chest freezer. I leave the drain hole open with some flywire over the outlet.

QldKev

 

[Nick JD]

Weevils are your biggest concern after rodents.

 

[Amber Fluid]

I've had a few ant problems around the home and like others have mentioned, they have never bothered my grain. Most of my grain are stored in 75L plastic garbage bins.

 

[Hippy]

Like the other guys have said, ants aren't a problem. I've got heaps in my shed where I store my grain and they're not interested. The 75L plastic bins are good as AF says, just fold over the top of the bag and shove it in. The 20L handy pails are also good but you need 2 per sack.

 

[TidalPete]

Specialty grains I store in 3-litre juice bottles which store around 2.00Kg. Base malts are stored in their sacks, tightly sealed with "rubber bands" made from old bicycle tubes & then kept in lidded polystyrene fruit boxes or lidded storage boxes. Never had a problem except from a couple of specialty malts that apparently came with weevils/weevil eggs. Freezing for a month or two solved the problem.

 

[Yob]

Previous Threads on Storing

 

[DU99]

i just bought my grinder for coffee ..when i do go to grain..i will vac seal in size lots

 

[Truman42]

Cheers gents..As long as ants arent interested Im laughing...Thanks for the link Yob, my main concern was ants but good to get some storage ideas.

 

[Camo6]

If you've got a dryer and its not vented to the outside I'd be more worried about humidity in a laundry Truman. (Especially if your wife likes using it all year round when you've got a perfectly functional clothes line h34r: ). Like QLDKev I store base malts in an old chesty/dead keezer and spec grains in handypails from bunnings.

 

[Truman42]

i have a drier but dont use it much. But thanks for the heads up never thought of that. Could store it in the garage but i have an empty space under the laundry shelf just asking to have something stored underneath it...LOL Will use handy pails so should be okay.

 

[andy@67]

G'day,

When I was growing up, we would throw this in the silos with our grain. Solves both weevils and rodents, however probably not appropriate for your brewing grain. Certainly not something you want to leave laying around as moisture turns it into a toxic gas.

As far as ants go, I've seen them steal grain that has been planted but I don't remember them getting into the silos at all. As others have said weevils and rodents are your biggest worry.

Cheers,

Andrew.

 

[chefeffect]

Bunning's has some 30lt drums with rubber sealing lids, kinda like canoe drums for $19, or 15lt ones for $16 they work well, and cheap. Some bags have plastic liners and keep the grain well for months others are just sacks so if they are just sacks I would say go for an air tight container to store the grain in. Before my wife turned my brewery into a nursery I used to store most of my grain in bags, now the brewery is in the shed so had to buy these new container thingys for the kid, he better appreciate it!!