Found beetles in grains... pissed.

After sparging some grains on an ale, I got to looking closely at the grains and I saw that some... were not grains at all, but little spotted beetles with wings and legs and pincers. I wanted to punch the wall. I thought my ale was ruined. I was so pissed off, I called the LHBS and told them about the 'incident' and to my surprise, they acted like the bugs must have entered the grain between the time I paid for it and the time I steeped them which was about 2 hours. Yeah, ok. Idiots!

Furthermore, these guys at the LHBS used to seem like pretty legit dudes, but now I am starting to have doubts about their products - this is not how I want to feel about my LHBS either. So, as a warning: always inspect the 5 lbs of milled grains thoroughly before hand...

Lesson learned. :rockin:

Dude! Sorry! What a bummer! Could you look at it like extra protein? Nasty!

Well, the wort boiled like an SOB after that, so I'm sure it'll be ok. Just won't tell my friends. HA!

Just name it Beetlejuice IPA and call it good.

I'd be mad about the homebrew guys lying, but not about the beetles. No effect on your beer.

passedpawn said:

I'd be mad about the homebrew guys lying, but not about the beetles. No effect on your beer.

Click to expand...

Yep.

So these beetles made it through the grain mill intact?

brewingmeister said:

So these beetles made it through the grain mill intact?

Click to expand...

No, they were dried, dead, and busted in half.

alchemedes said:

No, they were dried, dead, and busted in half.

Click to expand...

Well at least you got good efficiency from them.

alchemedes said:

No, they were dried, dead, and busted in half.

Click to expand...

The perfect crush. My LHBS always screws that up.

Breaking news! Weevils love grain!

Yeah dude, you are going to be pretty hard pressed to find many shops that know how to properly process and store grain to eliminate weevils.

I'd be willing to bet, also, taht if they stock any reasonable bulk supply that they have a rodent problem too.

Just about any grain you buy is likely to have a high rate of weevil eggs. Give em enough time and the right conditions and they will hatch.

A deep freeze held for 72 hours will kill off any larvae or actual bugs. Can't recall what it takes to kill the eggs.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Yeah dude, you are going to be pretty hard pressed to find many shops that know how to properly process and store grain to eliminate weevils.

I'd be willing to bet, also, taht if they stock any reasonable bulk supply that they have a rodent problem too.

Just about any grain you buy is likely to have a high rate of weevil eggs. Give em enough time and the right conditions and they will hatch.

A deep freeze held for 72 hours will kill off any larvae or actual bugs. Can't recall what it takes to kill the eggs.

Click to expand...

Yeah, they were definitely weevils. Just looked at google image search - that's them. I don't want to brew with bugs, though. Frozen, or not. Gross. Good to know that place is selling bad product and won't admit it. I guess it's time to head to the brew shop across town for better grains and say good bye to the one ran by jack a$$ know it all college kids

Oh, and I'm gonna call them back...

alchemedes said:

Yeah, they were definitely weevils. Just looked at google image search - that's them. I don't want to brew with bugs, though. Frozen, or not. Gross. Good to know that place is selling bad product and won't admit it. I guess it's time to head to the brew shop across town for better grains and say good bye to the one ran by jack a$$ know it all college kids

Oh, and I'm gonna call them back...

Click to expand...

I hate to break this to you, but lots of grain comes with the weevils and their eggs already inside. They come out to be noticed once in a while. It's a fact of making food that cereal grains have some amount of bugs.

That should not stop you from going elsewhere if you don't like the jack a$$ know it all college kids, though. I would not expect a difference in grain. Most stores get their grains from the same maltsters.


http://byo.com/stories/wizard/article/section/121-mr-wizard/346-bugs-in-the-brew-mr-wizard

Thanks for the quick read and good info, Homercidal.

"Insects in malt is actually a fairly common problem. I am not suggesting that this is by any means acceptable, but it is common. In my experience, flour weevils are the most commonly found bugs in malt. Weevils can cause major problems for commercial brewers if they infest a malt silo. These little critters eat malt and in the process, rob brewers of the important carbohydrates that they have purchased from the maltster. As a biproduct of metabolism, bugs, like other creatures, produce heat, carbon dioxide and water. Insect infestation — and the fecal matter that comes with it — can lead to an increase in the malt moisture content, which in turn can lead to other problems such as mold growth."

"I have also had several bags of raw wheat arrive at our brewery that had numerous insect larvae on the outside of the bags — the wheat was obviously infested. I certainly did not want to spread this problem into my storage room and destroy the rest of my grain. My malt supplier happily replaced the wheat for free. A refund should be expected for malt containing bugs and I would never buy from a shop again that refused one."

I haven't been able to brew for a while and have about 40# of grain in a tote at my place. I really hope I don't go to use it and find a whole bunch of weevils that decided to hatch in the meantime... I don't want those nasty buggers in my grain!

alchemedes said:

No, they were dried, dead, and busted in half.

Click to expand...

Guess that's better than alive. At first I was thinking if they made it through a grain mill they were some kind of terminator beetle.

Oh and thanks for putting bugs in my brain, the whole time I was brewing today I'd see a piece of roasted grain and think there were weevils in there.

What malt did you use? If you found them, there's more. Just go back to the grain bin, grab a nice handful of weevil-laced malt, and carry it up to the front. Then see if they will issue you a refund or store credit for the malt you purchased.

I just wanted to add that I did go down to the brew store and chat with the boys. All in all they were totally nicer in person and apologetic and we spent some time bsing about fruit additions - which was helpful. Also, refunds available if I would've brought in the few beetles in the grains instead of tossing them out. So, no hard feelings.

bottlebomber said:

What malt did you use? If you found them, there's more. Just go back to the grain bin, grab a nice handful of weevil-laced malt, and carry it up to the front. Then see if they will issue you a refund or store credit for the malt you purchased.

Click to expand...

It was a 6 row.