Storing grain question in sealed buckets.

[nao57]

So we had some black oil sunflower seeds stored in sealed buckets in the garage. The garage is external not heated. It was put in there maybe a year and a half ago.

Well, some of them got mold in them. Not all of them. But some did.

I thought of some counter measures but wanted to bounce ideas off some people and get input.

Is it normal for that to happen with the mold getting inside the buckets? And would that happen with other types of grain also, like wheat or barley? (Or is this unusual?) How do you suggest preventing this from happening?

Also as the country continues to destabilize people need to know simple things like this. Like we try to get thicker mil buckets that last longer. (Can you store grain in metal buckets or does it need to be plastic? I thought maybe metal buckets would last longer but worried metal could have moisture penetrate easier over time?)

Also a thought was... I found an idea some time ago that in tropical places like Latin countries and so on people have to store their laptops and other electronics in closed drawers with salt in them. The salt somehow pulls the humidity away from the electronics so that the humidity doesn't ruin them.

So I thought this salt idea might be usable for storing grain in closed containers this way to draw off the moisture? Curious for input on this? But to do this it would mean somehow storing a bit of the salt in some kind of like a paper or gause like packet taped to the bottom of the inside of the lid somehow. And that brought up a question to of how thick the paper could be without interfering with pulling out the moisture?

And... people also have these little oxygen absorber packets that they put in stored food containers to also help lengthen preservation time. Normally they do that to cut the oxygen. But both oxygen and water being present both erode a material faster no matter what it is. I wanted to ask if oxygen absorbers can work for protecting against moisture also??? (!)

Curious what others think. Its a good time to decide to get into gardening this year. I want to encourage you all in self sufficiency and not being dependent on others as much as possible.

Thank you for any replies or thoughts on this.

 

[TooCheep]

Molds need three things to grow- oxygen, moisture and a food source. Unfortunately, you supplied all three and the mold spores (which are in the air and/or on the BOSS) found a favorable environment to grow.
What Mold Needs to Grow

I've been doing food preservation (basically the same as BOSS preservation) for years. O2 absorbers would work, but the container needs to be airtight. For that reason, it is common to use the following combination:

• Plastic bucket- Makes it easy to move the product around; resistant to rodents/insects
• O2 absorbers- Pull the oxygen out of any air in the bucket to stop mold/insects/etc.
• Mylar bag(s)- (semi-optional) Insures the environment is airtight. A bucket alone is generally not airtight.

There are plenty of YouTube videos on how to package foods for long-term storage. If you are only interested in storing for up to a year, then a well-sealed bucket and O2 absorbers are probably fine. I wouldn't go longer than that as oils (like in BOSS) spoil comparatively quickly. Certain other dry, non-oily foods will last 25+ years (like white rice, dried beans, wheat, etc).

A good plastic bucket will last a long time, particularly if you don't open it. The rubber seal on the lid is the potential weak point. A metal bucket could theoretically work, but it would also require rubber to make a proper seal with the lid.