Viability of malt as it ages

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
Post Reply
John
Sober
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:05 pm

Viability of malt as it ages

Post by John » Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:38 pm

I have brewed beer using a full mash for a long time. I've been ill since Christmas and have a nearly full sack of grain bought before then. It has been stored in a dry environment. Does anyone know if it would still be ok to use now i,m better. This is my first post so I'm not sure if the etiquette yet.
Cheers
John

steviebobs83
Piss Artist
Posts: 172
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2018 10:19 am

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by steviebobs83 » Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:58 pm

Is it crushed or whole? It'll last longer whole.

Saying that, I'm pretty sure I've used crushed grain over 4 months old and it's been fine.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk


John
Sober
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:05 pm

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by John » Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:28 pm

Thanks a lot mate. I,'ll give it a go.
Cheers
John

User avatar
Cobnut
Drunk as a Skunk
Posts: 758
Joined: Fri Aug 24, 2018 4:23 pm
Location: Ipswich
Contact:

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by Cobnut » Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:51 pm

I'm still using a sack of crushed extra pale MO I got in September and having no issues.

In fact, my brew last saturday exceeded target gravity by some margin...was it my fault? Or the malt? ;-)

I think the theory goes that older malt will lose some of its' "efficacy" as it ages - uncrushed lasts much better than crushed - but if it's kept cool and dry the ageing effects are reduced.

So I strongly suspect you'll be fine.

Chuck an extra 5-10% in and if you overshoot, you can always liquor back.
Fermenting: nowt
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!

John
Sober
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:05 pm

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by John » Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:22 pm

Thanks cobnut. I must say this site and you lads are really helpful.

User avatar
Mashman
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 675
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:00 pm
Location: Canterbury, Kent

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by Mashman » Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:35 pm

I've used crushed malt six months old with no problems. I think crushed grain from the Malt Miller has about a 12 month best before date.
Two Valleys Brewery

Brewing up trouble

User avatar
MarkA
Lost in an Alcoholic Haze
Posts: 592
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2014 11:26 am
Location: Aberdeenshire

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by MarkA » Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:55 pm

I brewed last month with crushed malt I bought from MM in June 2018, it was kept in the cool but had been opened and sealed again with a cable tie. It was absolutely fine, much to my dismay!

User avatar
Bad 'Ed
Piss Artist
Posts: 193
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 4:35 pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by Bad 'Ed » Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:58 pm

John wrote:
Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:38 pm
I've been ill since Christmas and have a nearly full sack of grain bought before then. It has been stored in a dry environment. Does anyone know if it would still be ok to use now i,m better?
I recently used pre crushed malt that was 2.5 years old. Stored open to the elements in a dry garage, and I actually improved my efficiency.

I think the rumours of decreased efficiency are over subscribed. Obviously my error rate is a bigger problem....
Never enough time...

McMullan

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by McMullan » Sat Mar 28, 2020 9:12 am

As long as the moisture content is kept low it should last at least a year or two. Uncrushed longer. It really depends how and for how long it's been stored before we get it. When it was produced. I got a sack of uncrushed Bohemian Pilsner malt the other day that has a BB date of 2025. The uncrushed MO I get has about 2 years shelf life, but should last longer if stored properly.

User avatar
MikeG
Piss Artist
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:56 pm
Location: Hastings, East Sussex

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by MikeG » Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:31 pm

I have reviewed my brewing log and I've found that out of the brews which I get from a 25kg sack the first gets me a higher OG than the last fairly consistently. There's not a lot of difference. From the last bag I got 1046 1048 1045 1046 1044 (I still have one more brew's worth in the bag) and, as the FG was always 1006, this gave me 5.3% 5.6% 5.2% 5.3% 5.0%. In previous bags I've had up to 5.8% near the start of a bag and never lower than 5.0% at the end.

The best-by-date on this bag is 13/12/22. So, if ageing isn't the problem maybe the settlement of husks is different to that of the flour giving more flour in the early brews than in the late brews.

I would be interested in people's views on this.

Mike.
P.S. This is all leading me to consider a mill.

User avatar
MashBag
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2140
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:13 am

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by MashBag » Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:52 pm

John. It will be fine.

User avatar
MashBag
Even further under the Table
Posts: 2140
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:13 am

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by MashBag » Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:55 pm

MikeG wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:31 pm
I have reviewed my brewing log and I've found that out of the brews which I get from a 25kg sack the first gets me a higher OG than the last fairly consistently. There's not a lot of difference. From the last bag I got 1046 1048 1045 1046 1044 (I still have one more brew's worth in the bag) and, as the FG was always 1006, this gave me 5.3% 5.6% 5.2% 5.3% 5.0%. In previous bags I've had up to 5.8% near the start of a bag and never lower than 5.0% at the end.

The best-by-date on this bag is 13/12/22. So, if ageing isn't the problem maybe the settlement of husks is different to that of the flour giving more flour in the early brews than in the late brews.

I would be interested in people's views on this.

Mike.
P.S. This is all leading me to consider a mill.
I found this, was told it was indeed settlement in the sack. Easily solved by dividing up the sack into 4kg storage tubs on receipt. Not had the problem since and has the benefit of each drum being airtight too.

User avatar
MikeG
Piss Artist
Posts: 126
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:56 pm
Location: Hastings, East Sussex

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by MikeG » Sat Aug 21, 2021 2:38 pm

Thanks, MashBag. That's a good idea. I was getting a bit daunted by the mill idea. Ebay & Amazon have them ranging from £60ish to over £1000 - all looking much the same; and with hardly any reviews to go on. Hey-ho.

User avatar
Northern Brewer
Piss Artist
Posts: 204
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2018 5:57 pm

Re: Viability of malt as it ages

Post by Northern Brewer » Sun Aug 22, 2021 7:18 pm

MikeG wrote:
Tue Aug 17, 2021 6:31 pm
The best-by-date on this bag is 13/12/22. So, if ageing isn't the problem maybe the settlement of husks is different to that of the flour giving more flour in the early brews than in the late brews.
There's actually something called the "muesli effect" which says that the biggest particles in a mixture tend to rise to the top - you can think of it as the flour-sized particles falling through the gaps between the big particles. The posh name for it is granular convection :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granular_convection

Post Reply