Flavour profile and carbohydrate content of weevils?

[NormandieStill]

I'm futzing with my brewery setup at the minute, and wanted to test the grind of my hammer mill versus what's considered a good grind for brewing. It works OK with my BIAB setup, but I'd like to take teh plastic bag out of the equation and needed to check the hole size versus grind for the false bottom I was planning on using.

Anyway, with an optimistic view of my free-time, a while back I bought 20kg of unmalted barley, thinking I could have a go at malting some barley. It's sat unopened in my office for a while now (probably getting on close to a year). So I measured out some grains and chucked them in the mill, which was when I saw the movement. The bag is (perhaps unsurprisingly) crawling with weevils.

As I see it I have 3 options.

1) Dump the bag on the compost. The rats that seem to be living at the end of the garden will be very happy.
2) Attempt to float the weevils out by washing the grains in batches. I can then roast the directly in the oven to dry them out. This is going to involve quite a bit of time.
3) Dump the whole lot into the mill, throw the flour and water into a large fermenter with some angel yeast, and make some lightly weevil flavoured neutral.

Anyone already tasted weevil? Think it'll complement my gin or not?

[NormandieStill]

Should have searched first...

But here's a hopeful note....the weevils, although annoying, won't affect the flavor of your spirit (much). Since they do eat the grains, especially the part that we convert to fermentables, eventually they can deplete the potential of your product. But, in the short term, they won't appreciably affect the final product. Certainly, what they do to the ferment won't affect the distillate.

Ground and fermented weevils it is!

[MooseMan]

Yeah get the buggers in there, yeast food!

[greggn]

2) Attempt to float the weevils out by washing the grains in batches.

I had good results doing that with milo/sorghum. I put it into an over-sized bucket, filled with water and kept it at a trickle, and then gently mixed with my hand as the bugs floated out. An afternoon in the summer sun and the grain was dry enough to mill for the next day's mash.

[NormandieStill]

2) Attempt to float the weevils out by washing the grains in batches.

I had good results doing that with milo/sorghum. I put it into an over-sized bucket, filled with water and kept it at a trickle, and then gently mixed with my hand as the bugs floated out. An afternoon in the summer sun and the grain was dry enough to mill for the next day's mash.

Weather was good enough today that I could possibly have got away with that. But in the end, time constraints got the better of me. Just finished mixing up a batch of YLAY weevil soup!

[jonnys_spirit]

Any protease rich koji you can add will help break down the weevil proteins into aminos for best flavour!

Cheers,
jonny

[SaltyStaves]

8kg Sugar
6.25kg Kibbled Corn
0.5kg Toasted Honey Flaked Barley
11.5L lacto infected rum dunder
1/8 Tsp of Weevils

Best sugarhead I've made to date. Shame it all got drunk.

[Deplorable]

I know this is too late, and after the cow is out of the barn, but this is good advice for the future.
Last year, at our meet up, someone gave me some (a lot actually) free grain. When I got it home, I put it all in a poly drum and used CO2 to purge all the oxygen from the barrel and screwed the lid down snug. I have a CO2 cylinder for tap beer I rarely use, so CO2 is plentyful.
This will ensure nothing can survive, and prolong the shelf life of the grain. I've still got about 45# of that grain to make another batch of whiskey from. It will likely need an exogenous enzyme boost, but at least it won't be totally bug infested.
Alternatively, one can put the grains in an air tight container and place a chunk of dry ice in it. Once the dry ice has evaporated seal the container. (Not before!)

[still_stirrin]

Ha ha, Normandie. “Been there …. done that”.

Weevils are annoying. But, they’re a “fact of life” for cereal grains, especially malted grains. The wife couldn’t stand it when they infiltrated the rest of the panty, especially the pancake mix. So, she moved out! Oh well, the mashes still ran good and the liquor even better. and I didn’t have to hear her complain about my hobbies any longer.

Only (long term storage) advice I have for you is the deep freeze. I have enough storage in freezers to make sure that the weevil larvae (in about ALL cereal grains) don’t grow. In fact, the freezer kills them. It also preserves the starches in the grains, although you need to use them quickly when thawed because they’ll “suck up” ambient moisture.

I lauter my mashes, so all of the weevil carcasses were “strained out” in the lauter tun before fermentation. But, they won’t hurt a ferment either (some people eat insects, right?). Either way, they won’t ruin your spirits, or your liquor.

Keep a smiling face and carry on. But next time, consider the freezer for long term storage.
ss

[still_stirrin]

p.s. Fruit flies are lousy swimmers too, even though they like to try. Your heads (and foreshots) will call them in and they’ll dive into the jars. But they don’t swim. And they’re terrible alcoholics … drinking until they can’t drink (or swim). Ha ha! I hate them, especially in the summer months.
ss

[Demy]

Alternatively, one can put the grains in an air tight container and place a chunk of dry ice in it. Once the dry ice has evaporated seal the container. (Not before!)

I'm curious...do you mean instant ice (the one you press into the center)? How does it work against insects?

[higgins]

Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide. It 'melts' directly from a solid to a gas, filling the container with CO2 gas, which will kill any existing bugs. It expands during the 'melting' phase, so don't seal the container until after the dry ice has 'melted'.

[Bolverk]

Wow, based on the title of of this thread I expected every one to say toss it. But I'm legitimately surprised the direction the thread went.

Good to know weevils are both nothing to be concerned with and that in some cases could be desirable.

Fruit flys on the other hand are notorious for carrying acetobacter (vinegar mother) and should be avoided unless that's something you want, i.e., muck pit for rum etc

[MooseMan]

Wow, based on the title of of this thread I expected every one to say toss it. But I'm legitimately surprised the direction the thread went.

Good to know weevils are both nothing to be concerned with and that in some cases could be desirable.

Fruit flys on the other hand are notorious for carrying acetobacter (vinegar mother) and should be avoided unless that's something you want, i.e., muck pit for rum etc

Oh yeah I've had those little bastard's ruin a few batches of cider over the years!

[Deplorable]

Alternatively, one can put the grains in an air tight container and place a chunk of dry ice in it. Once the dry ice has evaporated seal the container. (Not before!)

I'm curious...do you mean instant ice (the one you press into the center)? How does it work against insects?

No, Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration, as CO₂ does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and sublimes directly from the solid state to the gas state. It is used primarily as a cooling agent but in this application as it reverts back to is gaseous state the CO2 displaces the oxygen in the container and creates an atmosphere inhospitable for the weevils.

[NormandieStill]

Wow, based on the title of of this thread I expected every one to say toss it. But I'm legitimately surprised the direction the thread went.

Good to know weevils are both nothing to be concerned with and that in some cases could be desirable.

Fruit flys on the other hand are notorious for carrying acetobacter (vinegar mother) and should be avoided unless that's something you want, i.e., muck pit for rum etc

Not sure about beneficial, but looking at the ferment, they certainly don't seem to be doing any harm.

Thankfully, for distilling purposes, an acetobacter infection need not be the end of the world. We tend to run our washes after a relatively short time (compared to ageing wines for example) so they don't really get a chance to do any damage.

[NormandieStill]

Ha ha, Normandie. “Been there …. done that”.

Weevils are annoying. But, they’re a “fact of life” for cereal grains, especially malted grains. The wife couldn’t stand it when they infiltrated the rest of the panty, especially the pancake mix. So, she moved out! Oh well, the mashes still ran good and the liquor even better. and I didn’t have to hear her complain about my hobbies any longer.

Only (long term storage) advice I have for you is the deep freeze. I have enough storage in freezers to make sure that the weevil larvae (in about ALL cereal grains) don’t grow. In fact, the freezer kills them. It also preserves the starches in the grains, although you need to use them quickly when thawed because they’ll “suck up” ambient moisture.

I lauter my mashes, so all of the weevil carcasses were “strained out” in the lauter tun before fermentation. But, they won’t hurt a ferment either (some people eat insects, right?). Either way, they won’t ruin your spirits, or your liquor.

Keep a smiling face and carry on. But next time, consider the freezer for long term storage.
ss

We barely have the freezer space we need for our food. If I start chucking 25kg bags of malt in there too we're screwed. I generally don't have large amounts of grains hanging around; But a combination of interesting ideas, a sale at my malt supplier and a sudden lack of spare time mean that I now have in excess of 100kg of malt (pale ale, vienna, rye and a bunch of adjuncts mostly for beer) sat behind me in my office.

If I can get my hands on some more HDPE barrels with sealable lids, I might try the CO2 trick. That should make storage a little more reliable. Mostly though I should just get on and mash more!

[Yummyrum]

It would be great if you could direct the CO2 from your fermenters into the grain storage bins . Such a waste of a good resource

[MooseMan]

It would be great if you could direct the CO2 from your fermenters into the grain storage bins . Such a waste of a good resource

I actually read about an idea on a home brew forum that a guy had to do just this.

I think he connected a tee with non return valves, a prv and a balloon. Once the balloon filled up with gas during a ferment and exceeded the prv, it would vent into the vessel that he wanted the co2 to go into.

[quadra]

That is a really great idea! I have a few fiber barrels with removable lids I use for grain storage, and in the winter it is easy enough to roll them out into the minus 15 or 20 below to ensure the critters are taken care of, but the other 7- 9 months of the year have given the little bastards a break.... time for a little gas warfare!