Brewing with stale malt

[Sadu]

So one of my suppliers ships their malt in paper bags. Normally I repackage into ziplock bags and i've had no issues storing malt this way for many months.

Life got the better of me recently and I never got around to repackaging, so the malt has been stored in the paper bags for maybe a month. Just tried some now and it's definitely lost it's firmness and crunch. Tastes a bit stale and doesn't have the crisp freshness of the malts I store in ziplock bags.

Anyway, I have 2lb of light crystal, 10lb of munich, some pilsner and a bunch of other misc malts. Maybe $20 all up. Was going to make a bock with it but making a malt-forward beer with questionable malt might not be a recipe for success.

Am I wasting my time brewing with this? I also have a heap of expired EKG and Saaz hops that I scored for free plus I repitch my yeast, so if I did brew something here I wouldn't be wasting good ingredients.

Would welcome any suggestions.

Edit: If I do brew with this I'm ok about it being average. But no point brewing if it's all-but-guaranteed to be a dumper. Also not fussed about sticking to style, so if it has to be coffee bock with Belgian yeast to mask the malt flavours then so be it.

 

[Angus MacDonald]

What else would you do with the malts if you don't brew them up? If you're going to bin them anyway I'd just brew and see what comes out. Though I'm new in this game so I've no idea.

 

[Sadu]

Yeah the alternative is chucking them out.
It's more that a brewday is a few hours work plus ties up my fermentor for a week so if it has zero chance of success then I might as well not bother.
But if it's likely to make drinkable beer, then its worth a shot.

I've never had this issue before so thought I'd ask. Also keen to know what types of beers are more likely to work. I'm guessing lots of bitterness / roast character or yeast character would help mask any malt staleness.

 

[Angus MacDonald]

Hmm I guess you could make compost with it if you have a garden. In regards to the brew, probably a more hoppy style would best mask the staleness of the malt, if any.

 

[catdaddy66]

What else would you do with the malts if you don't brew them up? If you're going to bin them anyway I'd just brew and see what comes out. Though I'm new in this game so I've no idea.

I agree, brew on! It may be below average but at a month old, how stale could it be? Even ground grains can last a couple of months. Then again, if it wasn't refrigerated they may be on the way to stale. I would brew it for the sake of science and curiosity if nothing else.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Time to look into getting a mill?

 

[Sadu]

Time to look into getting a mill?

Oh yeah, I already have a mill. This is uncrushed malt that has lost its freshness.

Uncrushed malt stored in a paper bag for a month or so.

Sounds like I might as well brew with it and see what happens, but yeah, definitely will be sticking with the plastic ziplocks in future to keep the air and moisture out.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Interesting. I usually see 50lb bags of grain in paper bags. What keeps it from getting stale?

 

[mongoose33]

Oh yeah, I already have a mill. This is uncrushed malt that has lost its freshness.

Uncrushed malt stored in a paper bag for a month or so.

Sounds like I might as well brew with it and see what happens, but yeah, definitely will be sticking with the plastic ziplocks in future to keep the air and moisture out.

When I buy malt in 50# sacks, they're not sealed airtight. They sit in a warehouse for who knows how long before I get 'em. I use Maris Otter for some of my brews, it comes from overseas. Not airtight sacks.

I wouldn't worry about uncrushed malt stored in a paper sack for a month or so; I don't know if I would worry about it for several months.

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I store my malt in either sealed tupperware-type containers or 5-gallon buckets sealed with Gamma Seal lids. That's after I take it out of the unsealed sacks.