Grain Storage

[Mark]

Most of my base malts get used reasonably quickly but specialty malts (crystal, roasted etc) stick around for quite a while. Is there a shelf life on these grains?

What is the preferred method of storing (non cracked) grains for brewers here? Airtight containers etc? Does it even matter?

[MrC]

I believe uncracked grains store for ages. I store all of mine in airtight containers and keep them dark, cool and dry. I've never notice any difference with grain I have stored for ages vs. grain that is so called "fresh".

[Dale]

How would one of those Vacuum Bags that suck out all the air go? Would be cheaper than getting a stack of containers.

[Reviled]

That would work fine Dale!

I store all of my malts in glad bags, the biggest size ones... Unless its a sack of base malt, that stays in the sack untill its small enough to fit in a big snaplock container...

[Matthew]

What about cracked grains? 3-4 weeks? More??
One of my issues at the mo is not having a mill so I'm buying grains by the brew. I wouldn't mind getting larger amounts of milled special grain but I'm nervous about storage length. I have plenty of those glad snaplock bags and containers to use but it's whether I can use the grain in time.

[Reviled]

Yeah I wouldnt want to leave it for too much longer than a month if it was crushed... Ive got some crystal that was crushed a year ago and im scared to use it... Maybe one day...

[denimglen]

I also believe a month is the limit for crushed grains.

I store all my grains in those big Nescafe coffee tins, cause I get them for free from work, and big containers are a rip off.

They seem to last ages, I've had some over a year. I have noticed they do get a little sour sort of smell to them after about a year, probably a bit of dampness and the lacto on the grains starting to work, but the beer they make seems fine.

I'd expect the higher the roast the longer the shelf life too.

[jt]

My mill's available if you want to buy in bulk and mill for each brew

cheers, jt

[Pilgrim]

I go to a lot of Garage Sales, went to one recently with a lot of home brew gear for sale. Bought heaps of stuff for $10, including a few old fermenters. Wouldn't put beer into them but cleaned out and with a plastic bag liner, they make ideal grain storage. Just bought 50Kg of Global grain so these will come in real handy.