Freezing rice

[izzyscout21]

Dumb question, but how long is recommended that you freeze rice to kill the weevil eggs?

[bacpacker]

I would think 1-4 weeks would be plenty. I do try and keep my freezer below 10 degrees.

[izzyscout21]

I'e got about 100 lbs of rice..........this could take a while

[bacpacker]

How are you gonna package it for freezing?

[piranha2]

Izzy, I think its about temperature, not time. Once its frozen, its frozen. Kinda like boiling water. How long should you boil it? Doesn't matter cause once its boiling, its 212 degrees. One minute should be as good as 12 hours. IMHO

[ladyhk13]

Izzy, I think its about temperature, not time. Once its frozen, its frozen. Kinda like boiling water. How long should you boil it? Doesn't matter cause once its boiling, its 212 degrees. One minute should be as good as 12 hours. IMHO

That only works if you are flash freezing I would think. When you are canning and use a hot water bath you have to boil the jars for a certain amount of time depending upon what it is you are making and what size jars you are using. I don't think your theory is sound. Time does come into play.

[ladyhk13]

You can put it into the oven at 140 degrees for 15 minutes if you want or 0 degrees for 3 days.

Rice Weevil and Granary Weevil | Iowa Insect Information Notes (http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/ricewee.html)

[ladyhk13]

Dumb question, but how long is recommended that you freeze rice to kill the weevil eggs?

BTW...NO question is dumb here except for the one not asked. That's why we are here.

[piranha2]

I stand corrected.

[bacpacker]

Thanks Lady!

[ladyhk13]

I stand corrected.

No problem. Gonna start canning now? Think of all the fun you can have!

[Sniper-T]

Um.... as far as water canning goes, I have always gone by the principle of 2-3 minutes of boiling. Anything more than that and you're overcooking whatever you're canning.

This was passed to me from my mom, her mom before her...etc.

BUT... we're not talking the boiling of the water in the pot... we're talking the boiling of the liquid in the jars. Once that starts boiling, give the jar a hearty shake (with tongs), let it come back to a boil for a couple minutes, and done.

I have everal hundred pounds of rice put away, that with my recent renovation, I just pushed through it's rotation, and after 4 years, there is ZERO evidence of worms/insects; as it was when I packaged it. Do you guys regularly have this problem down there? In the last couple years, I've been leaving my flour outside for a couple days before packaging it, but also just noticed that the stuff I had put away before that, is still 100% ok.

???

[ladyhk13]

I don't have any problems but we take ours out of the packaging and sucky it into smaller sizes so all the 02 is gone. No 02, no bugs.

[ravensgrove]

I put rice in the freezer for 72 hours, our freezers are subzero.

[izzyscout21]

hanks guys, I just wanted to play it safe. I have no idea what temp my freezer is running. I actually want to put it in 2 liter bottles for now. I'l too cheap right now (and dont have the time)to do mylar.

[bacpacker]

Bottles should work fine for quite some time.

[izzyscout21]

Bottles should work fine for quite some time.

good to know. The bottles will let me get it out of the pantry and somewhere more convenient (i.e.- the bunker)

[Caden08]

It says you can heat to 140 F for 15 min. How could I do that? Would I need to break down a 25 lbs bag or throw it all on a pot and put it in the oven?

[Gunfixr]

For freezing or boiling of anything inside a container that is placed into the frozen or boiling environment, time will come into play. It will only count once the core of the container's contents reaches the desired temperature, which takes time, depending on the original temp of the container and it's size/mass.

We just vacuum seal our rice, and there's no problems. Once you pull 90+% of the air out, bugs die, since they breathe. We take the rice from its original bag, break it down into 1 and 2 cup amounts, and vacuum seal them, write the month and year of seal on it, and pack those into buckets.
Having it in 1 and 2 cup amounts allows you to open and use what you need and no more. Also, the smaller packages means less total space in between the rice grains, meaning less overall air left inside.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Don't forget to throw bay leaves in the package as that prevents bugs from coming back.

[Evolver]

For freezing or boiling of anything inside a container that is placed into the frozen or boiling environment, time will come into play. It will only count once the core of the container's contents reaches the desired temperature, which takes time, depending on the original temp of the container and it's size/mass.

We just vacuum seal our rice, and there's no problems. Once you pull 90+% of the air out, bugs die, since they breathe. We take the rice from its original bag, break it down into 1 and 2 cup amounts, and vacuum seal them, write the month and year of seal on it, and pack those into buckets.
Having it in 1 and 2 cup amounts allows you to open and use what you need and no more. Also, the smaller packages means less total space in between the rice grains, meaning less overall air left inside.

Like Gunfixr said if you take away the O2 the bugs and eggs will die. So if you use liter bottles you might be able to put a 100cc 02 absorber in a almost full bottle. I've never do this before but it should work. Things that might happen is it goes against what the lid is designed for... holding pressure not holding vacuum and two it might collapse the bottle some. If I had the 02s I'd do a test run. I used up all that I had the last time I bucketed/mylared/02ed our grains.

[AlphaTea]

I have been prepping for quite a while now and I have tried just about every method ever imagined.
I actually started out freezing everything for a few days until I had an epiphany.
I was telling Wifey about my days in Alaska as a kid. I was telling her about the vicious mosquitoes we had up there.
She says "How come they dont die off during the winter?" Hmmm. Gears started turning in the ol' noggin.
Then I remember my father telling me about getting Catalpa Worms (caterpillars) off the tree and freezing them in corn meal. Thaw them out MONTHS later to go fishing and they would be quite lively.
Logically if freezing something would kill the bugs or eggs there would be no bugs left. Surely some time in the last 1000 years or so the bugs ancestors got frozen.
I dont suppose it hurts to freeze your stuff, but I dont bother anymore.

[AlphaTea]

We just vacuum seal our rice, and there's no problems. Once you pull 90+% of the air out, bugs die, since they breathe. We take the rice from its original bag, break it down into 1 and 2 cup amounts, and vacuum seal them, write the month and year of seal on it, and pack those into buckets.
Having it in 1 and 2 cup amounts allows you to open and use what you need and no more. Also, the smaller packages means less total space in between the rice grains, meaning less overall air left inside.

I mostly agree with you.
About 25% of my rice and beans is vacuum sealed in 4cup size bags that end up looking like tubes. I do this to minimize losses just like you said.
HOWEVER I think you may have a few problems that we should address. First of all your stuff is probably fine the way it is.
1)Sucking out the air is a pretty good idea and I recommend it, but you have made the mistake of thinking 'air' instead of 'oxygen'. When a grain of rice punctures that foodsaver bag, and it will sometimes happen, the air will get back in, so you will basically have an open container. The pests we are worried about need OXYGEN to live not just any gas. Air is (roughly) 79% nitrogen, 20% Oxygen and 1% other. You take out the oxygen and you pretty much take out the bugs. You need to use O2 absorbers in your bags to reduce the O2 level to <1%. If you suck out most of the air and vacuum seal the bag, the gas inside is indeed at a lower pressure, but it still has 20% O2. I do both. Now, if you get a hole in a bag, air will get sucked in but the O2 absorber will still have enough life left in it to absorb the O2. Still get no bugs.
2)Conceptual problem with "the smaller packages means less total space in between the rice grains, meaning less overall air left inside". The second part is right. The total space between the grains remains the same. Same number of rice grains per cubic inch in a full container regardless of size, therefor the same amount of air per cubic inch.

In a nut shell, make sure containers are full and excess air is removed. Use O2 absorbers inside bags.
DO NOT USE AN O2 ABSORBER ALONE IN A SEALED BUCKET. It will collapse. Place sealed container or sealed mylar bag (With O2 absorber inside ) in Bucket.

[madpiper]

My understanding is if there are no bugs in the rice in the first place you should be fine just putting in 2 liter bottles without anything else. as long as the bottles are dry there shouldn't be a problem. In Egypt they have found sealed jars of rice thousands of years old with mummies and the rice was still okay. I've had some in 2 liters for 2 years and it is still okay. It does have to be long grain white rice though (not instant), all others have some moisture content to them. I'm no expert but this is what I've done and it seems to be fine. I've done the same with dry beans but I don't think that will work as well.