Expired Grains

Steve SPF

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I've been given a mountain of grains - like 500kg - and some of them are out of date. or just coming up their 'best before'. Does anyone know if they actually deteriorate? I don't know whether to dump those ones or not, any thoughts?
 
As long as their uncracked they should be good.
Hey you could mash some in a test batch to see how extraction taste goes.

As in un-crushed? They're crushed. There's like 150kg of lactose as well but I'm less worried about that because the date's ok.

I was hoping somebody might say "those will be good for years Steve, they just put a date because they have to; doesn't mean anything. Like putting a date on dried pasta" or something along those lines...
 
Not sure about the UK, but over here they put an expiration an everything, including bottled water. I agree with Ben. Make a test batch. The big enemies of storage are heat, moisture, and oxygen. So if they've been stored dry and somewhat airtight, I would proceed.
 
Crushed grains don't have nearly the shelf life of whole kernels. If the particles are still crisp I'd taste a bit. If it tastes good I'd try a small batch.
 
Oxidation can cause a "stale bread" flavor in crushed grain. If it's still sweet and good, it should be fine. You can steep some unmashed grain in a cup of hot water and test whether there's any off flavor to it.
 
Hi Steve,
I have used malt past the 'good by' date (as in 2 years past); and the only difference I've noticed is lower efficiency, meaning I make my recipes to give me 10 points higher OG than what I really want, and I am usually very close to what I want. Mine are all uncrushed, I crush on demand... so that is the only difference.. however, the beers turn out great. I would say to proceed with at least one batch and just calculate for some lower extraction efficiencies.
* 2 years past date because of purchasing in bulk and then having long assignments out of the country and not being able to brew for some time.
 
Oxidation can cause a "stale bread" flavor in crushed grain. If it's still sweet and good, it should be fine. You can steep some unmashed grain in a cup of hot water and test whether there's any off flavor to it.

Top tip; that's a very easy way to try them. I have some that are July, August and November but some June as well. The less I have to dump the better.
 
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Top tip; that's a very easy way to try them. I have some that are July, August and November but some June as well. The less I have to dump the better.
I've made a decaffinated hot tea from Malted barley, dark roast C-malt, Chickory, etc. The malted barley tastes very sweet and pleasant when steeped. You'll know right away if there's anything less than desirable.
It's all going to depend on how it was stored. If it's well sealed with a minimum of oxygen exposure, it might last for quite some time. Be aware that the efficiency probably suffers so err on the side of low conversion.
Good luck! ;)
 
I buy all my grains milled. I don't have a lot of storage space and I keep them sealed once I open them in ziplock bags inside a sealed storage container. I usually keep about 3 batches worth of grain around at one time.
 
if they turn out to be stale, you could always try to use them to make something similar to lme so that you can make yeast starters with it.

not sure that it would work, but beats throwing out grains and it would be a good exbeeriment too.

let us know what you end up doing with them.
 
if they turn out to be stale, you could always try to use them to make something similar to lme so that you can make yeast starters with it.

not sure that it would work, but beats throwing out grains and it would be a good exbeeriment too.

let us know what you end up doing with them.
It would work as far as the yeast are concerned. You'd have to decant the starter - stale flavors could carry over.
 
So you say there is an expiration date on these crushed grains, do you have any idea how long ago they were crushed?
 
So you say there is an expiration date on these crushed grains, do you have any idea how long ago they were crushed?

April 2019 - BBE Nov 2020
 

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