Old Crushed Grains: How nasty will the beer be?

[Bittertooth]

Last May I was planning on brewing two beers: a California Common and a Scottish 80/. I had crushed the grains in anticipation of brew day when I had to rush my pregnant wife to the hospital to give birth two months early (!). Brewing plans were scrapped for about eight months. Baby is healthy and happy (and keeps reaching out for my beer when I have one in hand), but the grains from that May brew day have been sitting in my brew storage place in the basement for nearly 10 months. Even though I've made other beers since May, I haven't brought myself to chuck the old grain. If I mashed the grain now, how nasty would the beer be? Is there any way to mask the taste of stale grain?

 

[TXCrash]

I'd use the resuting wort for starters...

Then the grain isn't wasted... and you don't need to worry about a stale taste...

That's assuming, of course, that the grain has been stored dry and cool - mold, etc would be a very bad thing...

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

I say brew them both and see what happens. The alternative is just throwing away something that might be perfectly good. You'll never know until you try! It probably won't be the best beer you've ever brewed, but it's still grain. If you're really worried about the taste, hop the hell out of it and you won't even notice .

 

[joety]

I'm brewing today with grains crushed in late December. I added 2 1/2 pounds of fresh 2-row. I kept them as sealed up as I could in the basement. The mash smells wonderful.

 

[david_42]

Stale grain is easy to identify by chewing a bit of it.