mice in malt

[juliobrewer]

Hey T,

My ferrets are very tame around people although the female Evey does like to give a good toe nip once in awhile... I do like to tell people they'll leap six feet vertical and latch onto their throats upon my command though and sometimes people believe it!

So to bring this discussion back to beer the Brewery is up and running and am finishing up brewing a double batch of Tuff Session Pale Ale today.

Good luck with the Vancouver Craft Beer Week next month.. Wish I could participate but we're just too busy getting the new place up and running but there's always next year.

Fellow Brewers check out this link for the promo for the VCBW when you've got a moment..

http://vimeo.com/22101861

Dave.

[tariq khan]

!

Haha That's hilarious Dave, a little toe nip is good .

Good luck with the brewing, see ya soon !

T

[Crazy Eye]

Try something like this....

While waiting for my brewer's notice, I had a ton of grain sitting around. I found two of these:

http://www.directindustry.com/prod/schoeller-arca-systems/collapsible-plastic-pallet-boxes-17971-465544.html

and got them used for $80 each, with lid, previously used to store bagged vegetable oil (so no FDA materials issues). It'll take an additional lifting step each time I get a grain shipment or have to crush, but it's a heckuva a lot easier than traps/ferrets/whatever, and it just about guaranteed to work. These can also be lifted with my forklift, and I can sort my grain pretty easily.

Good luck!

[CascadiaHB]

So I was thinking, Why not just store the grain on a pallet rack and then coat the bottom legs of the rack with tar. Mice try to climb up and get stuck, they never make it to the grain.

[TGTimm]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

The most effective way to control mice and other rodents in your grain storage areas is to exclude them. Seal any hole big enough to pass your smallest digit. The few that bypass this precation can be controlled with bait and traps.

As for cats, ferrets, wolverines, foxes, etc. for rodent control, DON'T. Both USDA and our state health dept. freaked when they found we had a "brewery cat". Barley the brewery cat has since gone on to where ever old cats go.

[rdcpro]

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

The most effective way to control mice and other rodents in your grain storage areas is to exclude them. Seal any hole big enough to pass your smallest digit. The few that bypass this precation can be controlled with bait and traps.

As for cats, ferrets, wolverines, foxes, etc. for rodent control, DON'T. Both USDA and our state health dept. freaked when they found we had a "brewery cat". Barley the brewery cat has since gone on to where ever old cats go.

I'm a fan of the "tin cat" mouse traps.

Years ago I read a story about a company in South America that rented out large snakes to granaries for rodent control. They'd turn loose a few large pythons or boa constrictors, and in one corner of the warehouse they'd place a heated pad. Monday morning, a bunch of happy and fat snakes would be found asleep on the heating pad, where the company would pick them up so the warehouse workers wouldn't freak.

Too bad about Barley!

Mike

[TGTimm]

We use the Tin Cat traps. They work amazingly well. A while back we moved some equipment and found a Tin Cat that had been forgotten for years:



I don't even know how many mice there were packed in there!

[wailingguitar]

We have this tin traps and have never had one catch a mouse, ever. Our pest control guy baits and sets them, has put out glue traps, etc, etc. There is really no way to prevent every point of entry, building is too big and too old. Even if we did, we know for a fact that we have had mice hitch a ride in on grain shipments. We don't have a major problem with mice, but they are around. The only thing I have ever seen effective was cats. One brewery I worked at had a bunch of feral cats that lived around there and it was the only place that had zero rodents

[rdcpro]

We have this tin traps and have never had one catch a mouse, ever.

I've found the key with the tin cat is they need to be tightly up against the wall, with the door opening closest to the wall. Mice run along the wall, and if there is any space at all, they'll bypass the trap. You have to move them around until you find where they run and you'll start catching them.

But yeah, they can't eradicate them like feral cats can.

Mike

[TGTimm]

I'm a fan of the "tin cat" mouse traps.

Years ago I read a story about a company in South America that rented out large snakes to granaries for rodent control. They'd turn loose a few large pythons or boa constrictors, and in one corner of the warehouse they'd place a heated pad. Monday morning, a bunch of happy and fat snakes would be found asleep on the heating pad, where the company would pick them up so the warehouse workers wouldn't freak.

Too bad about Barley!

Mike

Barely was 16 years old when she vanished. She had a good run of it and was utterly spoiled.

The snake idea is starting to sound good. The inspectors never said anything about reptiles in the brewery. I don't want to risk introducing exotic snakes to our area, so I'll just use our native Pacific Green rattlesnakes. What could possibly go wrong?