Show me your grain storage

[sicktght311]

Trying to come up with an economical but efficient way to store my grains. Right now i just keep the sealed/unsealed bags in a Rubbermaid bin, and dig through as needed, but I’d like a more elegant and organized idea.

 

[Immocles]

I'm kinda curious on this as well since I appear to be acquiring grains at a pretty rapid rate haha. I see lots of talk of buckets and bins. I think my first strategy will be similar to yours. Vac sealed bags tossed into a giant bin.

 

[Shwagger]

Dog food bins. I am leaning toward a couple of them for base malts.

 

[kh54s10]

Lock and Lock style food storage containers for specialty grains. Buckets with Gamma Lids for base grains.

 

[doogster]

This is what I use for my base grains - holds a 50 lbs sack of grain with room to spare. I still purchase my specialty grains (small amounts) just before each brew day. TSC has several different sizes and types.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...t-pet-food-container-50-lb-69-qt?cm_vc=-10005

 

[kevin58]

Vittles Vault. Bottom shelf on the left.

 

[Shwagger]

I like these the best^^^

 

[sicktght311]

Vittles Vaults always seem to be the prettiest, but I feel like at $30 a pop for the big ones, it can add up quick, and still doesnt solve the small specialty grain amounts that i have. I'm leaning towards the lock top food storage containers that i can get fairly cheap from amazon, or big box stores. Heck might even have to make a run to Ikea to see what they have. I'd love to have it stackable on a shelf for easy storage and access

 

[shoengine]

I have some metal sealing buckets that hold about 20lbs a piece that I will distribute my GP into. I picked up a bag of pilsner that I found a home for in a large dog food container. Small stuff I haven't really had to deal with much as I struggle more woth planning ahead too much to keep specialty malts on hand.

I found that I really need to pick up a cold storage solution for my hops. If I do that, I will probably use the bag approach for speciality malts and keep them cold.

 

[sicktght311]

I used to just buy as i needed just before brew day at a homebrew shop that was literally around the corner, but they closed down, so now getting to a homebrew shop that has the stock that i need, requires a decent drive planned out on a day off, or i have to order in bulk/amazon, so i'm trying to order larger amounts of the things i use most often, and keep them on hand. SO i need to upgrade my storage

 

[shoengine]

I'm very fortunate that my homebrew supply shop is a 10 minute jaunt down the state route. But I don't own a crusher so I have to go there before brew day anyway to crush my grains.

 

[MaxStout]

5-gal food-grade buckets and Gamma Seal lids. A bucket will hold close to 25 lbs of malt and it keeps the bugs and other critters out.

 

[JohnSand]

I use buckets and vittles vaults too. Watch for sales on the vaults. But I am trying to figure out a more organized way to store the specialty grains, like grouping similar ingredients or recipe styles together.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I have a bunch of these but one of them leaks.

 

[shoengine]

I have a bunch of these but one of them leaks.
View attachment 609860

I'm not an expert, but I don't think that one on top is in the right spot.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm not an expert, but I don't think that one on top is in the right spot.

Brochure said you could stack 'em. Oh well.

 

[shoengine]

Take it back!

 

[Cavpilot2000]

White food-grade 5-gallon buckets bought from Lowes/HD.
They even have optional easy-access lids. The buckets are stackable (I have 3 stacks 3 buckets high) so they don't take up a bunch of real-estate.
A 25 kilo (55 lb) sack will fit in two buckets.
I bulk buy Pils, Pale, Vienna, and Munich, plus an extra bucket for miscellaneous specialty grains in bags. All told, that allows me to store about 250 lb of multiple base and specialty malts in a footprint about 3'x3'x5' high.

 

[rodwha]

I generally buy base malts in 10 lbs bags and specialty grains in 1 or 3 lb bags. I leave them in the bag they came in and store them in my fermentation chamber.

 

[rodwha]

I’ve priced the 50-55 lb bags but with shipping it makes it more expensive than buying five 10 lb bags as I get free shipping from MoreBeer.

 

[Soulshine2]

Trying to come up with an economical but efficient way to store my grains. Right now i just keep the sealed/unsealed bags in a Rubbermaid bin, and dig through as needed, but I’d like a more elegant and organized idea.

Dont need a picture - its just a big cooler and a few 5 gallon buckets fitted with Gamma seals

 

[Soulshine2]

I'm very fortunate that my homebrew supply shop is a 10 minute jaunt down the state route. But I don't own a crusher so I have to go there before brew day anyway to crush my grains.

like you really need another reason to go to the LHBS

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I’ve priced the 50-55 lb bags but with shipping it makes it more expensive than buying five 10 lb bags as I get free shipping from MoreBeer.

Buy from your LHBS, if you have one.
No shipping.
It should be substantially cheaper by the sack than by the pound.
Talk to your LHBS owner - I buy my grains from mine, who gives brew club members a 10% discount.

My last sack was Barke Munich for $65 for 55 lb through brew club's annual big buy.

 

[Soulshine2]

Buy from your LHBS, if you have one.
No shipping.
It should be substantially cheaper by the sack than by the pound.
Talk to your LHBS owner - I buy my grains from mine, who gives brew club members a 10% discount.

My last sack was Barke Munich for $65 for 55 lb through brew club's annual big buy.

I miss my old LHBS for that very reason, and when you signed up , you got a free 32oz growler along with your membership card. I was barely into this hobby before we up and moved ...sadly ,no HBS in my area.

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I miss my old LHBS for that very reason, and when you signed up , you got a free 32oz growler along with your membership card. I was barely into this hobby before we up and moved ...sadly ,no HBS in my area.

Bummer.
I try to support my LHBS as much as possible. Sometime I buy hardware online, but all my ingredients I get from them. It's a very well-stocked shop too - I think he keeps something like 80+ different grains in stock.

 

[rodwha]

Buy from your LHBS, if you have one.
No shipping.
It should be substantially cheaper by the sack than by the pound.
Talk to your LHBS owner - I buy my grains from mine, who gives brew club members a 10% discount.

My last sack was Barke Munich for $65 for 55 lb through brew club's annual big buy.

We generally feel that way about many things, and while we lived in San Antonio when i began brewing that’s what we did. One was awful in that he was only helpful to his regulars and was very disorganized, but the new guy in town was quite the opposite being gery friendly, helpful, and organized. However i ended up having issues with who i believe was the owner, and it was a wrestling match to get him to fix his problems which didnt get 100% resolved and so i went online to MoreBeer.

Now i live outside Austin and have AHS I go to periodically, but it’s one hëll of a drive through the traffic of Austin so I prefer to sidestep that problem.

And maybe by talking with them i could get a bulk deal, but it shows online they only sell by the pound, which makes me certainly prefer to go to MoreBeer with better prices and no hassle acceptance of stuff.

 

[toms_Jeep]

I second the buckets with Gamma lids, I got 6 Gamma lids delivered today. Need to get a few more buckets to put them on.
Then tomorrow I am going to my LHBS to get 2 55lb bags of grain and 6-8 specialty grains 1lb to 3lb of each.

 

[passedpawn]

I second the buckets with Gamma lids, I got 6 Gamma lids delivered today. Need to get a few more buckets to put them on.
Then tomorrow I am going to my LHBS to get 2 55lb bags of grain and 6-8 specialty grains 1lb to 3lb of each.

FYI Lowe's sells the white food-grade buckets and the Gamma lids to fit them. In the paint section.

 

[d3track]

I have a couple Vitals Vaults for base malts, and then use cereal containers for specialty malts. That allows for easy storage of 6-10 specialty malts without taking up large amounts of space.

Occasionally Petsmart has deals for the Vitals Vaults, I think I was able to get them for ~$20 apiece.

 

[Boydric]

Vittles vaults and buckets wit gamma lids.

 

[kh54s10]

If you have a local dairy, check them out. I got most of my buckets there for $1.50 each with lid. Though I didn't notice the lids the first 4 buckets that I bought. I don't use the lids, often, anyway.

 

[Immocles]

How about crushed grains? Same method, or are they super more susceptible to going stale? I haven't got a mill yet, and the grains I just ordered should probably last me about 2 months. Will a vacuum seal and a dark spot in my basement do the trick?

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I don't have photos, but I recommend the food grade buckets from Home Depot or Lowes.

For a while a friend was giving me free buckets and lids from a grocery store. These buckets originally contained icing. Too much time and effort to clean the free buckets and lids. With the Home Depot or Lowes buckets a simple soap and warm water cleaning, drying and they are ready to use.

 

[DiscDuffer]

Old peanut butter jars for 1# or less of specialty grains. Still trying to figure out what to do with larger amounts, as they are in the bags I buy them in piled in a small metal trash can.

 

[odie]

mine is a mess right now. I’m putting shelves up. 5gal buckets and gamma lids...you’re looking at about 700# of assorted grains...

 

[jeeppilot]

Anyone use these or something similar from IKEA? I haven’t seen them in person, but they appear to have a silicon rubber gasket. They have this size and another that is double the size.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S69276807/

 

[schematix]

Cheap and highly effective.

 

[odie]

cleaned up a bit. Still some work to do. The small extra bedroom is now the granary...yes I’m single... I found some wrought iron shelf brackets and stained some pine boards. Top shelf will display beer steins...real ones...lower shelf will hold low quantity specialty grains and misc ingredients n stuff

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Very nice. Clean, organized and items readily available. Nice job!

 

[David SEMich]

For my specialty grains, I'm using storage containers my wife found. Can't remember the brand. Of course, the upper left container is reuse of a food container.

They have a good seal and certainly look pretty with different grains.

Bulk grains are in 5 gallon buckets w/gamma lids. For inbetween storage, I found 2 gallon paint containers seal nicely.