When my brewing hobby took the back burner about 10 years ago, I was on the verge of going all grain. My kids are getting more independent and I've got about half of them out of the house. Now I'm dusting off the brewing equipment, sorting and inventorying my stock of brewing "stuff".

I discovered (remembered?) that I have a bunch of grain. I'm guessing 50-75 pounds of base grains (2-row and 6-row) plus another 25-40 pounds of adjunct and flavoring grains (15-20 different kinds).

Most of the grains have been stored in lidded plastic containers. Some of the specialty grains in ziplocs inside of the containers.

All that said, do I have 100 pound of horse food or do I have usable grains? Is it stale? It smells wonderful. (I love some of the caramelly light Belgian crystals.)

I'm easing my way back into brewing for now, brewing extracts. I'm guessing next fall before I'll be ready to take a at all grain. Any of you all grain gods willing to take a shot at my 1995 vintage barley?

Here's a post from the northern brewer forum that I just recently read:

my first few all-grain batches used a sack of 2-row from a brewpub that had closed down 8 years prior.
The sack was stored unopened in an uninsulated garage that would have had drastic temperature swings (-40F to over 100F) from summer to winter.
All the beers turned out great, which leads me to believe that grains stored in a sealed and dry location have a surprisingly long shelf life.

I'd say you might have some good grains! Here's the link to that forum post above, someone else stated:
Take a very small handfull and eat it on the
spot. If it tastes like sweet, very crunchy, oat meal, you're in business.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=53159

I would agree that if the old grains still taste good when eaten I would make beer out of them! The horses can eat oats!

_________________
The Czar

I have used malted barley stored in a sealed container at cellar temperatures for a year with no problems.

You may want to try using a small amount in a "test" mash to see what the wort will taste like but if it tastes fine I am sure that you can use it.