Use this stale grain or dump it?

[Grod1]

So i'm brewing tomorrow and i just weighed out my grains it seems my
extra pale maris otter was not stored properly and its a bit chewy/stale.It's 20 pounds of a 38 pound recipe. Should i use it anyway? I'm fine with a lower efficiency as long as its not drastic.I would really rather just not waste the grain. its a stout if it makes a difference. I can replace it with fresh 2 row but its the waste that bothers me.
anyone with input? anyone used their stale grain with decent results?

 

[brewcat]

How much do you have? I would toss it. Grain is cheap enough.

 

[jschein]

If it tastes stale I wouldn’t use it

 

[Grod1]

Yes the general consensus is "if it taste stale i wouldn't use it" but i cant seem to find any reports from the people that did use it. the taste is not off. it still taste better then 2 row. but its softish not nearly as crip as when its fresh.
i only have 20 pounds left.

 

[Lefou]

Stale grain makes great wild bird seed.

 

[IslandLizard]

Before committing either way, I'd make a test mash with a pound of it. Strain, and boil for 5 minutes. Cool it down then smell and taste it. Proceed from there.

I've used grain that got a little softer, like yours. It was stored in a clean area, it all tasted fine. In a Stout there's a lot going on to even mask an ever so slight staleness if it were there.

Now if you stored it in a damp dank basement, brew a brett sour from it, you'd be 2 years ahead of schedule...

 

[Calder]

If it stayed dry and insect free, brew with it.

If it got damp, toss it.

 

[Grod1]

i'm not to worried about the taste im worried that the mill wont work the way i want it to and im worried that for some reason the sugar will have degraded
to some degree. thanks guys for the input a test batch would be the smarter thing to do for sure.. if anyone out there has used there stale grain instead of just throwing it out please share.I 'm just going to do it anyway because now i'm curious as to what will happen. Its hard to believe i cant a find a post with someone who has used soft grain.Maybe if its fine you guys will stop throwing out your grain. I will let you guys know 2morro afternoon if my gravity was off.

If it stayed dry and insect free, brew with it.

If it got damp, toss it.

No insects, my basement is ground level since my property is on the water. There was never moister around it as far as i know besides a few days it was raining and the RH was super high. they are not in sealed containers just rolled up bags with tape on them.

 

[Grod1]

Well i believe the grain was fine. I did fall short on my estimated gravity of 1.084. I ended up with 1.072 but with that said i believe it was the mashing process. We can really only fit 34#s in the tun and i had 38#s plus a lil layer of rice hulls.
So i would say stale or "chewy" grains are still okay. The grain hulls were fractured and torn but looked whole after the mill however the inside of the grain was completely pulverized. In the future i will be more careful to store my grains properly and if your reading this some time in the future then you probably should too.

 

[MaryB]

Next time you can always use it to make starter wort...