Grain Storage Question - Just starting out...

Someone local to me on Craigslist has these for $19 apiece. Would this be something good to store grains in?

Secondly, since I'm just starting out... is there a good works-for-nearly-everything grain that I can buy in bulk, assuming I can narrow my beer choices down to Pale Ales / IPAs to start? Something like a Pale Ale 2-row? I can always hit up my LHBS for the smaller-quantity specialty grains.

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Welcome to the forum daddyo ,

Great question too

Those containers look great - what size are they by the way?

However, this question is a bit like the kid at school who gets failed on his exam question, "What is more economical? One pound of flour at $5 or 5 pounds of flour for $22?" The kid answered the former and got failed but he was right as he could only go through 2 pounds of flour before it went off Imagine one of those big containers sitting there 10% full for a year? (It's not efficient storage.)

How I Store My Grain

I have one big container that is not air-tight. Within that I have many air-tight containers (tupperware type stuff) that hold my specialty grains. As their volume decreases, I put them into smaller containers but not to a ridiculous extent.

My base malts, which all come in 25 kg bags that are lined with plastic, as all base malts are and they stay outside the big container until... When they are down to about 5 kgs, I can shove them in that one big container (and I know to re-order them). So, everything stays fresh.

Mark your Grains

When you buy grain, put sopme masking tape on it and write the date purchased. It might not seem important now but down the track, you'll wonder what a grain is and why you ever bought it . Same with hops.

Base Malts

I like thughes advice. I have 4 base malts but that is a luxury. I f I had a choice of one, I would go a pale ale as a pale ale will brew a lot of lagers and pilsners. If I had two choices, I'd go a Pilsner and an ale malt such as Maris Otter. Three choices, I'd go a very light coloured pilsner, an ale malt and a darker ale malt. 4 choices, I'd add Munich to the above.

Don't buy too Much!

In fact, if you live near a good home brew shop, I'd never suggest you store your own grain let alone crush it. Storing and crushing has a few hidden costs that are best not seen by new all-grainers. (For example, there's a big difference between buying a crappy mill and owning a great one.)

So, don't go rushing daddyo ,
PP

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BobBrews wrote:

When you buy grain, put some masking tape on it and write the date purchased. It might not seem important now but down the track, you'll wonder what a grain is and why you ever bought it . Same with hops.

I got that tip from you Bob! So simple - good on ya mate .

On hops, I've had some in the freezer for several years kept in sealable bags inside air-tight containers. Seems to work a treat .

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The OP's containers look great if you are going to tip the malt out into them. However when buying by the sacks, they are lined with polyethylene nowadays and the sack itself is the best storage environment re staling and oxygenation. On the other hand as stated you need to keep the varmints out.
I have a collection of these http://www.emergencyoffice.com.au/retai ... t_id=50493and just pop the sack in after opening, the sack fits perfectly.

I got them from Bunnings (= Lowes in the USA = bloody mega big hardware shed ) on a really good special for about $17 each, bought five and should have got a couple more.


BTW opening a sack is easy, learned this from when I worked on a farm. Trim the twine stitching off level with each side of the sack.
One side of the sack will have complex double stitching.
the other side will just have a single row of stitching ------------- like so
Go to the left of the sack (or the right, some countries differ) and tease out the first loop, and pull gently.

The whole thing should unzip quicker and smoother than a Girl Guide Leader's sleeping bag when the Scoutmaster sneaks into the tent

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daddyo wrote:

PistolPatch wrote:On hops, I've had some in the freezer for several years kept in sealable bags inside air-tight containers. Seems to work a treat .

Thanks for the tip on the hops. I was planning on buying 2 lbs. of Cascade from a local farm for $40 and was wondering how to store it.

But now that I looked around, it looks like I can get 2 lbs. for $32 shipped. Without going on a tangent too much here, can anyone recommend a good hops place online?

Good hop place online
http://www.nikobrew.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I keep my hops in the freezer vac sealed with a domestic vacuum sealer. Just snip the corner... extract the right amount, reseal, and pop back in the freezer.

Tried buying by the KG, but that was too much for me, now I buy 450g (1lb) packets of anything I buy. 90g/100g packets were just too small

There was some debate about keeping them in the fridge vs freezer. My opinion is I'm going to keep hops for anything from 6 months to 3 years, ergo, freezer. Just try not to let them defrost.

Also, My kegfridge has a freezer compartment with two draws... one is for vodka... the other for hops

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Beachbum wrote: BTW opening a sack is easy, learned this from when I worked on a farm. Trim the twine stitching off level with each side of the sack.
One side of the sack will have complex double stitching.
the other side will just have a single row of stitching ------------- like so
Go to the left of the sack (or the right, some countries differ) and tease out the first loop, and pull gently.

The whole thing should unzip quicker and smoother than a Girl Guide Leader's sleeping bag when the Scoutmaster sneaks into the tent

Weyermann make it so easy
http://www.weyermann.de/can/produkte_ne" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... &sprache=2

Rest of the time I get SWMBO (the seamstress) to pick the magic thread

You can then separate the lining if you want and tie a knot in it to reseal the bag.

I keep my bags in food grade storage crates

the good thing is they stack, and they have lids. Keeps the varmints out.

The bad thing is they're not that cheap... and its a pain to unstack... but it means I can keep 4 of them in my spare bedroom quite easily, which means the grain keeps well

BTW, I keep the grain in the sack... or vac seal the specialty stuff.

It would probably be better to use stacking buckets... perhaps handy pails. But you're going to need to use 3 20L pails for one sack.

(grain uses 50 to 60L of space for 25KG)

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One thing I should have mentioned before is that for plastic containers (fermentors, cubes, storage bins etc) it makes a massive difference price-wise, in Australia at least, if you go directly to packaging suppliers.

For example, I bought 8 cubes the other day from Vital Packaging at $8.80 while identical cubes sold in the hardwares for $29.95 .

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