HB shop fail - How long would you use milled grains?

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MikeSkril

MikeSkril

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Hi,

Oh, I'm so angry!
I just came back from a brew shop about 5 hours from here.
I ordered 4x 55lb bags to cover this year of brewing. I get home, check the bags and find out that they milled all 4 bags! Oh, hell, I've ordered un-milled and thats also on the order confirmation!

I could cry! How long would you use milled grains for (Stored cool and try)?

:(
 
Certainly not a year. Maybe a couple of months. I would call them to try to ship them back at their cost. Explain the 5 hour trip and expect something to make up for that. Especially since un-milled is on the order confirmation. Then find another place to do your business unless they satisfy you.

Were the bags sealed? Whenever I buy bags of grain they are still sewn shut from the original packaging.
 
Wow, that is horrible. If they don't offer to replace at their cost, the only thing I can think of is to call around to some local breweries to see if they would buy them off of you.

I have read stories of guys using old milled grains, but if you wanted unmilled and that is what you paid for, that is what you should get.
 
A 10-hour round trip and they screw it up like that? Jeez!

Were the bags still sewn or had they been opened to mill? You can actually order milled grain from the maltsters/distributors. They sew or resew the sacks.

On a positive note, I had a small amount of milled base grain (Golden Promise) that happened to be a few years old, possibly 5 years! It was always stored cool and dry in plastic bags, in a plastic tote. All air had been squeezed out of the bags, which makes all the difference IMO. The malt smelled and tasted fine, no staling. I used it up with fresh base malts, 50/50, and had no complaints. Worked like a fresh batch.

Now over time you may lose some DP, not sure what the half time is.
 
IslandLizard said:
Were the bags still sewn or had they been opened to mill? You can actually order milled grain from the maltsters/distributors. They sew or resew the sacks.
Click to expand...

The bags are resewed.

There is good news! They will send me 4 new bags and they will also pay the freight. I can also keep the milled bags.

I guess I will brew a lot... :rockin:

55lb MO, 55lb Pilsen (BE), 55lb Munich II (DE), 55 lb 2 row

Happy again!
 
MikeSkril said:
The bags are resewed.

There is good news! They will send me 4 new bags and they will also pay the freight. I can also keep the milled bags.

I guess I will brew a lot... :rockin:

55lb MO, 55lb Pilsen (BE), 55lb Munich II (DE), 55 lb 2 row

Happy again!
Click to expand...

Wow! You will have 440 pounds of grain to brew with!!! I think you need to do a few Barleywines.

And what a great way for the business to handle the problem.
 
MikeSkril said:
The bags are resewed.

There is good news! They will send me 4 new bags and they will also pay the freight. I can also keep the milled bags.

I guess I will brew a lot... :rockin:

55lb MO, 55lb Pilsen (BE), 55lb Munich II (DE), 55 lb 2 row

Happy again!
Click to expand...

Wow! Now that is one fantastic home brew shop. What is the name and location of the shop???
 
kh54s10 said:
Wow! You will have 440 pounds of grain to brew with!!! I think you need to do a few Barleywines.

And what a great way for the business to handle the problem.
Click to expand...

Or, or, the most epic barleywine of all time.

Fill your mash tun to the brim, drain, boil it all the way down. Repeat. See if you can't fit 200 lbs into a 5 or 10 gallon batch. And then go with WLP099 and see what happens.

I only say this because my former boss and I were joking whether a 3000 lb grain bill was for a 30 bbl commercial brewhouse or a 1 bbl homebrew setup on a top tier (a makeshift pilot brewhouse). Obviously the latter, but I mocked him for ruling out the 1 bbl because he claims to like big beers (I like small beers, so I relished in the opportunity to mock him for once).
 
A happy ending after all. :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban:

Pack the sacks in another thick plastic bag and purge out all air. Store it as cold and dry as you can. Heat and moisture are the malted grain's largest enemies as are mice and weevils.
 
MikeSkril said:
The bags are resewed.

There is good news! They will send me 4 new bags and they will also pay the freight. I can also keep the milled bags.

I guess I will brew a lot... :rockin:

55lb MO, 55lb Pilsen (BE), 55lb Munich II (DE), 55 lb 2 row

Happy again!
Click to expand...

napoleon-dynamite-LUCKEEE.jpg
 
I wonder if someone without a mill is sitting on 220 lbs of grain they can't use because it ISN'T crushed?

Store did you right. They're a keeper.

All the Best,
D. White
 
Actually the plot has thickened. Doubled rather. OP now has 440# of malt to store and use. Milled goes first of course. :tank:
 
Well, I transferred the milled grain into plastic bags squeezing out as much air as possible. Wow, the Weyermann Munich II smells great! I will brew something with Munich II as base grain soon.
 
I love hearing good guy LHBS stories like that. I recently found a crack in a carboy (after it was filled with beer), so I took it back to the store and they replaced it, no receipt, no questions asked, free of charge. Even comped me with a free fermometer to replace the one on the carboy. Good customer service is invaluable for business survival.
 
Personally, I would try sell the rest, either to a brew club or a local brewery, and give whatever you get from it back to the LHBS. It was definitely their fault and you don't owe them anything, but seems like an honest mistake and that could be a big hit for a small business to absorb.
 
Aristotelian said:
Personally, I would try sell the rest, either to a brew club or a local brewery, and give whatever you get from it back to the LHBS. It was definitely their fault and you don't owe them anything, but seems like an honest mistake and that could be a big hit for a small business to absorb.
Click to expand...

Actually they are a grain distributor for HB stores and breweries. I don’t think 4 bags will hurt them!
 
I love a story with a happy ending. Properly stored, your crushed grain may last quite a while. If it is too much to store or use, you might consider sharing it with other local homebrewers. If you belong to a club, you could become their hero. Beers would be named after you, maybe children too.
:)
 
MikeSkril said:
Actually they are a grain distributor for HB stores and breweries. I don’t think 4 bags will hurt them!
Click to expand...

I see. It was just described as "brew shop" in the OP. In that case, it is a great outcome. (As for myself, I could not imagine brewing 200+ lbs of grain this decade!)
 
JohnSand said:
I love a story with a happy ending. Properly stored, your crushed grain may last quite a while. If it is too much to store or use, you might consider sharing it with other local homebrewers. If you belong to a club, you could become their hero. Beers would be named after you, maybe children too.
:)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would share, but there is no brew club in my area. There are not even brewers I know of. I’m training interested people to get new brewers on board. 15 people trained so far but nobody started AG yet. I will do another training session this weekend, 6 new people. We’ll see if someone starts brewing soon.
 
I've used an entire recipe of grain milled 10 weeks previous without any issues
Efficiency and taste were both good.
I don't think storing that grain is your problem. I think having enough fermentors is your problem. You could move a lot with a barleywine, a RIS and a tripel. I would take a case of it all back there next year.
Happy brewing!
 
Jwin said:
I've used an entire recipe of grain milled 10 weeks previous without any issues
Efficiency and taste were both good.
I don't think storing that grain is your problem. I think having enough fermentors is your problem. You could move a lot with a barleywine, a RIS and a tripel. I would take a case of it all back there next year.
Happy brewing!
Click to expand...

Good idea!
 
You could try contacting a local craft brewery and seeing if they would like to "swap" with you. It would save you some shipping cost, and save them some wear and tear on their grain mill.
 
Jwin said:
I've used an entire recipe of grain milled 10 weeks previous without any issues
Efficiency and taste were both good.
I don't think storing that grain is your problem. I think having enough fermentors is your problem. You could move a lot with a barleywine, a RIS and a tripel. I would take a case of it all back there next year.
Happy brewing!
Click to expand...

This is a great idea. Brew some big beers that want aging, then you'll have plenty of stock for the future.
 

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