Volume of Stored Grain

I'm about to purchase some grain by the sack and just need some idea of how much volume it takes. For everyone that keeps their stored grain in plastic containers, what kind of volume are we talking about for a 50 lb. sack of grain? I'm guessing a 10 gallon rubbermaid tub or something equilivant would work fine.

I use a 20 gallon rubbermaid garbage can and it's about 2/3 full with one sack.

I can fit a 55lb sack in 2 5gal buckets with a little left for a 2gal ziplock bag.

I keep my grain in the garage on a platform not near the doors where insects could find it still in the sacks. I keep the smaller bags in an old file cabinet in the same place in thick self sealing plastic bags. I have 4ea 50 lb sacks out all the time up on a shelf because I make my amber ale, German lager, German Hefeweisen with these (pilsner, 2 row, white wheat, 60L crystal, 15L crystal ). You can spend a fortune in plastic tubs and they take up lots of space too. As Duff said you can fit 25 LBS in a 6 gallon brew bucket so a 50 bag fits 2 ea perfectly. I split a bag of munich with a friend so my munich is in a brew bucket.

Edit: I have never seen any evidence of bugs around the grain but I am in there every day so I can keep an eye on it.

I use a container very close to these, only the lids are tan colored on mine, to hold up to a 55lb bag of grain (there is actually a room to spare where I keep my pre-weighed specialty grains).

http://www.google.com/products?q=rolling+pet+food+bin&um=1&ie=UTF-8

The ones I have say they're air tight, but I'm not so sure they are completely sealed. They do seal nicely though and I've never had anything "foreign" in there, so maybe...


I love having the wheels on such a heavy container. They roll real nice and I can move the malt from the pantry to the kitchen counter to be weighed out on brew day with ease.

So I'd be fine getting something a 12.5 gallon (50qt.) container?

Or this...
http://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/product/product.jhtml?prodId=HPProd150022

just so yuo know the tote you linked isn't air/water/bug tight

definitely look into the pet food storage totes i got mine at walmart for @$14 holds50-55# easily and the wheels are removable if u want

I'll check into those. I definately don't need the wheels. It's going on the shelf in the garage. Bugs... yeah I don't want them.

since i don't have as much on hand in specialty grns i do use rubbermaid food storage containers, the ones for cereal etc hold 10# nicely and fit in the cabinets in the brew room

Yup, just to confirm, a 55lb sack fits easily into a 13 gallon bin with a little room. 12gallon might be tight.

eriktlupus said:

just so yuo know the tote you linked isn't air/water/bug tight

definitely look into the pet food storage totes i got mine at walmart for @$14 holds50-55# easily and the wheels are removable if u want

Click to expand...

Yeah, those aren't actually the ones I have and yes, I agree that they're not perfectly air tight, but the gaskets on mine compress nicely when you latch them down and I'm perfectly happy with the amount of semi air tightness that they give me. I doubt most bugs could get in as well.


I also keep mine in my pantry, inside the house, so I'm not as concerned.


I'll post some pictures when I get home if desired.