Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

Looking for ethanol (100% pure) in the calgary area.

If you bath brown rice in ethanol vapour (boil the ethanol to achieve vapour) for 10 minutes, it stabilizes the oils in the rice so it won't go rancid and will store like white rice. All without destroying the nutrients. Air it out after and store in a cool dark place.

Nice huh.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

I'd rather drink it. F*ck the rice, it can go rancid all it wants.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

Sorry, but I suspect it's BS. How in the heck would exposing an oil-containing grain (brown rice) to EtOH vapor "stabilize" the grain? If the oil remains, it will be susceptible to becoming rancid. Just MHO as a chemical engineer (in my 20+ year "past life", before going into nursing).

If you want to stabilize it, store it in an oxygen free environment (vacuum pack + oxy absorbers) at a low/reasonable temperature.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

It's a good idea, but it's a bad idea.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

How it works

Storing brown rice in an oxygen free environment only will extend the shelf life up to 2 years.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

I wonder how the nutritional content of EtOH stabilized brown rice would compare with non-stabilized brown rice? If there is a loss, wouldn't it just be easier to store milled white rice?

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

Can't you just buy parboiled rice? It has 80% of the nutritional value of brown rice and has a shelf life more like white rice.

Honeyville claims a 15-30 shelf life on parboiled rice (I know quite a range..)

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

Interesting...thanks for the link!

It looks like the invention (circa 1993) uses a combination of factors to nuke the enzyme (lipases) that would otherwise accelerate oxidation of the oils in brown rice.

Nutritional content shouldn't be badly affected - the patent abstract suggests that exposure to EtOH vapor doesn't extract the oils from the brown rice. It just denatures the enzyme that accelerates the rice going rancid (probably by a combination of heat & alcohol exposure). This patent only reports shelf life testing out to 6 months....I wonder how long the treated brown rice would really last.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

how about using a block of dry ice to store the whole-grain rice in an oxygen-free environment - does that help ?

when rice goes rancid, is that an aerobic or anaerobic process ?

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

I'm pretty sure that it's an aerobic process.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

I think everclear is going to be the purest off-the-shelf ethanol one can get.
otherwise order from a lab supply store:
hach.com
fishersci.com
coleparmer.com

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

I tend to agree! Drink enough Everclear and you will forget about the rice!

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

The only way to even remotely safely reduce ethanol is in a hot water bath. You could die in the resulting explosion if you are careless with this and use flames.

Re: Ethanol for stabilizing brown rice
 

Rancid means the oil has oxidized. You prevent it by excluding oxygen. That is a LOT safer and easier than anything involving alcohol vapors. Dry ice works well. Leave a small opening at the top of the container so the CO2 can drive out the oxygen, then seal it when the dry ice is all spent. Or get oxygen absorbers. Some hardware stores carry them, or you can get them from Honeyville Grain.