Would you use malt that has been got at by mice?

[ECR]

hop toxicity in dogs.

Does anyone know how cats react to brewing ingredients?

Quite a few of us need to find out, looking at recent Brewday photographs

[Graham]

Ah that would be why my whippet used to crash out across the pub floor after he'd had a half of Manns Brown in a clean ashtray. Good job it wasn't Directors that he took a liking to.

Beer doesn't kill them, but hops can.
Many dogs have gone into hyperventilation after eating spent hops, but survived after vet treatment.

But a number of dogs have died; greyhounds in particular.

Search for "hop toxicity in dogs"

[johnmac]

Conclusive proof that there are no hops in Manns Brown Ale

[Graham]

Conclusive proof that there are no hops in Manns Brown Ale

Wish I'd thought of it first.

[monk]

Yes, but I wouldn't use the mice.

[ECR]

Have you ever known a cat to eat anything green ?

They do tend to eat grass, then usually return to the house to puke on the carpet

[prolix]

I put the spent hops on my mud and the cats leave it well alone foxes too go no where near it wonderful stuff.

As to mice no problems there but 12 months old and open to air would not waste a day to find out it was not right

[Graham]

How do you now that mice have not peed all over the barley at the grain merchants and they have not peed all over the malt at the maltsters.

It used to be a legal requirement that brewers had to install a cat to prowl their premises - might still be.

[johnmac]

It used to be a legal requirement that brewers had to install a cat to prowl their premises - might still be.

because cat pee goes better with beer than mouse pee

[eskimobob]

JIC it's not common knowledge, common substances also dangerous to dogs are: Chocolate, raisons and certain nuts

Well I knew about Chocolate but not Raisins and what are the problem nuts??

I'd be reluctant to bin the whole bag of grain - Is it all contaminated - did they get in the top then and pee all over it - could you safely save any?

[Hogarth]

I put the spent hops on my mud and the cats leave it well alone foxes too go no where near it wonderful stuff.

Do you mean spent hops actually repel foxes?

At night there are several thousand foxes shagging away in my garden. I'd dearly love to drop them a hint...

[Ditch]

I've just found this one and can hardly believe it's a question! Bloody hell!

Anyway, Aleman has it in one; Get a plastic drum and store any pest attractant food stuffs in there - with a good lid on, of course. Do be aware however that rats will go through even those thick, blue plastic barrels like a hot knife through butter.

Mice, by the way " Micturate " constantly. That's to say they dribble piss where ever they go. They also generate - don't quote me on this but - something like seventy droppings a day. That's just one mouse. Ye likely have more than ye'd ever imagine.

And yes to Aleman again; There Is an industry standard allowance for levels of rodental pollution of food stuffs. But are ye really going to sift through a sack of old grain, counting out the mouse droppings? Then I imagine ye'd need a centrifuge to separate out and measure the urine.

Me? I'd dump the lot and get myself in to sort out the pests. Meanwhile investing in some decent storage.

What ever the cost of grain these days; None of it's worth ye life.

[clogwog]

If it is crushed and has already been stored for many months unsealed, it is likely to be stale, and not make very good beer.

I voted to dispose of it for that reason, but also, you do not want to take the risk on getting ill for the sake of a few kilos of grain.

[Piscator]

Ditch is right - mice are basically incontinent and dribble pee everywhere they go
The boiling process will kill any vegetative bacterial cells but probably not all the spores - however the pH and alcohol content of the beer should keep these in check, so the microbiological risk factor is in reality fairly low.

If the mice have access to any toxic rodent bait in the vicinity there is a possiblity of cross containation of your grain though
There are some baits which are designed to be rubbed off onto the mouses fur as they pass through the bait station and ingested when they groom and others which are designed to be consumed directly - residual amounts of toxin can be present in the droppings. (normally indicated by a coloured tinge to the droppings to match the bait colour)

As you can probably guess, I voted no.

Cheers
Steve

[TC2642]

If it is crushed and has already been stored for many months unsealed, it is likely to be stale, and not make very good beer.

I never find there is any staling of my malt (even after nine months) and I only rap the plastic bag inside the sack up tightly. The only issue of it going slack is if any moisture gets into it. You may lose some diatastic ability though.