Best time of year to order grain?

[lhommedieu]

Is there an optimal time of year to order grain? I'm particularly interested in Weyermann's Floor-Malted Bohemian Pilsner and Floor-Malted Dark Bohemian grains.

 

[okiedog]

That's an excellent question! I have wondered about that myself. Do maltsters malt grain year round, puling raw grain from storage?

 

[lhommedieu]

I'm asking because the last batch of grain that I bought had a two-year shelf life, according to Weyermann's label; it was a year-old when I bought it, and several months passed before I was able to brew with it.

 

[revco]

At least here in the states, northern state grain crops are sown in the spring and harvested between July and September, depending on where it's grown. Southern states typically plant in the fall with harvest falling between May and June. Theoretically, late summer and fall would likely be the most opportune time to get fresh grain.

It's probably hard to say that there's an optimal time to buy, simply because you have the growers, maltsters, distributors and finally the vendors that are involved in the distribution chain. All of these companies are going to work on the first in/first out principle in order to maintain the highest degrees of freshness for their products. If any one of them are trying to get rid of older stock, you could probably be stuck with older grain regardless of when you buy. The best advice would likely be to purchase from a vendor that rotates their stock frequently, such that you know it's at least fresh to them.

 

[didinho]

european malts are stable. I brewed with the same efficiency using pale malt from the same bag, the same recipe after 12 months. So I guess few months can't make the difference in malt quality

 

[Dog House Brew]

I've brewed with 3 year old grain with no problem. As long as it is stored properly I don't think time would make much of a difference.

 

[Turkeyshot]

Store it in a cool place all nice and sealed up and it will last for a long time. Just taste it if it has been around for awhile and see if it tastes stale. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it too much.