Damn weevils

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:40 pm

I've been seeing these little buggers all over the house the past several weeks and finally took a look at some of my grain. One of my sacks I believe has a lot of them in it. I was thinking of wrapping the sack in wrap and then putting it into my kegerator for a few weeks to see if the cold kills them.

Anyone try this or know if it might work? I have my kegerator set to 38d and I'll drop it a few more temps if I have to... I'd rather not though. I'd really hate to throw out this sack of grain.

Hmm... I also have a vacuum sealer and a bunch of gallon sized bags. It might be a lot of work but maybe I can suck the air out of these buggers...

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:42 am

The kegerator will just slow them down but not kill them, which will be just fine. Another thing I've heard of but never tried is dropping a few chips of dry ice into your grain storage container and dump the grain on top. As the dry ice melts into CO2 it will displace the air and help preserve the grain and supposedly kill the weevils or prevent hatching. If you try that, MAKE SURE the container can vent gas or it'll explode.

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:01 am

Backyard Brewer wrote:The kegerator will just slow them down but not kill them, which will be just fine. Another thing I've heard of but never tried is dropping a few chips of dry ice into your grain storage container and dump the grain on top. As the dry ice melts into CO2 it will displace the air and help preserve the grain and supposedly kill the weevils or prevent hatching. If you try that, MAKE SURE the container can vent gas or it'll explode.

hmm, dry ice sounds like a good idea. Would I just drop the grain right onto the dry ice chips or should I cover the dry ice with a plastic cup with holes poked in the sides or something? I've never bought dry ice before so I wonder if I can buy small amounts like that.

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:45 am

Rezzin wrote:
Backyard Brewer wrote:The kegerator will just slow them down but not kill them, which will be just fine. Another thing I've heard of but never tried is dropping a few chips of dry ice into your grain storage container and dump the grain on top. As the dry ice melts into CO2 it will displace the air and help preserve the grain and supposedly kill the weevils or prevent hatching. If you try that, MAKE SURE the container can vent gas or it'll explode.
hmm, dry ice sounds like a good idea. Would I just drop the grain right onto the dry ice chips or should I cover the dry ice with a plastic cup with holes poked in the sides or something? I've never bought dry ice before so I wonder if I can buy small amounts like that.

You can buy small quatities at several grocery stores. Ralphs on Chapman and Yorba has it for sure. Dry ice will not melt to liquid, it goes straight from a solid to a gaseous state. However, any moisture that condensates on the surface into ice could be a problem now that I think about it.

Try getting a few pieces and then setting them in a sealed (ventable) container to melt and see if you get any liquid in the container. That'll tell you how 'wet' the dry ice is.

When we were younger, we used to get dry ice and seal a few pieces in 2L plastic bottles. Louder than any M80 you've every heard.

Oskaar · Post by **Oskaar** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:11 am

Backyard Brewer wrote: However, any moisture that condensates on the surface into ice could be a problem now that I think about it.

You might try some desiccant packets in there as well to adsorb any of the potential condensation.

Cheers,

Oskaar

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:22 pm

Nice, I just called over there and its only $1.49 for a # of the stuff. Hope this works! Pete, yeah I'll check to see if they have those packets there too - i might have a few in my kegerator but I'm pretty sure those are 'used up' by now.

maltbarley · Post by **maltbarley** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:33 pm

Why not just drop a hose from your CO2 tank into your storage bucket? It's cheaper and easier than dry ice.

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:04 pm

maltbarley wrote:Why not just drop a hose from your CO2 tank into your storage bucket? It's cheaper and easier than dry ice.

I thought about it but I figured the dry ice would be easier as long as condensation isn't an issue. If I just let CO2 go from the tank, I'm not sure how well it would blanket and layer at the bottom. I figure with the dry ice it would start from the bottom and work it's way up so it would be a no brainer... plus I get to play with dry ice

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:07 pm

maltbarley wrote:Why not just drop a hose from your CO2 tank into your storage bucket? It's cheaper and easier than dry ice.

That's a good idea too. The idea behind the dry ice was that the slow melt would slowly displace the air from the bottom up and push it out of the container. A slow trickle from a hose/tank should work just as well and would have no risk of H20 moisture getting to the grain.

jward · Post by **jward** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:16 pm

My understanding was freezing would kill the weevils but not any unhatched eggs. I'm guessing you don't plan to set your kegerator that low.

From other food preservation stuff I read put the dry ice on top on something like a plate/dish/bowl so the condensation would collect there. The CO2 is heavy enough to fill the container and displace the air. If you maintain a CO2 environment for 2 weeks I think you kill the eggs too.

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:40 pm

jward wrote:My understanding was freezing would kill the weevils but not any unhatched eggs. I'm guessing you don't plan to set your kegerator that low.

From other food preservation stuff I read put the dry ice on top on something like a plate/dish/bowl so the condensation would collect there. The CO2 is heavy enough to fill the container and displace the air. If you maintain a CO2 environment for 2 weeks I think you kill the eggs too.

There you go. That sounds pretty reasonable.

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Thu Oct 30, 2008 5:06 pm

You guys are so smart

DIE WEEVILS!

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 9:48 am

So it looks like the dry ice thing worked pretty well. I bought about 2# of dry ice and used a # in each container. I poured the sack into a large rubbermaid type container, layed a plastic bag down and a paper towel on top of that (in case there was condensation) and put a bowl of the dry ice right on top. I closed the lid and let it sit for 3 days.

This morning I took a peak and all the weevils were dead - even the ones that managed to cling to the bottom of the top lid were dead. I'm not sure about the eggs but I would think with 3 days lack of oxygen (and I'm sure there's still plenty of CO2 in the grain), they should be dead too. If not, I'll just do it again and leave it until I need the grain next.

jward · Post by **jward** » Mon Nov 03, 2008 11:23 am

Rezzin wrote:I'm not sure about the eggs but I would think with 3 days lack of oxygen (and I'm sure there's still plenty of CO2 in the grain), they should be dead too.

If the stuff I read is accurate a lack of oxygen is much easier to tolerate then high carbon dioxide levels. It seems that if something like an egg is dormant it doesn't need much oxygen, so starving it of O2 can take a long time. To fumigate by lack of O2 (usually via Nitrogen/N2 gas) they suggested ~2 months of exposure. CO2 is plain toxic in high concentrations and does wonders as a fumigant. ~2 weeks was deadly even for dormant critters. Have you seen any of the movies about the Apollo 13 mission. They had O2 but needed to get the CO2 scrubbers working or face a horrible death. I think it was 12% or so to do humans in and you are giving those little bastards as close to 100% as you can.

I am a proponent of freezing too. I try to freeze any specialty grains as I buy them and if I see any weevils in a 50lb sack that gets frozen as soon as it will fit in the freezer. Welcome to the Ward gulag you little grain eating bastards!