Foodsaver and bulk grain question:

[bad coffee]

How much 11" bag material should a 55# sack of grain take?

I'm about to get a big order of Grain and I need a few rolls of bags. What I don't want to do is drop a whole lot of cash into bags and have more than one roll sitting around spare. I also don't want to get 2 rolls of bags and need 3...

Thanks for the help. I found lots of posts on storing grain with foodsavers, but didn't find anything that has the exact measurement.

TIA,
B

 

[Orangevango]

Just get some 5 gallon buckets, grain lasts a long time uncrushed, and you might be shocked just how fast you go through 55 pounds of base malt.

 

[bad coffee]

I have a couple of buckets. But for the cost of enough buckets to seal up 600# of grain, I can buy a whole lot of foodsaver rolls.. Also, I need to store the grain in a damp basement. I don't want to expose the grain to moist (dank) air every time I scoop out 1# of specialty grains. I know a bag of 2 row is about 3.5 brew sessions once I start 10 gallon batches.

B

 

[meschaefer]

IO buckets

 

[Orangevango]

but the buckets are far more reusable than the bags. I dont know how many bags you will need though.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Not sure if this will help or not but I tried to put 10 pounds of grain into a 12 X 15 ziplock bag. It fit in the bag, but there is no way it would close, but I would say 9 pounds would have fit and sealed. That translates into ~16 1/3 inches from an 11 wide roll for 9 pounds. You would go through a lot of rolls trying to package 600 lbs. I would recommend a bucket with a plastic bag inside of it. You can tie the top of the bag to help keep the moisture out of the grain, and the bucket makes it easier to store. We use plastic bins with a plastic bag inside the bin to keep our grains as fresh as possible.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

Foodsaver bags are darn expensive. Spending the money on something you can reuse and purchase some pet food container that is designed to keep dry food...well...dry. Much more economical and quite honestly much more environmentally friendly.

 

[mmb]

I store my grain in the air tight pet food containers or 5G homer buckets. Works very well, air/water tight and I've had no problems.

I store in the basement and my "beer stuff" is near the sump pit. No problems with the damp.

 

[bull8042]

I know it is not the cheapest solution, and in no way answers you initial question, but you should look into "Vittle Vaults" if you want a long-term solution that is convenient. The seal very well with a large screw cover and rubber gasket. Keeps the critters out and the freshness in according to my dog.

 

[Buford]

I think I get 5 lbs of grain to a bag if I use the wider rolls (don't know what the exact size is) and measure out to the sixth white mark and cut. You can reuse the bags with a lesser amount of grain since they'll be shorter, but don't expect to be able to get all of the air out on a refill. A bag that was already used for grain will have grain dust and lots of crinkles in it that'll prevent it from getting a good vaccum, but you can still get most of the air out and seal it. New bags can be sealed tight into grain parcels that are hard as a rock, but refills are a little squishy.

 

[bad coffee]

In actuality, I'd only be sealing up about half of the grain. The first half will get used so quickly it won't have a chance to go bad... I've scheduled for 5-6 10 gallon batches in the next month.

I guess it's homer buckets then. I really don't want to pay shipping on vittle vaults. And getting them from the container store here, they're about $55 each. Since I'd need about 8 of them, they're not an option. Spending $400+ on containers to store $500# of grain seems a bit crazy for me. I'm buying the grain in bulk so it's cheaper!

I do have some cheap rubbermaid bins. I might just get some weather stripping and seal the tops.

I will probably get a couple of rolls of foodsaver for the specialty grains, though.

IO buckets

I only have one empty. The others are filled with LR, DI resin, sand, ect. I only have a 58 gallon tank. a bucket lasts me a long time!

B