Grain spill part 2?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Joewalla88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2013
Messages
897
Reaction score
220
Location
Walla Walla
I've asked a similar question before, and for some reason my most recent posts have been me worrying about poisoning people with my beer. I asked reddit and they freaked me out. Here what I posted there.

"I've seen a few posts that say it's not a big deal, but I thought I'd ask anyway. I was grinding my grain and and accidentally knocked it over and spilled some grain. I scooped up what I could with my hands, a couple pounds or so, and put it back in the mill. I wouldn't think anything of it, but there were some old dried stains on the garage floor from who lived there before. No fresh puddles or paint or anything, just slight stains left behind, and there was a jug of weed killer near by along with some ice melt. Not sure why I'm worried about those things, they weren't spilled or anything. I'm sure it's fine, but would I need to worry about anything in terms on poisoning or toxicity of this beer? Not worried about germs. I'd eat something I dropped on the garage floor as long as it wasn't wet. Is this an RDWHAHB moment?"

The beer's in the fermentor, and I'm sure it won't kill anyone, but I hate to serve people poison brew (common theme for me here). A smart brewer friend of mine says he saw a study that showed homebrew level toxicity issues are resolved during brewing. Mostly through the mash ferment and boil. My garage isn't the dirtiest, but not the cleanest either.
 
I feel your anxiety, but it comes down to your own judgment on how clean that floor was.

Any small, imperceptible amounts of regular household/garage dust and germs is not an issue, everything gets boiled. But poisons are an issue, such as (lead) paint chips, oils, germicides, various powders, etc.

If that floor was clean and dry, there's little chance much could have come in contact with your grain or you swept it up. A little bit of treaded-in dirt (e.g., yard soil) on the floor surface shouldn't harm anyone once it got through the mash and boil.
 
I feel your anxiety, but it comes down to your own judgment on how clean that floor was.

Any small, imperceptible amounts of regular household/garage dust and germs is not an issue, everything gets boiled. But poisons are an issue, such as (lead) paint chips, oils, germicides, various powders, etc.

If that floor was clean and dry, there's little chance much could have come in contact with your grain or you swept it up. A little bit of treaded-in dirt (e.g., yard soil) on the floor surface shouldn't harm anyone once it got through the mash and boil.
That's kinda how I felt. The floor was recently swept, like a few days ago, and I try not to do lots of chemical stuff in my garage, because it's my brew space. I just don't know if stuff from old owners years past would be something to worry about. On the other hand, if I drop a chicken wing, I'd probably wipe it off and eat it.
 
LOL




LOL +2....but i'd drink it....it didn't even already go through the mill i take it?
Nope. Not sure why I'm so paranoid these days. I've been brewing for a while, and generally feel good about my brews, but ai share a lot more these days and am always worried about making someone sick.
 
Nope. Not sure why I'm so paranoid these days. I've been brewing for a while, and generally feel good about my brews, but ai share a lot more these days and am always worried about making someone sick.


gotta agree with you on that...i sent off some of my malt to people...and i got food poisoning myself from a bad batch before i knew how important it was to keep everything pristine! glad i learned the easy way, and it was me! now i know to scrub bleach, breath....so i'd say no worries, but being concerned isn't a flaw....
 
gotta agree with you on that...i sent off some of my malt to people...and i got food poisoning myself from a bad batch before i knew how important it was to keep everything pristine! glad i learned the easy way, and it was me! now i know to scrub bleach, breath....so i'd say no worries, but being concerned isn't a flaw....
Yeah, I'm confident in the rest of my process, but there's always something that pops up it seems. Between kids throwing stuff in the mash when not looking and me stumbling over my grain mill, I just never know what's gonna happen.
 
Yeah, I'm confident in the rest of my process, but there's always something that pops up it seems. Between kids throwing stuff in the mash when not looking and me stumbling over my grain mill, I just never know what's gonna happen.


well don't 'them' tell you it's any different then any food, just because it makes you feel different.....
 
Ice melt is generally CaCl2 which I often use as an RO water addition to raise calcium and chloride levels. Not toxic and the acute oral toxicity of glyphosate (the primary active ingredient in weed killer) is dosage dependent and pretty low as well. That said, if you plan to brew in your garage longer term you should probably consider painting the floor.
 
When I read these items, it harkens back to the US Pure Food and Drug act of 1906. Back then, food practices were horrible, and it was the US government’s first real attempt at tightening up a variety of practices on food, drug and alcohol production and handling, and implementing best practices and required procedures in food and beverage factories.

The example of materials been scooped off the floor on the home brew scale is one thing, but this kind of procedure on industrial scale led to all kinds of problems. Historically, It is interesting to see how far companies would go - here’s a link for an interesting read if you get the chance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Food_and_Drug_Act
 
Last edited:
Ice melt is generally CaCl2 which I often use as an RO water addition to raise calcium and chloride levels. Not toxic and the acute oral toxicity of glyphosate (the primary active ingredient in weed killer) is dosage dependent and pretty low as well. That said, if you plan to brew in your garage longer term you should probably consider painting the floor.
That's not a bad idea. I'm not actually worried about the weed killer really. It's off to the side and there no spills or anything. Gonna build table this week to keep my mill from falling over. That should make.me feel better.
 
I can remember as a kid we visited a wheat farmer friend in Eastern Washington. For fun they let us sit in a big hopper of grain after it came off the combine, similar to the photo.

You do not want to know what else gets mixed in all that grain.
 

Attachments

  • F72896CB-C866-4A67-9153-CB2E742062D6.jpeg
    F72896CB-C866-4A67-9153-CB2E742062D6.jpeg
    99.6 KB · Views: 34
Last edited:
I can remember as a kid we visited a wheat farmer friend in Eastern Washington. For fun they let us sit in a big hopper of grain after it came off the combine.

You do not want to know what else gets mixed in all that grain.

That's what I've heard. I've also heard the same about peas.
 
I have made than one “barn Floor Beer”

On another note, lay 60s I took a course in Criminalistics where we tested drugs. When you said this is some good “****’”
, you were not lying. Almost all samples of Mary Jane were 75% horse S and hay,

Barn floor beer sorta reminds me of this
 
Gonna build table this week to keep my mill from falling over. That should make.me feel better.

For inspiration, here's my "milling table:"
Mounted Monster Mill MM2.0_1200.jpg


I built this after almost breaking my wrist (twice in a row), dumping the grain in the driveway, as soon as I engaged the drill when apparently the mill had "locked up." The toppling over also bent the mill's (3/8") drive shaft, which I was luckily able to re-straighten with some keen hammering/tapping.

That drill is a beast!
 
I can remember as a kid we visited a wheat farmer friend in Eastern Washington. For fun they let us sit in a big hopper of grain after it came off the combine, similar to the photo.

You do not want to know what else gets mixed in all that grain.

WTF HER FEET ARE IN IT! Hard seltzer only for me now.
 
As long as weed killer granules didn't make their way into the kettle, no reasons to worry methinks. Even if one or two did, weed killers don't belong to the class of extremely toxic controlled substances.

I knew a distiller who wasn't worried too much when he found tiny mouse turds speckling his grain. "They're organic and they gonna be boiled and filtered anyway" he said. I didn't taste that booze when it was ready but I'm sure it was OK 💩
 
Back
Top