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Posted: 10/25/2014 9:35:56 PM EDT
Getting 1300 pounds of wheat in, need to put it away.



Already have heavy duty food-grade barrel liners for my barrels.




Wheat will be stored in the bunker. Steady temps. Wood floor.




We eat what we store, the wheat will be used. I estimate this will last us 2 years. Basically, there will 1 barrel "open" that I take from to re-supply the house.




Now, is dry ice still recommended? I would have to ship it in. I've heard of condensation issues.




Other experience or references on the subject?



Link Posted: 10/25/2014 9:52:23 PM EDT
[#1]
Honestly, if this is going to be used within two years, I would just put the bag in the barrel, drop in half a dozen O2 absorbers (2000cc) and seal. No oxygen means dead bugs and lack of most oxidation activity. There is a couple downsides to using barrels, but plenty of people do it. 650lbs a year is a fair bit of usage. we go through about 300, between red and white hard, and a little soft white, maybe 30lbs more.. but there are just 2 of us now..

never liked co2 or DE or other stuff, just o2 absorbers and a good seal, hasn't let us down yet.
Link Posted: 10/26/2014 4:10:20 AM EDT
[#2]
I don't think "eat what you store" should always be taken 100% literally.  Yes, eat wheat and store wheat, but not necessarily the same wheat.

Since wheat stores so well long-term, if it were me I'd prepare the barrels for LTS with dry ice, O2, or maybe even some kind of argon/nitrogen gas replacement system.  Then I'd put them away and forget about 'em.  Depending on how much you use in a day or week, I'd use 5-gal buckets or other appropriately-sized containers for the rotating "working" supply.
Link Posted: 10/26/2014 9:09:01 AM EDT
[#3]
I use dry ice for storing grains & beans in 5 gallon screw top pails. It works extremely well at displacing the air and will kill bug larva and inhibit oxidation. Don't worry about condensation using dry ice, the amount of water is very small compared to the 10-14% moisture content your wheat will have naturally.

My method for 5 gallon pails:
Add ~ 2 inches of grain to the pail then take ~6 oz of dry ice pellets (one big handful) and drop into the pail, don't worry about trying to spread it out evenly. Quickly fill the pail to capacity with the grain and screw on the lid just tight enough that you can hear a low hissing sound from gas escaping. Wait ~12 hours (overnight is what I do) then confirm there is no gas escaping. Screw down the lid tightly and you are done.

If you have clamp on style lids just put the lid on the drum and put on some weights to make a limited seal (10-20 lbs should do fine) but don't close the clamp. Once the dry ice has evaporated seal the drum.

Since CO2 is heavier than air it will displace all of the air from the bottom up. Once the container is completely full of CO2 it will not easily escape a lightly sealed drum sitting for a few hours.

I don't bother with mylar bags as a liner/air barrier since the pails are a minimum of 90 mil thick PE and makes for an excellent barrier. I use new food grade pails.

The pails I use.
Be careful 5 gallon pails can be very expensive to ship so check before you order.
Link Posted: 10/26/2014 8:42:01 PM EDT
[#4]
Maybe you can use this in your preps:

We bought quite a few 50 lb. bags of various red/white spring/winter wheats, ryes and oat grains a few years ago. Stacked they away. After a few months, the oats had an issue with bugs, and I semi-freaked out. The day I noticed them, I bought a 40 lb. bag of food grade Diatomaceous Earth. I opened all the bags, and put in a cup of DE in each. Sealed them back up. I then sprinkled some more DE around the floor area that I saw them traveling. In one day, all activity had stopped, and have not seen any since. DE appears to work well for this, which made me happy as I was not enjoying seeing a good portion of my preps disappearing. It is also not unhealthy to ingest, as some folks take it to keep their intestinal tract clean. It doesn't have any taste, to me, and is not in any proportion to affect the grain properties. If you are worried about bugs, then this might help you. BTW, its pretty cheap, available at local tractor type supply houses and some garden supplies. Be sure to get the Food Grade variety.
Link Posted: 10/26/2014 11:52:07 PM EDT
[#5]
Sounds like we will dry ice it at 22 ounces per barrel. Wife gave the thumbs down to DE.



Now, what is fun to do with the extra dry ice
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