The three big enemies of your ingredients are heat, light and oxygen. Dry ingredients should also be kept in moisture-proof bags. And the container should be able to keep bugs out; I once had a customer bring in an opened pound bag of pale malt that was about half full. He had stored it for six months out in his garage, and when we opened the bag, it was swarming with tiny flies. I grabbed the bag and ran for the door, to avoid contaminating the rest of the grain in my store.
Plastic bags you can seal like a Ziploc or rigid plastic 2- to 3-gallon containers with a sealing lid like a trash can are ideal for long-term storage. Uncrushed grain will store for a year in these conditions, and crushed grains will be good for two to three months. Big bags of grain usually come with a plastic lining inside.
You can keep your grain in these or, to be extra careful, you can transfer the grain to airtight trash cans. This is recommended if you think you might have mice in your storage area. Dry malt extract should be stored just like grains.
As long as the DME is dry and sealed from oxygen, you can buy in bulk, and use it for up to about 1 year. Liquid malt syrup is easy to store as long as it is in the original can. This is an ideal container that keeps the syrup safe from light and oxygen, and the malt is good for about two years before it starts to degrade. The manufacturer has normally also heated the syrup to pasteurize it before shipping, so it is void of bacteria, molds and yeast. Most cans have an expiration date that helps you know when it is getting old.
Liquid malt syrup that has been opened, or is sold in bulk plastic containers, has a much shorter shelf life. Old malt extract can break down chemically and sometimes pick up mold. Either of these things will affect the flavor of your beer. Old grain can have similar problems, along with enzyme breakdown, which means your mash efficiency can suffer, too. Hops are even more sensitive to environmental factors.
Their alpha acids, which contribute bitterness to our beer, break down over time even under the best of storage conditions. The form factor can make a difference by reducing surface area, with hops plugs being more stable than leaf hops, for instance. Furthermore, different strains exhibit different levels of fragility, which makes it even harder to create a blanket rule.
Regardless of that, the best way to store hops is in your freezer, vacuum-sealed in oxygen-resistant plastic, or in an airtight jar that has been purged with CO2. Unopened packages will last longest, with hops pellets holding up for up to 3 years, whole flower hops lasting 1—2 years, and plugs good for up to 2 years. On the other hand, those leftovers from a previous batch require more effort than just folding over the bag.
A limited number of boxes are on sale now via Half Time! Grain shelf life and buying in bulk? I saw the thread on bulk grain storage. Stored properly, how long do unmilled grains last, a year? The breakeven point is about consuming half of the grain bulk purchase. I get a couple bags of 2-row at the beginning of the year which lasts me almost to the end of the year. Store your whole grains in a cool dry place, ideally away from sunlight. You can use the refrigerator if you have space, but its not necessary for whole grains.
Crushed grains present a larger problem. Crushed grains are prone to oxidation, and more susceptible to heat, light and moisture than whole grain malt. I recommend keeping crushed grains in sealed containers and placing them in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. Stored in this way they can last a few months, however I personally try to use my crushed grains within a few weeks of milling whenever possible.
The best solution is to purchase bulk grains in whole form, store them properly, and purchase a good malt mill such as the Barley Crusher which we offfer to mill them as needed. Hops are also susceptible to moisture, light, oxygen and heat degradation. Both the alpha bittering acids and the aroma oils degrade over time. Each variety has different storage characteristics — measured by the Hop Storage Index HSI — which is the percent of alpha acids lost in six months if you store your hops at 68 F 20 C.
You can extend this time by storing it colder — ideally in your freezer. However the HSI does not tell the whole story, as it only measures alpha acid loss. Oxygen also degrades hops, so to protect your hops you need to put them in an oxygen barrier container such as the vacuum sealed foil packets than many brands now are distributed in.
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