Any use for 6yr old pre-milled grain?

Well I've always gone by the idea that unmilled grain is good for a year after opening, and milled grain about a month or two.

Well I'm finally getting back into brewing after several years of not being active. While cleaning out the old brew supplies I found 3 sacks of pre-milled 2-row, which I think were from 2004. I got a good deal in 2005 from IrregularPulse, and stocked up figured I'd go through it in a year.

Is there anything I can do with 150lbs of 2004 grain? Would it still work for starter wort? Could I just make a really something simple and 2x. 3x, base grain. Or should it just end up in the trash.

Squeeky

I dont know, that is pretty old and milled. What I would do, for fun mostly, is mash one pound in one gallon of water and test the gravity (account for absorbtion). It should be around 1.037. This just test efficiency basically, but I have no idea how the flavor changes over time. Maybe someone else here can help you with that. Personally, I think you are going to need to throw it away and start over.

Well, if you can get some 2 yo hops on the cheap, you could brew something up and see how it tastes...

It wouldn't hurt to give a batch a test at any rate. Although I suspect you already know that your grain is not going to be very fresh.

Got any livestock or chickens?

Nope, these are sealed sacks of pre-milled grain. I might just have some fun with it and use to test mash tun in the future or brew something crazy with 25lbs of base for 5gal and 120min boil.

Just brew it. If it was sealed, it's likely to be fine.

I keep pre-milled grain in sealed buckets for a few months, never had problems.

M_C

I have always heard that the only thing that REALLY ruins grain is bugs and mold/bacteria. If you keep it dry and sealed, it will last pretty indefinitely. It sounds like your grain was kept in a very clean and sealed little biosphere all this time.

Might not taste as "fresh" as it should in a lower gravity brew, but I bet it'll make a good higher gravity brew. I say Barleywine it!

Grain has been kept in a large wheeled rubbermaid tote, each of the three sacks have been sealed by the milling company. My biggest fear is they have been in a barn over the years so they have experienced low and exceedingly high temps.

I am also leaning towards a barleywine with it, just gotta decide if I want to take up the fermenters for that long.

This grain is stored at my fathers house. I wanna brew Friday and have requested him to open one of the sacks and see if the grain is moldy/smelly/etc. Is there any other way to visually know if the grain is still usable.

I'm planning a barleywine just to use it up.