store my grains near brewery or fermenters?

[stevea1210]

I know the possible contamination risks that the grain pose to fermenting beer. I have several hundred pounds of grains stored in lowes buckets with gamma seal lids. The two places I can store the grains are my basement (where I ferment), or my garage (where I brew in winter / rain).

Currently the grain is in the garage, as I thought that was the better option. Theres more room for storage in the basement, and I would rather have the grain there. However I'm concerned about lacto going from the grain to the fermenter.

If I stored the grain in the basement, I would weigh it out down in the basement, but would mill the grain outside. So the main grain dust would be from weighing it out.

What are opinions on how much risk this would pose? I don't want to waste batches for the sake of conveinent storage, but I don't want to ignore better storage due to being overly concerned.

BTW the grain and fermenters would be pretty close to each other (5 to 10 feet apart). I don't live in a castle, and half the basement is finished

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

I store my grain right next to my fermenter/brewing pots/etc... didn't know that was an issue. Been doing it that way for years. I mill outside and all the grain is in buckets with sealed lids... never had a problem before so I would bet you will be fine.

 

[Six_O_Turbo]

As long as you have some sort of airlock on your fermenter, you'll be fine.

 

[COLObrewer]

Yup, unless you are flayling about with some grain buckets or sacks or something with grain dust WHILE you are cooling your wort or draining to the fermentor, you should have no problem, you just don't want grain "dust" falling into your cooled wort.

 

[bannonb]

Above all I think the best thing is to keep the grain in a constant temp. My garage is all over the map, but my basement is stable year-round.

I brew in a wood shop (actually the ventilated finishing room). Lots of dust potential, but I clean and sanitize religiously and don't have infection problems.

 

[badhabit]

Not to worry. I would be far more concerned about having grain in a garage....

 

[wilserbrewer]

Hot summer temps would concern me a bit w/ the grain. The grain really poses a risk during the milling I think...you don't want a dusty milling operation near the fresh wort. Sealed in homer buckets should not be a great concern.

 

[stevea1210]

Thanks for the opinions. I think i'll move them to the basement. Sounds like the risk is going to be relatively small.