Malt storage options

[Woolsocks]

I'm the newly appointed brewmaster at a 1000 bbl brewpub in the upper midwest. For 10 years, they have stored all their grain in a semi-trailer in their parking lot. Obviously, this is less than ideal storage, but I'm trying to get an idea how bad it is. I'm concerned about high summer humidity and temperature as well as frequent freezing/unfreezing in winter, which would likely affect the friability and extract obtained.

We do have another option: a warehouse about a mile away. It doesn't have A/C or humidity control, but is heated in winter and I'm sure the temperatures don't get as high as they do in a trailer.

Am I crazy for considering using the trailer? Or am I paranoid over a very small quality point?

All malt comes from Cargill in the 50/55 lb. bags. We typically order 3 months' worth at a time.

[Beersmith]

Being in Montana, we sometimes see temperatures well below zero in our unheated warehouse - we have had no issues to date. I am not sure I would worry about heat either. On the other hand, we order malt every week, so it does not remain in those conditions for very long. I would think that your trailer storage would be fine as long as the malt is protected from water, insect, and rodent damage. I could be wrong, but I would have to guess that most malt suppliers store their finished product in non temperature controlled silos and/or warehouses. Hopefully, the Cargill moderator here will chime in.....

[lhall]

Why order so much at one time? Perhaps if you only ordered two weeks worth at a time you could store it inside. That's also a lot of cash tied up in inventory.

[beertje46]

I agree with Linus, why buy so much. I order 1 month at a time and reorder 3 weeks in to an order. Cargill does a good job with on time deliveries. I developed a spreadsheet years ago; each beer I brew is broken down by malt type. I tally all the columns, input my inventory and it builds my order.

[Sauce]

We store our malt in a shed (typical home center you-build shed) . We havnt had any issues with summer heat/humidity or winter cold.

As for ordering grain, I do try and order two mothns worth, just to save a bit on shipping and get a few cents off per pound on the grain.

FWIW.........are the folks with grain silos outside there brewpubs all that concerned with temperature variations?

JackK

[kugeman]

Just to chime in...

In Lake Placid we experience temperature variations from 30F below in the winter and 95F high in the summer. All of my malt is stored in an unheated/uncooled garage. As an added fun bonus, we don't mill our own grain, we buy it pre-milled and store the bags. I usually have 2-3 months of malt on hand depending on the time of year (1 weeks worth of malt in August becomes 4 weeks worth of malt in November). I haven't noticed any problems with malt quality due to temperature variations.

Cold malt is alot of fun when it comes to hitting your mash temperature though!

[Sir Brewsalot]

My malt storage can go as low as 20F in the winter, and a bit over 100F this time of year. (Where I work isn't too different than this by the way...)

No differences in extract noted, nor do I percieve and seasonal flavor variabilities...

I buy a BUNCH of grain at a time - sure, it ties up some cash, but that comes back to me once I've used it up. The big perk is LOWER PRICES. That pays directly to the bottom line.

Cheers,
Scott

[Dancing Camel]

I presume everyone without a silo is getting their grain in 55 lb sacks. Are these effective at keeping out bugs, mice, etc? Any advice on how to protect against 4-6 legged invaders?

[beauxman]

I think the only thing you really have to worry about is moisture and pest. Unmilled grain has great storage capacity given the moisture stays low and the pests stay out. I agree with bringing your par level down, I really doubt you save that much by buying 3 months vs. 1 month. If nothing else, you save your staying up at night wondering if your grain is getting slack! In my experience, the biggest worry with good malt (and yours is) is the pests that want it more than you!

-Beaux

[Sir Brewsalot]

I'm ordering enough to knock my per-pound price down nicely (16,000 lbs was the last order for example), and at that volume, the freight can be shopped around a bit too, saving a few more hundred bucks.

Maybe the cost structure is different on a brewpub versus a small micro, but that's real money to me.

Regarding pests: Keep the floor clean of grains, and keep the pest control program solid and well managed (bait stations, traps, periodic fogging...) Contract someone for it. It's not that expensive - less than 50 bucks a month in this area.

Cheers,
Scott

[tarmadilo]

We always kept our bags of grain stored on pallets, up off the floor, and put rat poison pellets underneath. Seemed to keep the little varmints from eating up the grain!

Cheers, Tim

[Sir Brewsalot]

One school of thinking I gleaned from my former life in food production:

Put the bait around the perimeter of where your food stuffs are being stored, and instead use only traps near the food itself. That way, the bait isn't drawing the critters near what you're trying to protect.

But whatever is working for you...

Definitely up on pallets and away from the wall by a foot or so.

[Mike Scanzello]

I recently wrote up a short report about malt storage and pest control that Banjo should post on here shortly. It addresses several of the questions I've seen in this thread, and gives a good reference for more info. Anyway, as far as storage, whether in a warehouse, shed, or trailer, as long as it is dry, and kept clean you should be able to store bagged malt well for long periods of time. Just remember that the longer you store it the greater the likelihood of having issues. See my write up for more tips.

Cheers
Mike Scanzello
Cargill Malt