Grain Storage

[smbenn]

Right, now I'm brewing fairly regularly it no longer makes sense for me to buy grist just for my next batch and is therefore time to bulk buy. A few questions:

1. How many litres will a 25Kg bag of pale malt take up?
2. What food-grade airtight containers are you using for your grain? Any recommendations?
3. I'll probably stick to freezing my hops although I'd be interested in what you all do with yours.

Cheers
Si

[far9410]

I keep my larger(not lager) bags of malt in their bags, tied up , dry and out of light. Hops in sealed bags, once broken, then in freezer . Smaller bags of grains, reseal bag as good as poss, then into plastic sealed box

[boingy]

The grains are best kept in the bag/sack they come in.
A 25kg sack will just squeeze into a standard black plastic dustbin (it takes a bit of prodding). The bin is neither airtight nor food grade but the grain is not in contact with the bin and the sack top is rolled down tightly for storage. Adjunct/other grains I store in their bags (typically 3kg) inside a blue screwtop mango chutney container. The grains are all stored in the garage. Cool, dry and safe from rodents (ok, sometimes it's warm....).

I vac-pac and freeze hops.Before I had the vac-pac machine I just used to squeeze out as much air as I could, tape the bag top tightly then freeze.

I'm much better at inventory control these days. I used to end up with loads of surplus grains which would be two years old or more. Now I try to plan my recipes so I buy a 25kg sack of pale MO and just enough hops and other malts to make the recipes I am planning for that sack. I still end up with a surplus of some (black malt...) but the quantities are much lower.

[zgoda]

25 kg of malt takes roughly 38 litres. I'm keeping it in old 33 litre fv's plus some smaller bin.

[greenxpaddy]

They fit nicely into the larger Polypropylene storage bins from Wilko's.



If you stack them on top of each other they are pretty near airtight as th e weight pushes down on the lid

[smbenn]

OK thanks for the views, chaps. Will get buying.

[daveymc]

Probably been asked a thousand times; how long can you store grains before they deteriorate?

[greenxpaddy]

If they are crushed you should try to use within 6 months. Uncrushed, its arguable that hey can be stored for 18 months but 12 months is the oft quoted figure. But as always depends how they are stored.

[daveymc]

Thanks for the info.

Cheers
dave

[drunkpapaj]

how about one of these here. food grade and a nice secure locking lid...

[Cazamodo]

how about one of these here. food grade and a nice secure locking lid...

Almost pulled the trigger on a few of these now but since I first saw them they have slowly gone up in price. So ive held back to try and find some locally, but no luck so far!