Flour - bulk storage

[maui420]

ive been baking alot lately so now im thinking of buying one of those large sacks of flour and sugar from sam's club? i was wondering how should i store them and how long do they last for?

thanks.

[piazzola]

The higher the protein the longer it last so I have been told

normally

I keep up to 25kg*3 of high protein, farina00 and protein rich flour at home in their bags then again the weather here is pretty dry so no nasty litle surprises

You may want to add few dry bayleaves to the flour once the bag is open to keep the little nasties away.

Another trick is to keep on rotating or moving the bags once a week.

As far as storage is concerned large bags are best used after 3 months of milling normally you'll find a stamp date of milling and batch production run on the side of the bag or somewhere but it should be there.

[devinf]

Talking about a 25 or 50lb. bag? Buy a large plastic flour bin/Cambro that has a reasonably tight seal and the flour should be fine. Since you're going through a baking phase you'll probably run out before the stuff goes bad or beasties invade.

[CanadianBakin']

I use a tall rubbermaid container that is sold at the large grocery stores for pet food. I'm pretty sure it was less than $10 and it seals.

Edited December 27, 2005 by CanadianBakin' (log)

[andiesenji]

One of these rolling pet food containers will hold 2 25 pound bags of flour

or 1 50 pound bag.

I have a 25 pound bag of pastry flour and a 25 pound bag of bread flour (high gluten/high protein).

[persiancook]

On a related note, I have some whole wheat flour left over from my last phase of intensive baking. It has been stored in an airtight jar in my reasonably cool basement. How can I tell if it is still fine to use? It does not smell funny.

[miladyinsanity]

Then it's probably fine, persiancook. But you should sift it before use, because sometimes it cakes up.

[CanadianBakin']

On a related note, I have some whole wheat flour left over from my last phase of intensive baking. It has been stored in an airtight jar in my reasonably cool basement. How can I tell if it is still fine to use? It does not smell funny.

←

...also watch it for a minute or so to make sure it doesn't move.

[M.X.Hassett]

A little of topic but arent large amounts (silos) of flour explosive? I remember hearing something about this a while back. Nothing for the home baker or small scale commercial baker to worry about just curious.

[M.X.Hassett]

HOLY EXPLODING FLOUR BATMAN

Edit: Wiki look under Safety

Edited December 28, 2005 by M.X.Hassett (log)

[miladyinsanity]

On a related note, I have some whole wheat flour left over from my last phase of intensive baking. It has been stored in an airtight jar in my reasonably cool basement. How can I tell if it is still fine to use? It does not smell funny.

←

...also watch it for a minute or so to make sure it doesn't move.

←

I didn't think about that one!

[Kris]

I use large flour bins that I bought from www.bakerscatalogue.com

[helenjp]

I want to order 10 kg or 25 kg (roughly 20 and 50 lbs) of bread flour, and suddenly realized I don't know how big a container I'm going to need! My mother had a purpose-made tip-up bin that held a couple of kids and a cat, never mind bags of flour, so I don't have a clear idea of how much volume 25 kg (50 lbs) of flour occupies.

Can anybody give me an idea of how big (measurements or volume in gallons, liters etc.) their bulk containers are, and how much flour they hold?

Thanks!

[EllenC]

Hi Helen,

I store my flour and sugar in large plastic buckets. I got them from a candy store and they used to hold 60 lbs of corn syrup. After washing and thorough drying they easily hold 25 pounds of flour or sugar with plenty of room for sifting, etc. They would probably hold 50 lbs, but I've just never tried it. Anyway, I measured and they are about 15 inches tall and 11 inches in diameter. Hope this helps.

Ellen

[prasantrin]

My kg bag of flour measures about 8x10x17cm, giving it a volume of 1360 cubic cm. If I had 10 of these, it would be somewhere around 130 000 cubic cm. How big a container is that? I think you'd need a container a bit bigger than 50x50x55 cm (or a container with measurements giving the same volume) for 10kg.

Edited February 1, 2008 by prasantrin (log)

[PastryGuru]

Are you in a commercial kitchen?

If so, Rubbermaid and Cambro make rolling bins that can store up to 200lb. of flour.

Otherwise, you can order from Hubert(check out the cambro and hubert product lines) or King Arthur Flour for smaller containers.

FYI a 50 lb. bag of flour will fit comfortably (with room for a scoop) in two 22-quart containers.

[Marya]

I store 25 pounds in a 22qt. Cambro container. This is large enough to store, and scoop, without spillover.

[helenjp]

OK! A US quart is just a little over a liter, right?

10 kg/ 22 lb bag should take up close to 15 liters (15 quart) from what Prasantrin says, with 20 liters a more practical size, from what PastryGuru and Marya are saying.

50 lbs split into 2 containers - that sounds much more practical than one big container. Rolling containers sound even better.

Not a commercial kitchen, just living in Japan, where packs of bread have 6-8 big slices, and flour comes in 2lb (1 kg) bags - the"big" 2 kg pack of bread flour is pretty expensive.

[prasantrin]

OK! A US quart is just a little over a liter, right?

10 kg/ 22 lb bag should take up close to 15 liters (15 quart) from what Prasantrin says, with 20 liters a more practical size, from what PastryGuru and Marya are saying.

50 lbs split into 2 containers - that sounds much more practical than one big container. Rolling containers sound even better.

I don't know if this will suit you, but a lot of garbage/recycling combos come with wheels and are fairly large. You can find them at Tokyu Hands and the like. The only problem would be that they may not be as air tight as one would like.

Not a commercial kitchen, just living in Japan, where packs of bread have 6-8 big slices, and flour comes in 2lb (1 kg) bags - the"big" 2 kg pack of bread flour is pretty expensive.

←

It sure is!! But when I was in Canada, I found flour wasn't really much cheaper there than in Japan (and so I resisted bringing some back to Japan with me--which I normally would have, had I had any of my luggage weight allowance to spare).

How long do you think it will take to use up a 25kg bag of flour? I guess with two growing boys, not that long, but will you have a cool place to store it during summer? I would be wary of keeping that much flour around during bug season.

[qrn]

I buy 50 lb bags of flour for baking. I use 22qt, food grade pails. One pail will hold 45# of the bag. But... You have to pickthe pail up and drop it on the ground in a long series of multiple drops, and then add more from the bag, in several stages.until the pail is full and the bag is nearlyempty, (5#left). This is to make the flour settle/pack into the pail...takes 5 or 6minutes, and many drops but it makes the flour very densely packed in the pail ,which keeps the bugs out and also keeps the humidity level so it is, as packed...They will keep for months, (at least 4 or 5) with no problems...I hope that is an understandable discription.

Bud

Edit to say the "drops" are only from a few inches up.

Edited February 2, 2008 by qrn (log)

[Priscilla]

Helen, I keep 10 lbs. of flour in containers marked with both 8 quarts and 8 liters. (5 lbs. of sugar fits in the same sort of container with a 4 qt./4 l. capacity.) If that helps in extrapolation.

In addition to ease in handling, sometimes I prefer multiple smaller containers because I don't like the diminishing product having so much, and forever increasing, air space.

Also, maybe rice storage could be a help in estimation? 20 lbs. of rice fits in yet another of these containers, an 18 qt.. The highest liter marking on this one is 15 l., but that line is well below the higher 18 qt., and well below the top of the container.

[blackcat]

I went to a petfoood store(PETCO) and picked up some large rolling bins. They had all different sizes and the price was pretty good.

blackcat

[helenjp]

A whole store for petfood.... . I am totally astonished!

I wondered about the "packing down" effect of flour - I keep about 2-3kg (say 5lb) in a small pink Hello Kitty rice container, but figured that the weight of the flour might mean that 10x that amount wouldn't take up 10x the space.

And yes, all those points Prasantrin mentions apply - that's why I've never stored a large amount of flour in Japan before. I think I would use 25kg of bread flour in about 6 months, so it would have to keep through the monsoon season. .

It would be useful to be able to buy 10 kg /22 lb bags, but most varieties are only sold in 5 kg / 11 lb or 25 kg/ 55 lbsizes.

Large rolling bins/garbage bins - I doubt I could find them here, but out of curiosity, how airtight are they? I currently keep flour and rice in containers with a tight seal.

[dougal]

A useful point to remember is that 1 kg of water is exactly 1 litre.

Flour does settle in storage, but without vibration, not much.

When you empty sacks or bags into a bin, you are fluffing it up to a slightly greater volume, because of its looser packing.

I'd guess that 25 kg would fill a 30 litre container. I expect that you'd have a 'using' container of a couple of litres to take any excess, and save you wrestling with the big one every time you bake.

... I think I would use 25kg of bread flour in about 6 months, so it would have to keep through the monsoon season. .

←

Quality in storage is another question.

"White" flour keeps pretty well - not least because its had the nutritious, but oily, wheatgerm removed.

Wholemeal flour (ie with the wheatgerm) doesn't 'keep' as well. I think 6 months would be pushing it. The oils oxidise and taste/smell "rancid".

Just a gentle reminder also that your large storage container(s) need to be proof against insects (and maybe rodents too). I've come across folks just putting a sack inside a nice immaculately clean dustbin with a tight-fitting lid...

[andiesenji]

During the 8 months a friend was living in Japan, somewhere in the far north, where there was a lot of snow, he kept flour and other grains, in their original bags, inside one of the super heavy plastic "bags" which can be used for storing clothes, etc., which have, in addition to the zip-type of closure, a one-way valve that allows one to press out as much of the air as possible in the bag. I know he purchased it in Japan after he arrived there, because he was worried about moisture getting into his cereal grains and etc.

He stored the bag with its contents inside a square plastic "trash" container he bought in a local market, it had a top that fit snugly but was not airtight. He said many of the families in his building used them to store everything from clothes to kids toys because they could be stacked. They were only available in all colors, mostly pastels.

The important thing was getting something airtight.