Over the summer months I have been storing my malts in a plastic dustbin in my unheated workshop which also doubles as my brewery. Its very convenient since I can store, weigh and use my malts all within 3 yards of each other. I have a 25kg sack of MO and lots of smaller bags of Crystal, Munich, Wheat etc. I would expect to have a turnover of my stock every 6 months so these malts will be around all winter before they are used up. So far they seem to be staying dry enough and are well protected from the attentions of the local rodent population.
However, as the weather starts to get cooler, of course, so will the malt. When I had a brewday this week I checked the malt temperature and it was 10C, so I had to adjust my strike temperature to reflect this. I am now curious about what will be the effects of freezing temperatures. Is it safe to store malt under such cold conditions or will it come to any harm?
Looking forward to your advice on this one as I haven't got a "Scooby"!
What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
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adm
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
I would have thought it would be fine in cold conditions as long as it is kept dry.
Like you, my malts are kept in plastic dustbins in the garage....I didn't notice any effect last winter, even though it dropped below freezing several times. What's more, none of the legions of sharp toothed rodents that live in the field behind the house managed to get into any of the bins.
The strike temperature calculator here takes the grain temperature into account and is useful. Personally, I find it consistently gives results about 1.4C too high for MY setup, but I just take that into account.
Like you, my malts are kept in plastic dustbins in the garage....I didn't notice any effect last winter, even though it dropped below freezing several times. What's more, none of the legions of sharp toothed rodents that live in the field behind the house managed to get into any of the bins.
The strike temperature calculator here takes the grain temperature into account and is useful. Personally, I find it consistently gives results about 1.4C too high for MY setup, but I just take that into account.
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farmhousekeg
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
Cheers ADM that's encouraging!
I can relate to "legions of sharp toothed rodents". We are also surrounded by fields, barns and - therefore - rats! A few years ago one burrowed under the concrete floor of our kitchen before quite literally digging its way through the concrete to pop out of under one of our kitchen units!!!! I couldn't understand why there were little piles of dusty stones appearing at the edge of the kitchen unit every night until I eventually removed it to uncover the horror beneath. It then took about a week to poison the buggers (they were setting up the family home by that time) and retrieve their stinking carcases from various locations around the kitchen, including under the dishwasher and INSIDE a tupperware box in a cupboard. It was truly the most disgusting experience I have had with rats or mice. Hats off to them for ingenuity - I can see why they're such successful breeders!
I can relate to "legions of sharp toothed rodents". We are also surrounded by fields, barns and - therefore - rats! A few years ago one burrowed under the concrete floor of our kitchen before quite literally digging its way through the concrete to pop out of under one of our kitchen units!!!! I couldn't understand why there were little piles of dusty stones appearing at the edge of the kitchen unit every night until I eventually removed it to uncover the horror beneath. It then took about a week to poison the buggers (they were setting up the family home by that time) and retrieve their stinking carcases from various locations around the kitchen, including under the dishwasher and INSIDE a tupperware box in a cupboard. It was truly the most disgusting experience I have had with rats or mice. Hats off to them for ingenuity - I can see why they're such successful breeders!
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adm
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
Haha! We had very similar..... We had an old conservatory that joined our kitchen and garage together. I kept hearing noises in there and in the end tore the thing down to replace it. Underneath the base was a warren of rat nests....they scarpered everywhere when I started pulling the base off and the dog had fun killing a few.
It took a while to poison them all, but I got rid of them with a bit of advice from Ditch!
I rebuilt the conservatory with a solid concrete base, so the little sods won't be setting up home there again!
It took a while to poison them all, but I got rid of them with a bit of advice from Ditch!
I rebuilt the conservatory with a solid concrete base, so the little sods won't be setting up home there again!
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
Munton's recommend 5 - 15c. I don't think it's critical though and a large mass like a sack of grain, in a bin, in a garage is going to take some seriously cold weather to freeze it.
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farmhousekeg
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
Good point - I hadn't thought of thatjohnmac wrote:........a large mass like a sack of grain, in a bin, in a garage is going to take some seriously cold weather to freeze it.
Thanks
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
Of course, Sleepy Shropshire has set record low temeratures in past winters. I was at Cosford winter 75/76 and can remember trying to wash a car but gave up because the water was just freezing on it 
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farmhousekeg
Re: What temperature can I safely store malt in winter?
Paaaaah! That sometimes happens in July around here!johnmac wrote:Of course, Sleepy Shropshire has set record low temeratures in past winters. I was at Cosford winter 75/76 and can remember trying to wash a car but gave up because the water was just freezing on it
But seriously I remember in 1990, days after my daughter was born, we had an ice storm which brought down power cables at Ironbridge Power Station. We had no electricity for 3 days and no central heating as a result. Despite this, the freezer contents in our kitchen were still absolutely fine when the power came back on.
