Grain storage - woven plastic sacks with no liner?

[Kev888]

For a long time the 25kg sacks of crushed grain I've bought have usually had the white woven plastic sack and an inner pothythene bag (usually light blue in colour), and they've kept the grain okay for a good year or so on occasion. But more recently I've noticed that theres often just the white woven sack with no liner bag (doesn't seem to be down to a particular retailer, just seems more common generally).

The white woven bags aren't as airtight - this makes my spare room smell very nice, but I've no idea if the extra breathability helps or hinders storage, or if it depends on the environment its in. Does anyone know if its worth decanting the grain into something more air-tight if you intend to store it for many months?

Cheers,
Kev

[kebabman]

I noticed that sack change recently too, it certainly looks like a change for the worse to me
What worries me is that if you can smell the malt more now, you can be certain that the four legged vermin will do too!
So I keep all my malt stocks in my 100L vessels now. I run a piece of electrical tape around the lid and that hopefully helps to vastly reduce the smell.

[boingy]

I've not had one without a plastic inner yet but I should be collecting a new sack this week so it will be interesting to see.

I'd be worried that moisture can get in so I'd definitely decant the grain into something relatively airtight.

[Kev888]

Hmm, good points both, I may think harder about storage now, then.

I've been looking more closely at the sacks (a variety of grain types and manufacturers); the odd one or two seem to be reasonably well sealed but most aren't, and some are really quite net-like in places. I supect it may be if they get stretched or abused in transit, it could open up the weave a bit.

Cheers
kev

[Down2Die]

Name and shame them. who is it? Id couldn't imagine a 25kg sack without a liner.

[soupdragon]

Just opened my sack of Bairds to check..........

No liner

Cheers Tom

[Dennis King]

Name and shame them. who is it? Id couldn't imagine a 25kg sack without a liner.

+1 we need to know.

[soupdragon]

Good job I've still got a bit left in my nearly empty sack so I can transfer it over

Cheers Tom

[borischarlton]

Fawcetts have moved to an automated filling system meaning they have done away with the blus liners and breathable sack to a one peice waterproof one, Crisp the same and has been ever since I have used them. This is fine as long as the sack doesn't end up with a hole, this system has been used since at least the start of the year and I have had just one complaint of a hole. More of a problem is the smaller holes at the top where they are sewn shut. We always try to reclose the sack below the holes using metal ties. The Dingemans and Weyermann sacks are the best having a sewn in plastic liner in a waterprooof bag. I would guess the best option for longer term storage is a dustbin, keeping the nasties out and the aroma in. It was always a bit of a problem with the Fawacetts blue lines as half the time they were split and because the ouside bag was not waterproof it was less than ideal.

Rob

[Kev888]

Ah many thanks Rob, thats most interesting - I wondered if it was something to do with central changes as it seems such a general thing. I'll pay special attention to how the bags are closed, then.

Just to clarify for those asking for names, as I already said it isn't down to any particular retailer rather its a widespread thing now (by the sounds of it, it comes with the choice of brand/maltster). The point of my question was just 'as this is the case' does it make any difference to how I/we should store it.

Cheers,
Kev

[guypettigrew]

As soon as I get a 25Kg sack of grain I measure it out into 2Kg amounts using ordinary clear plastic food bags, sealed with a clip, to store it in.

Apart from storing the grain better it also makes measuring it out for a brew much easier. If I want 4750 grams of pale I grab two bags and the only have to weigh out 750 grams from the third. Easy peasy!

Guy

[Kev888]

Interesting idea! Currenty I use most of a sack per brew, but I may well try that when I get my next brewing rig sorted, as it'll hopefully do smaller batches too.

In fact maybe sooner - its an effort lugging full sacks up and down the stairs to/from the spare bedroom where I store it so smaller (say half sized) containers would be much more handy, as long as they aren't wasteful in terms of storage space. I tried those clamp-top barrels and they work well but they take up a shed load of space compared to the original sacks, which can be persuaded into almost rectangular shapes, so bags may well be better.

Those blue builder's/rubble sacks may have lots of potential possibly?

Cheers
Kev

[boingy]

I now have my sack of Warminster malt and I'm happy to confirm that the packaging has not changed, i.e. there is still an inner poly bag.

This sack is from a batch that was delivered fresh from the maltings on Monday so it looks like Warminster are resisting the trend, at least for now.

[Kev888]

Interesting, I guess time will tell if this is going to be universal or not.

I've been looking again at my single-part sacks; the ones from Crisp look to be the most robust and have no air leaks, even though they're also excellent value (they also seem a tad taller/narrower). I've not used their pale malt before so hopefully that too will be good quality.

Cheers
Kev