Old grains

[mkirkby]

Due to having to work abroad for a good part of the last two years, I have got two 1/2 finished sacks of crushed malt (one lager and one pale) upstairs in the wardrobe that have been sitting there for 18 months now....

There is no sign of infection and the mice have stayed away (wardrobe is very cool and dry). I've also dug in and tasted it and it *seems* ok. Question is would anyone use it now? As I understand it there may be other issues rather than taste involved (like loss of enzymes etc...). Has anyone actually tried to brew with crushed malt this old and how did it turn out?

Cheers

[Kev888]

Yes I have used crushed Maris Otter at just under a year and a half since crushing - it had been crushed by the malt miller just before I purchased it and I'd kept it dry and dark in its original unopened sack. Possibly naively, I wasn't thinking there'd be any problem as the grain still seemed sound - so I wasn't looking for any subtle differences, but outwardly at least it seemed to work pretty much as normal.

That said, it wasn't a recipie with grains of low diastatic power or anything especially fragile. I'll be watching other answers to this thread with interst though - I'd not considered loss of enzymes and I've still got two sacks in the wardrobe that I was intending to use in the summer... thinking about it that'll probably make it about 2 years old, which does seem somewhat less than ideal..

Cheers
Kev

[Scroogemonster]

I've used grain that was over 18 months old. Efficiency dropped to 67% from the normal 75-80% but apart from that, couldn't say I tasted much different in the final product.
Regards
Kevin

[mkirkby]

Hmmm...so maybe up the amounts by 10-15% percent then. I suppose a small test mash would give some idea of effectiveness and what efficiencies I could expect.

[boingy]

I'd happily brew with it. Just aim your first beer at decent strength (maybe 5%) then if the efficiency drops a bit you still have a sensible beer.