How to store wheat for long-term food storage. Learn how you use dry ice to prevent weevil damage to your stored grain. Provident living ideas from providentliving.org.nz

1. 3rd Edition, 2012
Hank’s guide to
Storing Wheat in CO2
Storing Grain
For those who want to store wheat for
several years this article provides some
guidelines for successful wheat storage.
The Big 3
Photo by HJE CC By-NC 2.0
However you store your wheat, you’ll need
to do these three things: remove oxygen,
maintain a low moisture level and protect
it from insects and rodents.
Low moisture level10% -
Buy wheat with a low moisture level. i.e.
12.5%.
Remove Oxygen Store it in dry containers the same day you
receive it.
Although removing oxygen is not essential,
I recommend it. Here’s why. Check your containers to make sure they keep
moisture out. Store in a dry cool place.
Food deteriorates faster when oxygen is
present. Without oxygen, food retains its
flavour and tastes nicer, longer.
Weevil eggs which are present in fresh
wheat will hatch into an oxygenless
Pest-Proof and weevil proof.
Containers must be mice
environment and die after hatching. Weevil Rats and mice gnaw through many containers
will hatch then die. though plastic drums are a strong deterrent.
Mice bite through vacuum-packed plastic with
ease. Pack these into vermin-proof containers.
Weevil photo by ken-ichi
www.flickr.com/photos/ken-ichi/ CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Stored food is too expensive to feed to mice.
Also, they might urinate, excrete or die on your
Oxygen can be removed by vacuum food storage. Store it well. Get the containers
packing. Alternatively, air can be replaced first, wheat second.
with a harmless gas like nitrogen or CO2.
Mouse photo by pshab
Pshab www.flickr.com/photos/pshab/ CC BY-NC 2.0
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2. Storing Wheat in CO2
Preparation Get Dry Ice
You will need: · Collect the Dry Ice within an hour of using
it. Avoid keeping it for several hours before
· Esky or polystyrene chilli-bin use.
· 240 Space-Saver containers & lids · Get an Esky or polystyrene chilli-bin.
· Plastic ladle of 1 table-spoon capacity · Go to your nearest BOC store. Buy one kg
· Hammer to test wheat dry ice. It will cost about $15.
· Labels for containers ( Lid Labels and
Product Labels)
Hammer Test
Test a wheat sample for it's moisture
content. This will ensure it is dry enough
for long-term storage.
I recommend you use the "Hammer Test."
Take a spoon of wheat from your wheat- · Drive back with the window partially open
sack. About twenty grains. Place them so you have air flow in the car.
on something made of solid metal. A
piece of railway line, a vice or steel anvil · You need to work quickly as a team before
will do. Hit the wheat kernels once, hard, the CO2 evaporates
with a hammer.
Assign Team
Member Tasks
You can do this all alone but its better to get
Photo by HJE CC By-NC 2.0
helpers and work as a team.
Mormons storing wheat together is similar to
the old-fashioned ‘barn-raising’ of our early
pioneers. We work together as a team.
Assign people to the roles of a Sack-Man, Pourer,
Bin-Man, and an Ice-Guy.
If the wheat shatters into pieces it is dry
enough to store long-term. If it mashes
or does not shatter cleanly, then there's
too much moisture in your wheat for
storage.
Longer seeds should snap smartly, cleanly
in half when bent if they are this dry.
Wheat and corn seeds should shatter and
powder when hit with the head of a
hammer.
Photo by HJE CC By-NC 2.0
That's our Dry Seed Test. It is very
reliable. Beans, peas and other large seeds
will shatter if sufficiently dry.
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3. Storing Wheat in CO2
Train your team · The “Ice-Guy” shakes down the wheat to
settle it so the container can be filled to near
Teach your team the following: maximum capacity.
· Warn team that dry-ice is very cold Fit the lid with one corner slightly raised so
at minus 78 degrees. They must not the expanding gas can bubble-off. If you seal
touch it, eat it, or play with it. Read it too soon the expanding gas might pop the
aloud the Safety Data Sheet about lid of and spread wheat everywhere.
it.Keep your hands dry when working
with it. · The “Sack-Man” will remove the Space-
Savers as they are filled with wheat and stack
· Ensure the room is ventilated and has them at least 4 meters away so your work
air flow. area is not crowded. Do not stack two layers
high until after ‘Bubble-off’.
· Keep the lid on the Dry-Ice Esky as
much as possible. Avoid inspecting it
unnecessarily. Some dry ice will
sublimate every time you open the
container. Use it within hours. The Afix Labels
sooner the better. Place labels neatly and squarely on each Space-
Saver bin with the date packed and contents.
Learn Your Duty
then begin
· The “Sack-Man” will open all wheat
sacks. They will also fold and stack
empty sacks. Keep the area clear.
The “Pourer” spours 4 cm wheat in
Photo by HJE CC By-NC 2.0
·
the bottom of each Space-Saver in the
room. This will cover the bottom of
each Space-Saver. It prevents the base
of the Space-Saver freezing.
· The “Bin-Man” will inspect space-
saver bins for contaminants during
manufacturing process. Remove any
loose pieces of plastic. Ensure each
container is clean. They will supply
new, empty Space-Saver Bins and to
keep the “Ice-Guy” supplied with new
Sublimation
bins. Bubble-off for 60 minutes (Sublimation)
· The “Ice-Guy” will use a long handled “Bubble-off” is the process where the dry-ice
plastic ladle to deposit 10 grams (a sublimates (turns from a solid to a gas) in the
heaped table-spoon) of dry ice into wheat and turns instantly from a solid to a gas.
each Space-Saver on top of the small It expands to 500 times it’s size in this process.
amount of wheat in the bottom centre Excess air will burp out of the partially closed
of each 15 litre container. lid. The CO2 is colder than the air in the
Note: 10 grams is about 3 pellets on a container so it will fill up from the bottom of
heaped table-spoon. the container, pushing the air out. CO2 is also
heavier than air.
· The “Pourer” then immediately fills
the remainder of the container with The lid should be fully covering the base yet
wheat from the sack. able to allow gas under slight pressure to escape
from the container so no pressure builds up.
Air should not be able to get in during bubble-
off.
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4. Storing Wheat in CO2
Allow the wheat to 'bubble off' CO2 as
the dry ice sublimates. Oxygen Absorbers
The containers will bubble out excess CO2 Do not use oxygen absorbers when storing wheat
for 40 minutes. in CO2. Its unneccessary.
Vacate the room as the CO2 'bubbles off'. Only use oxygen absorbers when storing small
quantities of wheat in vacuum packs.
CO2 is not poisonous to inhale but people
need to breathe in some oxygen. You will not need them at all if using dry ice as
the CO2 will drive out all air including the
Ventilate the room. Anticipate children, oxygen that is in the air.
youth or visitors entering the room
overnight or in the morning. About
The room may be filled with CO2 if it If you have additional information or wish to
there is no air-flow. improve this document, please email
hank.ensing@gmail.com
Indemnity Clause
No responsibility is taken by the author for the
Secure Lids use of any information provided herein with
regard to health and safety, food stored, loss of
Secure lids firmly 1 hour after filling the food, damage to food or flavour or any other
Space-Savers. Ensure they are sealed aspect.
perfectly. The dry ice will have sublimated.
Excess CO2 and air will have ‘bubbled-
off’.
Where To Get
Containers
Space-Saver containers are good for
storing wheat. They have a 15 Litre
capacity with a lid that seals.
Obtain them second hand for just a few
Photo by HJE CC By-NC 2.0
dollars each from fruit pie bakeries across
New Zealand. Barkers Orchards package
their processed fruit filling in Space-Saver
containers and send them full to fruit pie
and cake bakeries all across NZ.
They ship with two types of lids. One type
seals much better than the other. “I bought 12 empty containers, 2 sacks
New containers are made by Viscount of wheat and stored the wheat using
Plastics in Christchurch, Tel 64 09 276 dry ice all on my own. It took me two
8679, sold in bulk. hours. I found it easy to store the
www.viscountplastics.co.nz wheat alone.”
Buying new is much more expensive,
however, it ensures you get the lids that Hank Ensing has served as a ward welfare specialist
seal best. in the Grandview Ward, Glenview New Zealand
Stake and the Koromatua Ward, Temple View NZ
Stake.
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5. Storing Wheat in CO2
Drying wheat
I dried wheat on a trampoline in the sun for
several hours. You can dry it on a tarp on the
floor in the sun.
Another way to dry wheat in in buckets with
sloping glass lids.
Allow a gap for the air to circulate. Stir the grain
Check on your wheat after 1 year. regularly. Cover with a light mesh if you want
to prevent weevil from landing on it.
Is it dry enough?
If it smells like mold then feed it to the Photo below is by Jacqui Vowles, drying her
hens. family grain in New Zealand.
If it is just damp you can dry it.
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