should I use this or give it to the chickens?

[sadie33]

I found one of my small white buckets with ground grains. The only grains I grind are for HBB. I wasn't sure with it sitting all summer long in my loft if it would be worth using. All I would have to do is grind my corn and I would have another batch to ferment, but is it too old? I could give it to the chickens...

[shadylane]

I found one of my small white buckets with ground grains. The only grains I grind are for HBB. I wasn't sure with it sitting all summer long in my loft if it would be worth using. All I would have to do is grind my corn and I would have another batch to ferment, but is it too old? I could give it to the chickens...

Think of how happy the chicken would be.

[NZChris]

Smell it. If it smells moldy, don't ferment it unless you like moldy whiskey.

[Deplorable]

If it was in a bucket under a tight lid and dry. I'd mash it.
I'm in the middle of a single malt fermented on grain that's older than I can confirm, so older than 2 years, but it's been sealed up for over a year. It converted just fine. Just as good as the stuff I made from it last year.

[squigglefunk]

yeah if its gone moldy throw it out, if it is OK it will work, I do find fresh milled grain to be far more flavorful and aromatic, how much that translates over to the final product I can't say for sure.

[contrahead]

What the others cautioned about mold, is good advice. Otherwise use it.
.

.
As for the longevity of cornmeal, a shelf life of 10 – 20 years can be expected (under ideal storage conditions)(air tight, dark, cool).

Nuts and grains have a wide range of fat content. In general, the less fat - the longer a nut or grain will last in storage. Grinding nuts and seeds exposes their innards and increases the surface area that can then interact with oxygen. By exposing those fats and oils to more oxygen, rancidity caused by oxidization happens quicker.

The type of oil in a nut or seed varies considerably between species. Corn oil has a high (undesirable) percentage of polyunsaturated fat, when compared to some other grains and nuts. This type of fat is more susceptible to oxidation and spoilage than saturated or monounsaturated fat.

However: the fats or oils in corn are all locked up in the germ of a corn kernel. In a food factory where they make corn starch, corn syrup and corn oil - the first thing to be done is to separate the germ from the endosperm and pericarp. This process is not as easy or straightforward as it sounds. Degermed cornmeal (what someone called “Bolted cornmeal in the pictured text above) can be purchased though, and should have a decent shelf life.

Just as with coffee beans: storing the kernels whole and grinding then only when needed would seem be the best means of preserving grains.


https://www.buildastash.com/post/how-to ... -long-term
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 8519306674
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_milli ... n_of_grain
https://www.roff.co.za/blogs/blog/the-h ... ing-part-1

[sadie33]

Thanks guys, it was shut up tight, I don't think it's air tight, but it didn't mold so I think I'll use it. Because the alcohol was so low in my infected run, I am not going to get the 5 gal of low wines I wanted for my spirit run. I will do one more ferment with this grain and that should do it.

[sadie33]

I ended up using my ground grain in a honey wheat bread Instead of using a cup of wheat, I mixed up all the HBB ground grain (minus the corn) and used that instead. I like it waaaay better then reg wheat flour. There is a learning curve though. It doesn't rise or bake quite the same. First batch sunk in the middle (still usable and very yummy) so next time I raised it longer. It looked like it was perfect, but then it sunk in the middle but not as bad as the last time. Next time I think I am going to try some malt powder and bake it a bit longer. It still comes out really good, but I haven't perfected it yet.

[NZChris]

An addition of glutinous rice flour or wheat gluten might help it stay up.

[sadie33]

An addition of glutinous rice flour or wheat gluten might help it stay up.

hmm I do have some rice flour. I just bought some diastatic malt powder for another recipe. I thought the grains would have enough malt, because they were malted. Not sure it works the same. I was going to try it one more time with the malt powder and see what that does. Maybe I'll try the rice flour too.

thanks

[NZChris]

Ordinary rice flour won't help and might even make it worse.

[subbrew]

Malted grains have broken down the gluten as during malting so have less gluten than non-malted grains. It tends to make the loaf heavier and drop in the middle as you experienced. To counter you need to add something like Red Mill Gluten flour. The extra sugar from the malt is hydroscopic, so you need to bake a bit longer as you need to drive off more water so you don't have a soggy center.