Hi all. As I move into the world of AG brewing I'm looking at getting a 25kg sack of crushed Maris Otter. Postage charges are a crippler to here but Amazon have it for £44.99. But it'll take me a while to use it all. Will it store for a year or so?
Shelf Life of Malt.
- Thread starter Little Rock Brewing
- Start date
Help Support The Homebrew Forum:
Surfingobo
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2020
- Messages
- 159
- Reaction score
- 77
I wouldn’t worry personally as long as you can keep it dry. Brulosophy did some experiments I think that came back as insignificant.
I a sealed dry tub yes, even better if you leave it uncrushed and mill it when you need it
I use a 60L Plastic Barrel Keg from Amazon for mine and get though a bag of Maris in about 5-6 months with no problems.
I keep adjuncts in screw top 2L pots and they can keep a bit longer.
I keep adjuncts in screw top 2L pots and they can keep a bit longer.
Stevieboy
Landlord.
I've just made a stout with some stuff that was in my shed for about 6 months - crushed Maris Otter in 1kg sealed bags, and some opened crushed chocolate malt in a sealed FV in a bag -and it was all still fine.
Thanks all. Makes sense that uncrushed is a better bet. I'll have a look. Cheers.
Cwrw666
Landlord.
Even with crushed malt, worse case scenario is that you'll need a bit more malt than the recipe states.
BTW - if you're doing 23L brews a 25Kg sack will disappear at an alarming rate.
BTW - if you're doing 23L brews a 25Kg sack will disappear at an alarming rate.
Sadfield
Landlord.
I get muntons crushed from a local brewery and the sacks always have 12-18 months on the BBD printed on the label.
At our malt buying co-operative we find that typically Muntons crushed sacks have a 18 month best buy date on them and Crisp crushed can be two years. The key is to keep it dry, but not too warm and keep in sealed containers so that vermin can't get at them. If you brew regularly, 25kg won't last that long
Our co-operative can sell Crisp MO to you for £17.14
Maris Otter Ale Malt
if you could find postage cheaper than £27 that might be an option for you
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2021
- Messages
- 211
- Reaction score
- 291
I was digging around in my garage and found a sealed, 10# plastic tub of pils malt that had apparently been on the back of a shelf for a decade. It wasn't moldy or riddled with bugs so I used it in my next batch. It was fine.
An Ankoù
Landlord.
I've used malt nearly that old. I don't see a problem with conditioning the beer in advance of brewing it rather than after!
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
- Messages
- 2,200
- Reaction score
- 2,090
Yep, it'll be fine. Malt does stale over time, but it takes 2-3 years to be noticeable and then you have to look for it.
But I would ask any breweries in the CI if you can buy via them - Randalls maybe? Presumably shipping from Guernsey would be rather less?
Thanks for all the replies. Got the 25kg on order. Also just bought 10m of 10mm copper pipe to make my wort cooler.
Last edited:
Just used 2.6Kg of my Dingemans Belgian Pilsen Malt yesterday-the 25Kg sack is dated BBE 2019,nothing wrong with it at all.
Just moved over to uncrushed sacks and they have a 2 year expiry date on them,uncrushed lasts longer.
I vac seal smaller amounts of grain.
Just moved over to uncrushed sacks and they have a 2 year expiry date on them,uncrushed lasts longer.
I vac seal smaller amounts of grain.
Hanglow
Landlord.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2019
- Messages
- 739
- Reaction score
- 902
You can make beer in a shoe with ten year old malt if you want, but why would you? Penny pinching is fine to a point, but ground malt is very hygroscopic and even day old pre milled malt is obviously less fresh than malt you mill just before brewing.
Just like beer, a year long bbd (or two or three) does not mean it is in best condition. It is very odd to me that people have such low standards for an ingredient that is so cheap.
Just like beer, a year long bbd (or two or three) does not mean it is in best condition. It is very odd to me that people have such low standards for an ingredient that is so cheap.
Sadfield
Landlord.
A) I suspect even the most experienced Cicerone would not notice the difference.
B) BB dates are an indication that the product is of stable quality for a determined period of time.
C) For the OP it isn't cheap as they clearly have cost and availability to factor in, for delivery to a small island in the Channel.
D) It must be an inconvenience to only brew with wet hops at harvest time.
Richard_H
Regular.
Recently listened to a BeerSmith podcast that covered this subject (podcast 35). From memory the expert opinion was that your base malts if kept dry would last up to 2 years, and if my memory serves me correctly then certain grains such as roasted barley lasts even longer but you may experience trouble converting those sugars into alcohol.
They also talk about moisture, and that should be taken into account when you are weighing out your grains. Link below for anyone who is interested:
http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/03/3...-bob-hansen-from-briess-beersmith-podcast-35/
They also talk about moisture, and that should be taken into account when you are weighing out your grains. Link below for anyone who is interested:
http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/03/3...-bob-hansen-from-briess-beersmith-podcast-35/
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2019
- Messages
- 2,200
- Reaction score
- 2,090
The difference is noticeable, certainly side-by-side. I've brewed with grain that was 2.5y old and 6 months old, and the older one was certainly "duller" in comparison. You wouldn't want to use it for eg a tight competition, but at the same time it hadn't suddenly become disgusting.
Similar threads
