Milled grains

[bcrderrick]

I have a lot of brewing planned for the next two months. I'm going to be using around43lbs of two row. I was just wondering if it would cause any problems if I bought a fifty pound bag of grains and had all fifty pounds milled at my lhbs? Since I don't have a mill yet. Will it cause any bad effects to the grain?

Thanks in advance

 

[Bmorebrew]

Two months is too long for milled grain. Before I had my own mill I would mill it at the LHBS a day or two ahead of time, maybe a week at maximum. One time I had grain milled but couldn't brew that weekend. Or the following one. So I got new grain and brewed a few batches until one day I decided to try brewing a beer with two month old milled grain. It tasted pretty stale, but I thought I'd give it a try for science. I'm glad I did, because now I know first hand how bad beer can taste when made from stale grain.

 

[periwinkle1239]

It's not ideal but if you do mill it all, buy a good sealing storage container and store them in the fridge or better yet freezer. If you have a vacuum sealer that would be even better. Two months is a long time, but I think you'll find that people probably have gone that long.

Maybe you could ask your LHBS if they'll let you come back and mill as needed?

 

[bcrderrick]

Thanks guys im going to ask them if I can just bring it back in and mill as needed didn't even think about it going stale

 

[Joker]

Not sure of your location but there is a homebrew shop in our area that you can buy a 50lb bag and leave it at the shop and go back and get grain as you need it. Its not just your bag so basically you have a 50lb account and deduct from it each time you go in and always have fresh grains.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

There are numerous breweries that brew with pre-milled grain, and I can assure you that the grain wasn't milled the day before.

The main thing is to keep it sealed up and keep air AND bugs out of it.

I've used Home Depot buckets with matching lids since I started brewing again, and I'm still using 1+ year old milled grain that's been stored in those buckets.

MC

 

[Hanso]

Um, pardon me but I never thought staleness could matter. Meaning, absorption of atmospheric water. I am not close to a scientific expert on this but I believe the issue with milled grain is that the enzymes essentially get deactivated upon exposure to the air. Could be the same thing but one of the earlier posts made it sound like stale tasting raw milled malt is an indication of malt that will not make good beer and in fact the issue is: will the mash convert to sugars, or, are the enzymes going to do their jobs?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Um, pardon me but I never thought staleness could matter. Meaning, absorption of atmospheric water. I am not close to a scientific expert on this but I believe the issue with milled grain is that the enzymes essentially get deactivated upon exposure to the air. Could be the same thing but one of the earlier posts made it sound like stale tasting raw milled malt is an indication of malt that will not make good beer and in fact the issue is: will the mash convert to sugars, or, are the enzymes going to do their jobs?

The enzymes specifically get deactivated by heat. I've had grain stored in the fridge for months (some people also freeze it to prevent bugs) without any issues. I'd be careful of picking up off flavors/aromas from the fridge though.

Stale flavors could indeed be picked up by having grain in the open air. And.. it could pick up bugs too.

MC