I brother gave me some grain that has been sitting in his garage for a while, roughly a year. Its gone through a summer and winter sitting in the garage. Do you think it is any good? Its was stored in a plastic bag in a plastic container.
Thanks
TK
It’s fine, as long as it wasn’t crushed. Crushed grain goes stale fast. Uncrushed, it can last over a year.
Chew a few kernels and see if it tastes stale. You will know immediately if it is still good.
Uncrushed grain will keep indefinitely if stored dry and protected from humidity and pests. Temperature swings are not a concern for dry grain, within reason. I store mine in an outside shed that sees annual extremes of -20 to 80F. Crushed grain will go stale fairly quickly, within a few months at most.
It was already milled. I think it is pretty stale. Do you think it will turn something decent out? I hate to throw it away…
Thanks for all your input.
You could still give it a taste and see if it tastes funny. Eat a spoonful of it. Since it was stored in a bag inside of a container, maybe it’s okay. However… I wouldn’t bet on it, unfortunately. Your call. You can still make beer with it, but it might taste a little twangy.
If the grain tastes stale, the beer you make from it will taste stall too. Your call, but that’s potentially a lot of wasted effort to avoid throwing away something that only costs a few bucks.
This post got me thinking, has anyone vacuum sealed unmilled grains? I have a vacuum sealer from my hops. I could use it for grains? ( not huge quantities )
There’s really no reason to vacuum seal unmilled grains. But if you want to mill them and then let them sit for months, vacuum sealing wouldn’t be a bad idea, in small quantities.
K, it’s actually just a fun toy to use. I want to vacuum seal everything.
