# Freezing Grains Before Storing?



## Natalie Rose (Jan 14, 2010)

Do you have to freeze your wheat berries, oat groats and other grains before you store them?
I know I have read that you are suppose to freeze your flour for 48 hours before you seal it up and store it away to kill any organisms first but do you do that with everything?
I am going to seal them in a mylar bag and then in a 5 gallon bucket but wondering what needs to be frozen first.
Thanks for any help.


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## Michael Kawalek (Jun 21, 2007)

I store my grains in 5 gallon buckets and just don't have the freezer space for anything that big. What I prefer to do is drop a chunk of dry ice in the bottom of each bucket and store the grains in a CO2 atmosphere.

The CO2 kills eggs/larvae and also helps prevent oxidation of oily grains like brown rice.

I drop in a chunk, and pop on the lid. I lift one corner just enough to hear a "sssss" and leave it undisturbed for the rest of the day. After the excess gas has escaped I snap down the lid tight for storage.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

If you put O2 absorbers in the mylar bags, you don't need to freeze first. Be sure to check that the bags look sucked in after a week. The O2 absorbers have to create a vacuum to kill the insects.


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

i freeze my grains first. i also don't have freezer space for 5 gallon buckets, so i fill quart mason jars with grain, and rotate those thru the freezer. takes me a couple weeks for each 50# bag of wheat. then i pour the mason jars into 5 gallon buckets. 

my grain stores are slightly less than one years worth, so i don't worry about sealing the grain in mylar bags now. not until i'm pushing north of 2 yrs worth of storage will i get 02 absorbers and seal mylar bags for long-term storage conditions.

--sgl


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## unregistered29228 (Jan 9, 2008)

I don't have decent access to CO2, so I put my wheat (and pasta) in the freezer a little at a time in large ziplocks. After 2 days I pour it into a mylar bag, or just keep it in the ziplock, and store it in a bucket. My really long term storage of wheat was bought in superpails from BePrepared.com so I didn't have to do any extra processing.


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## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

I don't freeze if I am removing the O2....freezing kills the bug eggs. So does removing the oxygen. I do freeze if I am just putting them in bags in a bucket.


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