I am curious if anyone does this, or have thought about this. I plan on brewing a red ale tomorrow, since I had a free bucket I did the grain build. Which got me to thinking. Would it be worth to have a few buckets that I use for my grain builds for the beers that I brew regularly? And have them marked and set off. Just so that I would know if I have everything for that brew or not.
Storing grain builds
- Thread starter Redpappy
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Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
"Grain Bills"
And, sure, it's a great idea if you have sealable containers to keep various grains on hand.
But beware of critters...
Cheers!
And, sure, it's a great idea if you have sealable containers to keep various grains on hand.
But beware of critters...
Cheers!
FloppyKnockers
Well-Known Member
Not necessarily freshness if they are not milled. Rodents and some insects love these grains. A sealed container will keep them at bay.
Would be more flexible to store the different grains separated in buckets then build on brew day. I put my grain bill together while the strike water is heating, gives me something to do while I wait.
I used my old ale pales with a gamma lid to store grain. I have a number of buckets for base malts and couple more for roast and caramel malts.
I used my old ale pales with a gamma lid to store grain. I have a number of buckets for base malts and couple more for roast and caramel malts.
OP
OP
Redpappy
Well-Known Member
As of right now, that is how I am storing my grains. Partially why this has accord to me is because of the time that I have had to brew lately ( not much at all) . My wife actually brought up that I haven't brewed in a long while. So I took that as if i needed to..As I was prepping for tomorrows brew it just crossed my mind on if anyone has done/thought of doing things this way.
It certainly would work, but then you don't have the ability to change your mind and brew something different. Unless, you still have grain that has not been set aside as a mixed recipe.
I usually work up a recipe the night before brew day. I take that long to decide what strikes my fancy at the moment. I then mill the grains, either that night for the brew day, or in the morning of the brew day.
I also make many different beers. I have only brewed one recipe 7 times with slight tweaking, another one 4 times, and a third one twice. So out of my 107 batches, the other 94 were unique. Thus, it wouldn't help me much to pre-package my grain bills.
I usually work up a recipe the night before brew day. I take that long to decide what strikes my fancy at the moment. I then mill the grains, either that night for the brew day, or in the morning of the brew day.
I also make many different beers. I have only brewed one recipe 7 times with slight tweaking, another one 4 times, and a third one twice. So out of my 107 batches, the other 94 were unique. Thus, it wouldn't help me much to pre-package my grain bills.
If you have bulk grain on hand and you REGULARLY make specific recipes and don't mill until brew day, then maybe yes. Otherwise as kh54s10 says...you are stuck with what you prepped...I'm all over the place on beers...there are just too many to get locked into the same thing over and over...
I keep 500-800# on hand at all times...but I only build a grain bill once I've decided on what I feel like making...I usually google what style strikes my fancy and grab a bunch of recipes and then go sit in my granary (spare bedroom) and see what I have on hand that I can best match to a recipe that sounds interesting. Anywhere from a day to a week in advance I will pull my grains. But I don't crush until the mash water is already heating up.
I keep 500-800# on hand at all times...but I only build a grain bill once I've decided on what I feel like making...I usually google what style strikes my fancy and grab a bunch of recipes and then go sit in my granary (spare bedroom) and see what I have on hand that I can best match to a recipe that sounds interesting. Anywhere from a day to a week in advance I will pull my grains. But I don't crush until the mash water is already heating up.
Althozgraz
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I used to do this alot, I have fleet farm 5 gallon buckets with gasketed lids that i would fill with the grain bills of the next three batches i planned to brew. Only reason i stopped was because i ended up using those buckets for other things.
I do this the week prior. I mill right before dough in. I just packed 12-5g containers of RO in. I weigh my salts and bag those too. I try to save time on brew day.
LOL. I was wondering what the hell this was about.
I always blame autocorrect when things like that happen 
Cheers!
Cheers!
brewbama
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I like to weigh out my grain into a bucket the night before a brewday. I separate a half lb or so in a bowl and place it on top of the grain in the bucket. I then cover the whole shooting match with alum foil. In the AM I pull off the foil, condition my grain in the bucket with water. I leave the grain in the bowl dry and run it thru the JSP Malt Mill last to clean the rollers.
I wouldn’t want to pre measure multiple batches because I don’t want to tie up my bucket which is used for other duties throughout brewday.
I wouldn’t want to pre measure multiple batches because I don’t want to tie up my bucket which is used for other duties throughout brewday.
schlagle
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I buy my base grains in bulk and store them. When I visit morebeer (20 min away from me) i have a list of the next 3 - 5 beers I want to make. I then buy all the specialty grains I need for each beer, label the bag and tape it up. I keep them in my keezer until I need them and just dump them into my crusher with the base grains.
OP
OP
Redpappy
Well-Known Member
I have to thank everyone for their input on this. Since everyone brews differently it is nice to hear on how people do things.
It does seem to be a toss up on what to do. There are a few brews I enjoy and tend to repeat, such as my red ale ( named “Red Headed Step child, designer is my LHBS).
I plan on doing a blue moon, but since I didn’t have all the ingredients, it will need to wait till my order comes in, what a bumer..
It does seem to be a toss up on what to do. There are a few brews I enjoy and tend to repeat, such as my red ale ( named “Red Headed Step child, designer is my LHBS).
I plan on doing a blue moon, but since I didn’t have all the ingredients, it will need to wait till my order comes in, what a bumer..
tat2Pompadore
Well-Known Member
I use these for my bulk grain storage. They work great. For the storage of my smaller grain amounts, I use my food saver vacuum sealer.
My grain mill sit on top of the Buddez container and I’ll kill everything for my brew and seal it up until my next brew day.
Having the base grains and my most common used grains on hand allows me to save time when it comes to putting my next bill together.
