Shelf life of grain

kwdriver · Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 4:39 pm Post subject: Shelf life of grain

Yesterday I found some grain that was sealed in plastic inside a bucket with a gamma seal lid. It’s probably 1.5 to 2 years old. Should I dump it? I’ve also got a bucket with gamma lid that’s full of Munich but not packaged.

I found it when I was in the process of removing lids off old buckets and putting them on new buckets. Thanks in advance.

**kal** · Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 4:47 pm Post subject:

There's no simple black and white answer.

Depends on the grain. Depends on how it was stored (you stored it well if you used gamma seal lids like these: https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/gamma-seal-lid ). Depends on the beer you want to make. The lighter the kilning, generally speaking the shorter the lifespan before it goes stale. Taste it and find out.

For example, something like domestic 2-row at 1.8-2.0L ( https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/domestic-2-row-malt-1-8-2-0l ) goes stale faster than roasted barley at 500L ( https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/roasted-barley-500l )

I like to try and use my low kilned base malts within a year or so but have used older stuf than that with no noticeable change in taste. Depends on the beer too. For example, a subtle staleness may be completely lost on a Double IPA but noticeable on a light lager.

The heavier kilned / crytalized stuff seems to last forever. I have some 500+L stuff that's probably 10 years old. Wink

Kal

kwdriver · Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:14 pm Post subject:

Thanks Kal! Good advice.

KB · Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 12:36 am Post subject:

The Gods must be kind with me as I've had grains, properly stored, for years and they were OK.