Weevil in grain - Dump or brew?

[Gravity]

+1 to dumping. I've used grain that had weevils in it and the beer was great! Improves head retention I think! But that infestation you showed was way worse (way-way worse) and the smell would seal the dump deal!

A bit a clarity - a dumped the whole lot and the "Follow/double post" was about new grain that I bought recently

I froze the new sacks, and later put them in air tight containers that i flushed with CO2 and desiccants

 

[Nagorg]

FWIW, there were weevils in the grain I used today. But a small number and they were dead. I keep my grain in 5 gallon buckets with "gamma" lids that seal pretty tight. I'm glad the weevils were dead and it didnt stop me from brewing today but I'd still rather not see them at all. Maybe I'll think about flushing with CO2 soon...

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

View attachment 598783 View attachment 598784 View attachment 598785 I was planning a brew session, and wanted to organize a couple of things - primarily grains to mill - when low and behold; weevils - everywhere

This has happened before, however not to this degree - the question is dump or brew on?

I've learned my lesson for future storage

Pics attached

Thoughts?

You must live in the South or somewhere humid. Out west, I've never had a bug in my grain. So much for vegan beer. The protein might not be too bad. A friend of min e in Oregon makes Oyster Stout with real oysters and it is fantastic. What if you put the grain in a kettle in the oven at low temp to try to drive them out?

 

[Soulshine2]

View attachment 598783 View attachment 598784 View attachment 598785 I was planning a brew session, and wanted to organize a couple of things - primarily grains to mill - when low and behold; weevils - everywhere

This has happened before, however not to this degree - the question is dump or brew on?

I've learned my lesson for future storage

Pics attached

Thoughts?

Where did you buy those from , anyway? I'm assuming the grain came shipped in those exact bags...I'm guessing the bug infestation originated at the grain silo if not the field they grew in. Just asking ,so I never buy from there .

 

[MrHadack]

Weevil Story!
Last summer we started finding weevils all over the floor in one of our rooms. They started spreading and getting worse. We couldn't figure out the source of the infestation. All my brewing grain in the basement was fine, as was all the flour and dry goods in the pantry. The weird part was there was a noticeable concentration in one area of the house and they would spread from there.

We were going to get our house resided soon due to some woodpecker damage to the existing siding, and that's when it dawned on me the damage was on the outside of the same wall where we saw the heaviest concentration inside. I went outside and looked, and there were weevils on the side of the house. But still, no apparent source. But that's when it dawned on me: I had a compost pile of spent grain in the backyard over the summer-- I typically dispose of it at the town dump but for whatever reason I couldn't so it just stayed out back. It was 30 feet away from this side of the house. I went over and poked around with a rake. It was infested with everything you can imagine... a squirming pile of spent grain and all sorts of critters. And of course, plenty of weevils. I doused the thing with bug spray, buried the entire mass in a 3 foot deep hole, and a couple days later the problem resolved itself.

 

[passedpawn]

Weevil Story!
Last summer we started finding weevils all over the floor in one of our rooms. They started spreading and getting worse. We couldn't figure out the source of the infestation. All my brewing grain in the basement was fine, as was all the flour and dry goods in the pantry. The weird part was there was a noticeable concentration in one area of the house and they would spread from there.

We were going to get our house resided soon due to some woodpecker damage to the existing siding, and that's when it dawned on me the damage was on the outside of the same wall where we saw the heaviest concentration inside. I went outside and looked, and there were weevils on the side of the house. But still, no apparent source. But that's when it dawned on me: I had a compost pile of spent grain in the backyard over the summer-- I typically dispose of it at the town dump but for whatever reason I couldn't so it just stayed out back. It was 30 feet away from this side of the house. I went over and poked around with a rake. It was infested with everything you can imagine... a squirming pile of spent grain and all sorts of critters. And of course, plenty of weevils. I doused the thing with bug spray, buried the entire mass in a 3 foot deep hole, and a couple days later the problem resolved itself.

I've dumped spent grain for 10+ years behind my house in wooded area. No problem, though there is an awful sourmash smell wafting into the woods for a day or two after brewday. Neighbor behind me once mentioned he thinks animals die regularly back there - haha.

 

[Gravity]

I've dumped spent grain for 10+ years behind my house in wooded area. No problem, though there is an awful sourmash smell wafting into the woods for a day or two after brewday. Neighbor behind me once mentioned he thinks animals die regularly back there - haha.

I've dumped spent grains near my house several times - its awful. Each time i do it I say "never again", then what happens after a long brew day - on side of the house it goes. The smell lingers for what seems ages and people start to notice, and then things start to die.

Rats, and such love spent grains; a while back I had a mouse problem because of it. I was actually going to start another thread about asking people what they actually do with spent grains. I know people say things like.."dog biscuits..bread...compost.."...however, in practice i don't think the average brewer has time/want to make bread from spent grains. And from my experience (and the post about the compost gone awry), I don't want spent grain near my house as compost - so what do you do with spent grains?

 

[Nagorg]

so what do you do with spent grains?

I just dump mine in the trash. I figure it will be one of the "better" things in the landfill and might even help some of the other garbage decompose.

 

[bleme]

You must live in the South or somewhere humid. Out west, I've never had a bug in my grain. So much for vegan beer. The protein might not be too bad. A friend of min e in Oregon makes Oyster Stout with real oysters and it is fantastic. What if you put the grain in a kettle in the oven at low temp to try to drive them out?

I got weevils once, from a LHBS that has since gone out of business in Bakersfield. Luckily, I caught them before they spread!

 

[Gravity]

I just dump mine in the trash. I figure it will be one of the "better" things in the landfill and might even help some of the other garbage decompose.

Thats what I've started to do - the garbage collectors always look confused

 

[ktm250]

I don't want spent grain near my house as compost - so what do you do with spent grains?

I feed them to my chickens. They love spent grain.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I've learned my lesson for future storage...

You sure learned it the hard way! That was a couple hundred bucks worth of grain you wasted and it could have been avoided for $50 worth of gamma lids and buckets. I use the 40lb vittles vaults that feature airtight gamma lids built-in, and unlike buckets your grain can be accessed while stacked. Chewy.com had the best price when I bought mine and the shipping was free.

Jeez man, what part of storing your precious brewing grain like bags of potting soil seemed like a good idea???

 

[Rockn_M]

I've dumped spent grains near my house several times - its awful. Each time i do it I say "never again", then what happens after a long brew day - on side of the house it goes. The smell lingers for what seems ages and people start to notice, and then things start to die.

Rats, and such love spent grains; a while back I had a mouse problem because of it. I was actually going to start another thread about asking people what they actually do with spent grains. I know people say things like.."dog biscuits..bread...compost.."...however, in practice i don't think the average brewer has time/want to make bread from spent grains. And from my experience (and the post about the compost gone awry), I don't want spent grain near my house as compost - so what do you do with spent grains?

I use to give my spent grains to friends that have chickens and pigs but it's kind of a pain, I never have enough to make all the chickens and pigs happy. I started letting the grain cool a bit and dump them in my side yard. I had a problem with the sour smell but when I started to rake the grains to spread them out and the sour smell seems to have gone away. I guess it has time to dry enough before the smell starts.

 

[tat2Pompadore]

This happened to me just shortly ago. There was only one batch worth affected. I had plans to do a double brew weekend when I found the little bastards coming out of my IPA grain bill. After some serious thought and a ton of cursing. I decided to wait to see what happens. I got lucky, the temps dropped here in Texas and they started leaving the grain and looking for warmth. I kept a bottle of windex handy and would go to the bucket every 4 to 6 hrs, I’d go spray a paper towel and wipe them from the edge of the bucket. After a few extra days, I didn’t see any more. I’m sure I didn’t get them all. But after grinding and dumping the the grains in the hot water of the mash tun, my IPA came out great. Not one bug floating in it.

 

[day_trippr]

I avoided this thread just because...but, bored with the NFL tonite, I opened it.
Aaaaand I just threw up in my mouth a little

 

[tat2Pompadore]

I avoided this thread just because...but, bored with the NFL tonite, I opened it.
Aaaaand I just threw up in my mouth a little

Hahahahahaha!

 

[YeastHerder]

Had the little buggers twice. First time was many years ago, possibly my fault. Second time was about 6 months after that -- I saw them crawling inside the still sealed plastic bag from the LHBS, so not my fault. Since then, I ask my LHBS if they freeze store on their side before I buy. I've been bug free for a few years now. *fingers crossed*

Most of my spent grain goes into a compost bin -- keys for no heinous smell are 1) a lid, and 2) mix the spent grain down 50/50 into some much lower nitrogen stuff, like dry leaves or dirt so you can't see the freshly added grain on top anymore -- effectively burying it. Doesn't have to be fancy -- my compost bin is an old trash can with some holes in the bottom so excess moisture can drain. Reason I don't do an open pile is to keep the mice and bigger critters out. I've never seen weevils in my compost pile though, just gobs of soldier fly larvae. If no room in my compost bin, then my spent grain just goes in the trash - also a lid is key for no smell.

I tried baking bread with spent barley, and even unspent barley.. nope. There is a reason most bread is 100% wheat. Barley husks are just nasty.

 

[z-bob]

I just threw out a pound of flaked barley that had bugs in it -- not nearly as bad as the picture at the top of the thread, and these were smaller too. It was an unopened sealed bag, but about a year old. The interesting thing is none of the open bags of malt in the same box had anything nasty in them, just the unmalted barley. So I assumed malt didn't have enough moisture for them to survive, but maybe I just got lucky.

 

[SEndorf]

 

[Kirkwooder]

Chickens love grain, spent or otherwise, and weevils. Sounds like a batch of chicken food to me.

I feed them to my chickens. They love spent grain.

 

[shortyz]

that is gross. but im sure u could market a weevil piss IPA.

 

[jdauria]

Was at my LHBS a week ago, went to grab their plastic bin of Carafa Special II and noticed about 10 weevils on the cover. Looked like most of them were dead, but a few were alive and kicking. Makes me think all the grain there may have them!

 

[don_bran321]

If the grain smells.. No wayyy. You never know what's in it at that point. Flys carry all kinds of Nasty stuff with them

 

[Jayjay1976]

Was at my LHBS a week ago, went to grab their plastic bin of Carafa Special II and noticed about 10 weevils on the cover. Looked like most of them were dead, but a few were alive and kicking. Makes me think all the grain there may have them!

If a brew shop has bins I won't buy grains there. They either have weevils in the grain or use enough pesticide to prevent infestation; in either case I'd rather buy from a shop that sells grain in sealed bags.

 

[soccerdad]

Meh if you can't handle being on a farm .. with bugs and rodents and all that goes with grain .. then you should rethink all grain brewing. It has ALL had something in it at one time or another. Or assume that anyway. The boil will kill it. You freezer will knock the buggers out. I'm not saying "buy infested grain,' but I am saying 'don't be surprised if something got in the grain at some point,'

 

[Gravity]

Meh if you can't handle being on a farm .. with bugs and rodents and all that goes with grain .. then you should rethink all grain brewing. It has ALL had something in it at one time or another. Or assume that anyway. The boil will kill it. You freezer will knock the buggers out. I'm not saying "buy infested grain,' but I am saying 'don't be surprised if something got in the grain at some point,'

Agreed
I was brewing a beer with a ton of wheat and rye so I needed rice hulls - long story short, you don't want to know where rice hulls have been

 

[soccerdad]

I agree that the infestation in the OP is extreme. Lesson for all of us .. inspect your grain at purchase or on arrival and then store in a cool, dry, dark place. Also, brew often so that you can inspect your stored grain often.

 

[markcurry]

If a brew shop has bins I won't buy grains there. They either have weevils in the grain or use enough pesticide to prevent infestation; in either case I'd rather buy from a shop that sells grain in sealed bags.

One of the things I really like about the MoreBeer LHBS in Los Altos, is that all the grain is stored in bins. I scoop, measure and mill everything myself. (They got a great big bertha type mill that doesn't blink when I mill 20 lbs batches twice...)

They do enough inventory that there's never much that's been sitting out long. Maybe it helps that we're not in a humid environment, or the store's in the middle of a large retail area. But I've never seen a bug in my grains. I don't kid myself, I know there's some in EVERY batch of grain, no matter where you get it. But nothing I've ever visibly seen.

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

Anyone know what the Diastatic power of a weevil is?

 

[soccerdad]

Yooper will know