Milled Grain Lifespan?

[Iowa Brewer]

Hey all,

Yesterday (Thursday) I had malt milled and began my first lager-yeast starter.
With ales I start the night before and have high kreuzen for a midday pitch by the following day.

This morning, after noticing no discernible activity, I read that lager starters should sit on the stir plate for 1-2 days. Should have thought of this, as lagers have a slower start.

Will my milled gain's quality diminish to the point it would affect my lager, if I waited to brew until Saturday or Sunday?

Thanks!

 

[Soulshine2]

many opinions on this .
I buy my grain unmilled and mill it myself within minutes of mashing . Unless, for whatever reason the supplier mills it already.
I don't make yeast starters as a habit. I pitch dry yeast on top of the wort and in most cases , I get plenty of yeast action within 12 hours of pitching.
I brewed yesterday (Bavarian Hef, came pre-milled, I didn't ask ,it just came that way .Been in the bag for a couple weeks) and pitched Safale-06 at 3:30pm,wort was right at 60*F .
7:30 am ,this morning I have a high white kraeusen and blow off tube is bubbling away like it should.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Thanks, Soulshine2. Just to be clear, your preference is to go right from mill to mash, but sounds like couple of weeks doesn't hurt things? Thanks again!

 

[Miraculix]

Your beer will be fine. If it starts to smell off and/or isn't nice and crunchy any more, than your beer won't, but this takes at least weeks, or moths, or even years, if properly stored.

 

[Leezer]

I order double milled grain from Ritebrew and get two recipes at a time to save shipping. The second recipe can end up sitting around a couple months until I get to it. I keep it in a cool, dry place and have not noticed any bad effect on taste, etc.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

Sounds good, Miraculix. thanks!

Your beer will be fine. If it starts to smell off and/or isn't nice and crunchy any more, than your beer won't, but this takes at least weeks, or moths, or even years, if properly stored.

 

[Iowa Brewer]

I order double milled grain from Ritebrew and get two recipes at a time to save shipping. The second recipe can end up sitting around a couple months until I get to it. I keep it in a cool, dry place and have not noticed any bad effect on taste, etc.

Thanks, Leezer! I'll put it in my basement, which is all of those things.

 

[applescrap]

Hey all,

Yesterday (Thursday) I had malt milled and began my first lager-yeast starter.
With ales I start the night before and have high kreuzen for a midday pitch by the following day.

This morning, after noticing no discernible activity, I read that lager starters should sit on the stir plate for 1-2 days. Should have thought of this, as lagers have a slower start.

Will my milled gain's quality diminish to the point it would affect my lager, if I waited to brew until Saturday or Sunday?

Thanks!

no, I have let grains cracked sit around for months. Brulosophy backed this up with a test, but I know everybody's confirmation bias is more real than a blind triangle taste test. He made a beer where he pre cracked the grains for one batch 6 months before the other and 26 participants were unable to reliably distinguish a difference. I used to have all my grain pre cracks just for convenience and honestly I might go back to it. The difference , if any, isn't worth the hassle of dragging a 50 lb sack of grain every time I want to make it batch.

 

[VirginiaHops1]

I sure hope cracked grain doesn't go bad quickly. I buy pre-crushed and quite often some of it sits around for months, especially the specialty grains. I haven't noticed any issues but then again I'm not making world class beer (yet)

 

[balrog]

Like @Leezer , I can buy double pre crush from Ritebrew and as long as it sits in their zip tied plastic (sometimes ziploc-ish bags), in the cool basement, it has been months without noticeable stale off flavors.

 

[Rockn_M]

I had a bag of milled grains sit for almost a year and it turned out to be one of my better beers. The grains were in a guest room that doesn't get used often and was in a airtight bag. That might have helped with keep everything fresh.