dontman

Recipes 

Yesterday when I was outside doing my boil I was idly watching my huge pile of over 100 lbs of spent grains from prior batches in the back of my yard.

I started thinking about it when I saw a male and female Cardinal feeding on the pile.

I am curious. Shouldn't my grains be depleted of all nutrition from mash conversion and rinsing?

I hear plenty about people using this grain for dog treats and bread and whatnot. But it seems as though the mashing and rinsing process should have removed 90%+ of the nutritional value from these grains. If I'm doing my job properly that is.

The birds seem to understand what I'm talking about because they rarely feed on this huge pile of free food and I have a large bird population in my back yard.

Anyway, these are the types of thing I think about while watching my wort boil.

__________________
On Tap: 1. Kelly R. IPA, 2. Roter Hund Hefeweizen, 3. Bud Killer Blonde, 4. Red Dog Pale, 5. Roter Hund Oktoberfest, 6. Pumpkin Ale, 7. McRed's Stout (with new nitro system and stout tap,) Cream Soda, 8. ESB # 3, & 9. Ordinary Bitter.

ewbish

Recipes 

Nope, almost all the feed value remains........something in the neighborhood of 90% of the protein is untouched, and that's the ingredient of primary feed value. Plus, the conversion process releases a lot of sugars and such that normally wouldn't be there........spent grain consequently is a massive growth booster.......it's phenomenal for finishing hogs and broilers.

SixFoFalcon

Recipes 

Interestingly enough, I too have noticed cardinals favoring my compost heap ever since I went all-grain. Never had them in my yard too often before then, even though I had tons of finches, starlings, and robins. But now, in the spring/summer/fall months, the cardinals make frequent visits. Could be a coincidence, but I do wonder if cardinals have a particular fondness for barley.

__________________
Primary: Witbier
Secondary: nothing
Kegged:Citra-Hopped IPA, Southern English Brown Ale, Dry Stout
On tap:Southern English Brown Ale, American IPA, Dry Stout
Bottled:"Massacreation" Chinook Barleywine, Belgian Golden Strong Ale, English IPA
Next: Imperial Stout

bottle-o-jeff

Recipes 

This is the same thing that goes on with corn based ethanol. What's left after the conversion is usually sold as feedstock.

dontman

Recipes 

Not sure about the cardinals. I have a tall shrub that a pair of cardinals has nested in the three winters I have been at this house. I have to assume it is the same couple.

Good to know about the feed. Curious again that there is not a massive feeding frenzy going on out there this winter. Ungrateful buggers. Give them 100 pounds of delicious food and they are like 'meh, I'll wait for the good stuff.'

__________________
On Tap: 1. Kelly R. IPA, 2. Roter Hund Hefeweizen, 3. Bud Killer Blonde, 4. Red Dog Pale, 5. Roter Hund Oktoberfest, 6. Pumpkin Ale, 7. McRed's Stout (with new nitro system and stout tap,) Cream Soda, 8. ESB # 3, & 9. Ordinary Bitter.