12-months later, are my grains still good?

[KepowOb]

After a few different life events (new baby + new job), homebrewing wasn't something I had time for... it's been about 12 months and I'm in the process of doing an inventory on my ingredients and grains.

I had just made an order for three batches before I got my new job (it sort of came out of nowhere), so I have all the ingredients waiting for me.

All the grains are whole, I only grind them the night before brew day, and most of them are in sealed bags still. Some older grains that I planned on using are in less than air-tight containers though, but nothing has been through the mill yet.

Also, all the hops have been in the freezer, in sealed bags, would they still be good to use as well?

Many thanks!

 

[TasunkaWitko]

The short answer is yes - brew on and enjoy!

 

[Pariah3j]

Think about how grain is kept in silos - assuming your grain has stayed dry I would suspect they should still be good.

 

[kh54s10]

Chew a grain. If it crunches and does not taste stale it is good. I would say most of the grain in my supply except for the base grains is more than a year old, most of the time.

 

[Brewmasher]

I used 3+ year old grain with not so good results. It looked, smelled and tasted fine. A standard crush produced a lot of fine flour. Sparge poured right through it. Terrible conversion.

Wort was darker than it should for pale malt, although I think this was from of the wheat malt I had in it, which was noticeably dark. I would say that wheat and rye would not store as well because they do not have a husk like barley.

 

[KepowOb]

Thanks for the replies everyone

 

[MaryB]

Breiss says right on their website 18 months stored in a cool dry location... Brew away! Hops may have lost a little but it is going to be minor and probably not noticeable.