Bugs in grain from Austin Homebrew. Will they effect the beer?

I went to make a batch of beer this past weekend with ingredients from AHB. When I opened the sealed plastic bags of rice, maris, and vienna malts, and dumped them on my cheese cloth to tie up and steep, I spotted a bunch of these crawling on the counter.

This was a clean counter, and the bags of malt were sealed. I cut them open, dumped on an open cheesecloth and about 15 of these were running around. I killed the ones I saw, and just steeped the rest with the grains.

what kind of critters are they? Anyone else have problems with bugs from AHB? In the pic it looks big, but in reality it was about the size of a grain, maybe the size of a large ant (not a sugar ant).


http://www.flickr.com/photos/52206782@N05/4813326884/

I've never had a problem with any bugs from them. DEFINATELY call them on it. I'm sure they'll treat you right, plus you could be saving others from the same issue.

Otherwise, I think you might be okay brewing because of the boil, but it depends on alot of factors like how long they were in there, what type of bugs they are, etc...

Oh my. I hope you contacted them so they can pull any before others purchase. yikes.

I dont know what it is, hopefully others can help.

Looks like a grain weevil. Pretty typical actually.

Call them, they will make good. But no, they won;t otherwise hurt the beer lest they managed to eat enough of the grain to leave you with a bag of husk. And weevil poo, of course. What goes in....

Anyway, the eggs are always there no matter where you get your grain. Lots of people store their grain in the freezer to disuade any possible hatcheries.

The only question you need to ask yourself is how many IBUs do weevils contribute.

IBU's? I was thinking gravity points.

klyph said:

The only question you need to ask yourself is how many IBUs do weevils contribute.

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Depends on the ratio of male/female weevils.

The female weevils are always more bitter.

Grain weevil bodies might be a good substitute for rice hulls. Cheaper too, because they are already there.

Hmm... The OG of my last batch was a little high.

Darn weevils. We had some (5?) years back. Could not figure out where they were coming from - they got into everything. At first we did not know what they were until we did some descriptive googling Finally, we found a long forgotten box of pasta in the back of some dark cabinet that was completely infested. We had to get rid of every grain-based food we had to get rid of them.. pasta, rice, cereal. Never had a problem since.

Yikes! I would email them asap.

I have bought several kits from them and never had any problem. They seem like a good company so i bet they would ship you a replacement free of charge.

Absolutely a weevil.

Trivia Time, rather trivial info time. The town of Enterprise Alabama has a statue of a boll weevil at the center of their town square. That area of south Alabama is known for peanut production, out producing most of Georgia. It was because of the boll weevil which destroyed the cotton crop and forced the region to peanut production... a move for which the people are thankful.

As for the weevils they show up in my chicken feed which is stored right next to my malt yet my malt has no signs of weevils. Yet?

Schlante,
Phillip

GilaMinumBeer said:

The female weevils are always more bitter.

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Classic

Mississippi Boll Weevil ain't got no natural home lord lordy.

jrfuda said:

Darn weevils. We had some (5?) years back. Could not figure out where they were coming from - they got into everything. At first we did not know what they were until we did some descriptive googling Finally, we found a long forgotten box of pasta in the back of some dark cabinet that was completely infested. We had to get rid of every grain-based food we had to get rid of them.. pasta, rice, cereal. Never had a problem since.

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So your solution was the lesser of two weevils ?

Here are my friends, out of my Weyermann bags (NOT FROM AUSTIN HOMEBREW).
A lot better than roaches or mice parts you find in your every day food.


Too many will destroy the grain.


A picture of the tool my daughter uses to separate the extra proteins from the grain.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

I better check my bag of grain which I just got from them.

GilaMinumBeer said:

The female weevils are always more bitter.

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Wow, my day just became a little brighter. That is awesome.

I have bought corm meal from the store that has had weevils in it. I would call and mention it. I'd hate to think what insect material gets processed into our food. You could be the next Andrew Zimmern, eating a sorts of creepy crawlies.

Ok, everyone relax for a moment. Listen...


Bugs get into our food ALL THE TIME! (wait while you let that soak in.)

Seriously. You have no idea how much insect protein gets into your processed foods all the time. A few weevils are not going to affect your beer, nor change the ratio of bug guts you ingest by more than a fraction of a fraction.

Weevils are in grain. All the time. Lots of places freeze their grain bags for a few days to kill the bugs. You never see them. Sometimes that doesn't happen and you end up seeing them. Either way they get crushed and boiled during brewing, so no worries! That donut you had on the way to work was WAY more harmful than a few tiny insects.

So RDWHAbuginfestedHB!

GilaMinumBeer said:

Depends on the ratio of male/female weevils.

The female weevils are always more bitter.

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Actually, it would depend on size to determine the IBU's. The smaller ones are generally more potent so when brewing, always choose the lesser of two weevils.

as expected, when I called AHB, they credited me for the cost of the grains with the bugs. Great customer service!

jangelj said:

as expected, when I called AHB, they credited me for the cost of the grains with the bugs. Great customer service!

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Forrest and AHS are awesome

how does that song from ELO go....we-evil women

For anyone buying and storing bulk grain, get a plastic tub that you can seal and some dry ice. Put a chunk of dry ice in the bottom, dump the grain on top and close the top of the container without sealing it (you initially want gas to escape as the dry ice sublimes and pushes the lighter gases out). After a few hours the dry ice should be completely gone leaving a nice CO2 blanket over your grains and keeping the buggies at bay.

That would really bug me. They look very well feed to me. Can you ask them what type of beer they prefer?

See no weevil, hear no weevil?? Add to that TASTE no weevil!:rockin:

You might want to do a protein rest

Lol. This was a great read.

I've no problem with bugs in my grain. If they start drinking my beer, though.....


RAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIID!

NICE. Can't get any better than the Allstars. I'm fortunate enough to be in their backyard

ColoradoXJ13 said:

Mississippi Boll Weevil ain't got no natural home lord lordy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THw9_7uOOXo

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AHS has always been great with me on any ?, issue, or help I needed. It is my LHS even if it is not the closest one too me. It may be an hour drive, but I can count on them and that I like.

nickmv said:

NICE. Can't get any better than the Allstars. I'm fortunate enough to be in their backyard

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Robert Randoph kicks a$$, too! I have been fortunate enough to see him several times (not in a few years, though). Wonder what he is up to now.


BTW, I'll report back when the We-evil IPA is done.

well now you have me freaked out a bit, not so much from the possibility of bugs in the brew, but I have a couple of loaves of bread made from the spent grain from the last batch. Finding bugs in baked bread is not something to look forward to!

passedpawn said:

I've no problem with bugs in my grain. If they start drinking my beer, though.....

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Three men are sitting in a London pub, drinking beer... an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scot.

It's been warm, and there are a lot of flies about, so inevitably one of the flies lands in the Englishman's beer. He pushes it away in disgust and orders another.

Wouldn't you know it, a fly then lands in the Irishman's Guinness. Non-plussed, he plucks the fly out, flicks it away, and continues drinking his beer.

Finally, an unlucky fly lands in the Scot's brew. He scoops the offending insect out, turns it about and begins flicking it on the rump, shouting, "Spit it out, ye wee bastard!".

Really? No one has compared this to the old waiter there is a fly in my soup joke?

You could always make a tequila style beer & put 1 in each bottle.

Uh oh, it's The Night of the Living Thread!

You've definitely got the home brewing bug!

Brrraaains....