weevils

[Rick Kroft]

I really appreciate the answer I got to my last post about grain storage.
Another aspect that I hadn't considered, has come up in recent conversation. A salesman for one of the large distributing companies told me that weevils would be an issue when/if the grain got warm. Being a restaurant person I shudder at the thought of bugs in the building, and more realistically I need to know how to deal with them. Who can tell me more?

What is the normal shelf life for grain under less than perfect conditions, is there a rule of thumb everyone goes by?

Finally, are prices negotiable with grain suppliers. In the restaurant business you find that everything is negotiable from ketchup to lobster. Does the same hold true with grain and hops etc.

Thanks for tyour thoughts. Rick

[BigWilley]

If you store your grain in a clean dry area and most importantly off the floor you should be alright. Weevils can be a problem if you are milling and leaving alot of dust and debris around. Im sure it depends on location to. I worked at a brewery where we had a minor weevil problem in the box below the mill that fed the auger. We would shop vac it out regularly and the problem disappeared. If you are using only bagged malt it should be easy to inspect. As for storage times it depends on the conditions in your storage area. If there is a lot of moisture you may have trouble. Also if your moisture content in your malt is high it wont last as long. With proper inventory control you should be fine. A small brewery is not likely to be able to negotiate malt and hop prices due to the relatively small amount of suppliers. Out there.
hope this helps.

[flyinpig]

I had a weevil problem once. The reason was the humidy was high and high temps in the storage room , it was very warm. Keeping it very clean is key and I installed a airconditioner to keep the room cool around 60 f. There was also a small problem with them around the mill and shop vac after every use got rid them very quick. Best of luck to you.

Cheers,
The Pig