Killing bugs in my grain

Just starting All Grain. Found out from LHBS that putting dry ice in a bag or bucket, kills the Weavel as well as the eggs (freezing only gets the bugs). I have been opening, taking grain out, and resealing the buckets that I have them in. I am getting to the last of the first two bags of grain with no weevil problems. I did want to find out:

1) Is the CO2 still in there, or once you kill eggs there is no need for the CO2?

2) Is there an easy way to use CO2 right out of my bottle to blanket the grain?

3) What is the cheapest/easiest way to kill bugs as well as eggs?

Thanks, and feel free to throw anything that I might need to know to make my life cheaper and or easier.

 

Reaction 1:

There are Weevils in my grain???

Reaction 2:

"oh yeah dude, I had a MAAAD weevil infection two batches ago, better deal with that quick"

Reaction 3:

Seriously, there are weevils in our grain?

 

This has been covered.

Bottom line, the female weevil lays eggs in the grain... so what.

In order for them to hatch the temp and humidity has to be right, and I have posted it here before. At 80 to 86°F, 75 to 90% relative humidity they hatch.

Stored properly, the eggs never hatch, they will always be there.

 

CO2 em - they suffocate. The live ones will make their way to the top looking for air and you can scoop em out. CO2 is heavy, sinks to the bottom of the bucket.

-OCD

 

Reduce your bitteriing hops by .005% and do a protein rest for 15 minutes.

 

Brew. Just call it added head retention.

 

Weevil... One of those words that looks stranger the longer you look at it.

It should mean "tiny evil thing."

 

So once I killed them, by leaving the buckets in the airconditioning (around 70degrees) is what kept them from comming back?

How about using my CO2 bottle to blanket the grain? What kind of hose do I need to make? Is there an easier or cheaper way to get rid of the bug/eggs?

Can you direct me to other post that has more info?

 

I have never bought grain that had them crawling in it... I think Id have an issue if I ever did. The whole CO2 thing etc. seems like A LOT of work to simply store grain that otherwise sits in a large silo.

Were the weevils crawling around in it when you bought it? I would never pay money for grain with live insects thriving in it, just my .02?

Properly stored, the weevils should not be an ussue due to the temp and humidity requirements.

 

Be very careful. Weevils once ripped my flesh. Weev...wait, those were weasels. Nevermind.

I have some grain in my basement (airtight storage at 67 degrees) that is over a year old, and there's no evidence of hatching. Dry cool temps are your friend.

 

I don't care who you are....that's funny right there.

 

OP lives in Houston. Trust me -- weevils do hatch.

That said, if you keep your bags inside (and keep your placecool enough) weevils don't usually hatch in time for you to use your bag of grain. If you keep your bags out in the garage, though, they will hatch in time. It won't be much of an issue until Spring, though you never know how the weather will be around here.

Yes, you can blanket malt with CO2, and that will help. I know a guy that keeps some malt in corny kegs, purged with CO2. While that does seem a bit extreme, those weevils will not hatch. He has plenty of cornies, too, so it's no big deal for him.


TL

 

Come to think about it, I'm playing catchup on an entire summer's worth of Craft Brewer Radio podcasts out of Australia, and I did hear one of the hosts saying he does the same thing.

 

One must choose the lesser of two weevils. Some such as Weevil Knievels can leap a considerable distance. Wet milling, or conditioning weevils prior to milling produces a much superior grist, leaving their husks mostly intact. The downside to conditioning the weevils is that it really pisses them off. This method does not work well at all using gummy bears.

 

Kill weevils with cold. To avoid future problems with weevils, it is advisable to freeze your food. You can do this to flour, oats, cookies, corn meal, grits, whatever. If you have the space in your freezer, you should just keep the stuff in there full time. If you have a small freezer and can't afford the space, set the freezer as cold as it gets and leave the food in there for at least four days. That will kill any eggs, larvae, or weevils

http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-weevils.htm

Just a quick google provide numerous source that confer. Cold does kill eggs.

I have always practiced deep freezing my sacks of grain for a week after purchase and then stoire my grain in airtight, insect proof, vittles vaults at garage temps. I have never had a infestation.

 

Its just weevils.



"Mississippi Boll Weevil ain't got no natural home, Lordy"

 

Being in the grain industry and from a grain farm,I am fairly familiar with grain pests. If you found these weevils very soon after purchasing your grain, I would avoid that HBS for a good long time, the weevils WILL be in almost all his grain. Cold is a very good way of killing these little guys, but you have to get it freezing cold for an extended time, and shake up the grain to make sure it is all cooled down. Weevils will just go dormant at refrigeration temps, and if you let them slowly warm up again, they come back to life. As for the CO2 method, that will also work, fill up the whole container until it is all CO2 and the beasties will suffocate, but again this is going to take some time.

 

Seconded

 

Agree that was quite whitty...

Also enjoyed the Weevil kenevil Comment..

 

Making the connection to the OP avatar and it's even more laughable.

 

Stuntmantoo, as for grain weevils, I've been buying my grain from various sources, in 10 lb increments and 50 lb bags and have not noticed any bugs. I would definitely switch suppliers if you are noticing weevils!

THAT SAID, I'm currently in a situation with grain moths. I bought a sack of unmalted barley and malted it myself in the shop above my apartment about 3 months ago. First I notices a couple of moths in the shop. About a month ago I began noticing little moths in my kitchen (I store my grain in plastic containers in my kitchen) and two weeks ago I realized that most of the spices in my pantry have LARVAE growing around the threads under the caps! ****EEK!!!**** I'm guessing I provided prime hatching conditions by malting the barley myself. Take it from me - I cook a LOT and that meant throwing out an entire pantry of spices and dried goods - if you buy grain with obvious bugs, don't buy from that place again. They even chewed a hole through a plastic bag of DME to get to the good stuff. And I run a clean kitchen.

BUGS = don't go back to the same place again

 

Man those moths are killer to get rid of.
Those phermone traps should definitely be on your shopping list.
It will catch any stragglers that stayed behind. There always are.

-OCD

 

Both bags, not treated for two days at 70 degrees, I saw a few (very few, in the two 55 pound bags). 1 or 2 seen is not a big deal after you get it home a few days with no treatment (eggs will hatch pretty fast). I once left a 2 lb. bag of precrushed grain from a kit, for weeks. I had to RAID my fermenting/storage closet, grind/boil those bug gers up (the non-RAIDed bugs)....and had a great high protein beer going on.

You other guys don't give me any flack about it...boiled 60 minutes is a lot more than we do to crawfish around here.

Them silos are not just grain holders. They also are a place to raise wild rats, roaches, and yes Weevils. The Food Administration always has something to the effect (in the ingredients) that you can have so much percent of rat poo, or ground up rat for that matter in any flour or grains you buy. They just call it foreign matter or the like.

 

Quote from TEXLAW---Yes, you can blanket malt with CO2, and that will help. I know a guy that keeps some malt in corny kegs, purged with CO2. While that does seem a bit extreme, those weevils will not hatch. He has plenty of cornies, too, so it's no big deal for him.

There is an idea, thanks for the cornie info. Cheap (I always need more cornies) and low cost. Dry ice is way more money than just filling the CO2bottle up two more times a year.

People just don't know what we go through around here. 49% humidity and we think we are going to dry out like raisin.

Thankyou fellow Houstonian.

 

I am going to look into this further LHBS told me frezing will only kill bugs not eggs. CO2 kills both, same store told me that beer made my plastic turn yellow, later I heard it is the sanitizer, I believe the latter. So not all LHBS are equal.

Thanks for tidbit, will be researching.

 

HOLY CRAP! My DME needs to be in the freezer? Sh*t, be right back...OK buggers haven't found out how to open the Zip-Lock yet. If they do make it out, they will be sitting in the freezer wanting back in said Zip-Lock.

 

Thanks guys, even the smart @$$ ones. Humor, very good, this web site.

Weevil Knevil (he must not drink much, that was clever).

My previous avatar was a Stuntman of some sort.

 

Note to self:

No beer swaps with Stuntmantoo.

 

I'm glad I didn't have my pint glass up in my face, throwing some down, when this page refreshed. I would have chocked and died on the spot. I laughed so loud my SWMBO told me to shutup people are trying to sleep.

 

I'd just look at it as adding some protein to the beer. You could sell it to health food stores and GNC shops.

 

Dont worry, crush your grain and mash in is usual. After 20 minutes or so, grab a small straining device and scoop out the little weevil islands floating on top of your grain bed. Wee-vil, wee-vil rock you.

 

Ooooohhh...good idea! I hadn't heard of those before! Guess I'm in the "oops too late" category as opposed to the OP who is working on prevention. My poor, bare pantry.

 

Last note on this one if anyone cares....I never mentioned that the two bags of weevil infested grain were from two different LHBS's and in the airconditioning about 70 degrees.

Opened each one last night (in industrial trash bags twisted and in 5 gallon buckets with lids snapped on. No contamination. Very happy!

I have since just put in freezer when I buy grain. If I need to put some in buckets, I will put them in cornies and CO2 them, then put in bags and buckets after they have been neutralized.

Thanks for all our posts.