Storing ingredients for the long term?

Berlbrew · 03-07-2009, 07:35 PM

Today was the Massachusetts 10% sale day at AHS! (finally!) And so I made sure to take advantage as much as I could and order ingredients for my next 3 batches.

I've never bought this much grain and extract at once and it occured to me that freshness might be an issue. If I don't plan on brewing a batch for say, 4 months, do I need to refrigerate or freeze any ingredients like milled grains, hop pellets, or DME? I'm willing to bet that I do...

**ajf** · 03-07-2009, 08:05 PM

The hops should go straight to the freezer where they will be OK for a year or more. The DME will be fine if it's kept dry. The milled grains should be used as quickly as possible as they don't keep well once milled.

-a

HughBrooks · 03-07-2009, 08:19 PM

about how long will milled grains keep compared to grain that is still whole?

COLObrewer · 03-07-2009, 08:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajf

The hops should go straight to the freezer where they will be OK for a year or more. The DME will be fine if it's kept dry. The milled grains should be used as quickly as possible as they don't keep well once milled.

-a

+1, maybe the milled malt should go into something very air tight or better yet vaccuum packed, but it sounds like a good excuse to get more primary fermenters and brew FASTER!!!

**ajf** · 03-07-2009, 09:04 PM

I don't really know how long the grain would last because mine always gets used within 30 minutes of milling. Try a google search on this forum for milled grain storage.

-a.

JMG680 · 03-08-2009, 12:03 AM

How about unmilled, How long would the grain last

**ajf** · 03-08-2009, 01:33 AM

Again, I don't really know because I have difficulty in keeping it that long, but my base malt has a "best used by" date of 11 months after the manufacturing date. It should be kept cool (sub 80F) and dry, and away from critters.

-a.

The Pol · 03-08-2009, 01:36 AM

Unmilled malt... stored in a cool, dry, pest free place? Over a year... easy. Mine is in sealed plastic bags, air tight plastic bags.

**Brewmeister Jeff** · 03-08-2009, 01:43 AM

I vacuum seal all my Specialty grains in 1# bags. I keep my base malt in the big 50# bags that they come in and just fold the top down.