Mice, grain, and usability?

[Gravity]

I usually vacuum seal 10# bags of grain in aluminum foil bags when I buy 55# sacks.

I use the bags as needed and it's convenient. I've had a mice problem as of late due to some local construction. I'll go to brew and look for a specific bag and realize it's been chewed through.

I'm working on a more permanent solution, either several big plastic garbage cans or smaller buckets to use for bulk storage

In the mean time I've easily lost a hundred pounds or so of inventory, mainly cause I consider it a loss and with it money spent.

The bags only have small holes on the side and it doesn't seem the mice actually got inside, however that's just a guess.

Is this grain usable? Or should I dump it ?

I've already put aside 30 pounds of Vienna cause I noticed the bags had holes, leaving little grain particles behind

Thoughts?

 

[dawn_kiebawls]

If it were me, I would dump it. I admit, I am a bit of a germaphobe but those little bastards are riddled with disease. The reason they're so good at always finding their way back is they piss every where they walk, especially when they find a food source and they'll follow the scent trails.

I have dumped hundreds of dollars of groceries because of them over the years. Was it necessary? Probably not, but it helped me sleep at night! If you decide to go the route of mouse traps I have found they can NOT resist blueberry granola bars. Hope this helps

 

[triethylborane]

Id dump it (carefully), particularly since where Im at rodents can carry hantavirus.

 

[Gravity]

Thanks -I can deal with ants and and what not, I feel mice are on a different level however.

I found they can't resist Vienna...lol....I'll lay a couple traps and work on something more permanent.

 

[MaryB]

Use 5 gallon plastic buckets and gamma seal lids. I store my brewing grains and the wheat I grind for flour to make bread in them. Never had a mouse chew through one and my house has a LOT of mice with farm fields on 2 sides and having been built in 1880... my cats kill a mouse a week in fall.

 

[passedpawn]

I'd use it. The food we eat was grown in farms that are probably full of animals like mice etc. Same for bugs.

 

[Gravity]

Use 5 gallon plastic buckets and gamma seal lids. I store my brewing grains and the wheat I grind for flour to make bread in them. Never had a mouse chew through one and my house has a LOT of mice with farm fields on 2 sides and having been built in 1880... my cats kill a mouse a week in fall.

Well, I guess it should be said that I know the solution for storage, however my question is more or less if the grain is usable.

There's a lot of varying responses from yes to no, so not quite sure what to do, so far I've dumped it all.

 

[NeoBrew]

I'm in the dump it camp. It's just gross. That being said, if they have only chewed through the bag and not pissed and **** in the grain, you could probably use it. Andy disease that would be in there would likely be killed off between the mash and boil. If you really want to go down that road you might try smelling (and tasting) it to see if it is going to be funky. Maybe it would be good for a "Farmhouse Ale"? A little funk works in those. Mousetown Funky Ale?

I store mine in buckets with gamma lids, but if you have a really bad mouse problem I would put it in something metal. I would avoid plastic garbage cans. I had a neighbor that stored their dogfood in a Rubbermaid garbage can. Unbeknownst to them the mice had chewed through the bottom and build a whole mouse city at the bottom of the can. All of the neighbors for 100 yards had mice in our houses until they found that and got rid of it.

 

[Gravity]

It's gross to me too, that's why I've been dumping it.

I can probably make a metal casing for a plastic Rubbermaid storage unit.

I expect the mice problem to subsided when the construction ends, maybe 4 months or so

 

[jodell]

I know of breweries who have used mouse infested grains in there beer...they were good.

It all gets boiled in the end

 

[passedpawn]

In the olden days cats were kept where the grain was stored to reduce the mice and rat population. Unfortunately, the cats loved to shat in the grain. True story.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I'd use it. Between boiling and fermentation anything potentially harmful would be eliminated.

 

[TallDan]

Where do mice often live? Fields. (hence the name "field mouse")

Where is barley grown? Fields.

Ever seen a malthouse? Do you think they get the occasional mouse? I'd sure think so.

If you have a substantial problem with a lot of mouse droppings around, i certainly wouldn't be sweeping grain up off the floor and dumping it into the mill, but if you're going to dump a 10 pound bag of grain because a mouse chewed into a corner of it, send it to me instead.

 

[Owly055]

Amazing how squeemish folks are............ We live in a society full of "germaphobes". What on earth can you possibly imagine the "damage" or "contamination" to be???? This is just silly!!! We mash at 150+, and then we boil. Where I live at least, I can say with some assurance that mice do not carry around mercury, lead, cadmium, etc, and spit it on everything they nibble on. In the real world, granaries are full of vermin of various types. Mice, rats, insects, birds, etc. They eat the grain, piss on it, **** in it, and quality is based on how many turds there are per ton. Every loaf of bread you eat, every bowl of cereal, and every beer you drink has a percentage of mouse turds, insect parts, etc in it.

Grow up and get used to the fact that we live in the REAL world!! Most interestingly, studies have shown that children who grow up in sterile suburban "Mrs Clean" households, are less healthy and less resilient than those who grow up in squalor. Folks who live on farms and ranches where they are exposed to ****, piss, blood, dirt etc, on a nearly daily basis, often with scrapes and lacerations from day to day labor are healthier and spend less time getting "health care" than city folks. Get real.......don't be a wimp!!


H.W.

 

[brewbama]

I remember touring a small distillery in KY once. Bugs were floating in the wash.

 

[triethylborane]

I'd use it. The food we eat was grown in farms that are probably full of animals like mice etc. Same for bugs.

https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/SanitationTransportation/ucm056174.htm

Hops
Insects
(AOAC 967.23)
Average of more than 2,500 aphids per 10 grams
DEFECT SOURCE: Pre-harvest infestation
Significance: Aesthetic

Wheat
Insect damage
( MPM-V15)
Average of 32 or more insect-damaged kernels per 100 grams
Rodent filth
( MPM-V15)
Average of 9 mg or more rodent excreta pellets and/or pellet fragments per kilogram
DEFECT SOURCE: Insect damage - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing infestation, Excreta - post harvest and/or processing animal contamination.
Significance: Aesthetic

Barley probably falls here

https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodScienceResearch/LaboratoryMethods/ucm178985.htm


For what it's worth.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Use it unless they built a condo in it

 

[passedpawn]

For what it's worth.

Pfft. Here's how we doe the science at passedpawn farms...

Grain Weevils Freezing Experiment