Don't dump spent grains down garbage disposal

It worked for a while, until I got a major clog.

I've been able to remove such clogs in the past with a simple plunger, however the last one was really stubborn.

I was frustrated and a bit drunk, and the plunging wasn't working.

OK, now I'm getting really pissed off. I tightened my grip on the plunger handle, rose up on my toes, and gave three hard plunges.

One....two...three!

And then, on the that third hard plunge, the PVC coupling at the P-trap under the sink split open, resulting in a shower of spent grain and water that absolutely exploded under the sink.

I'll take my spent grains over to my buddies compost pile from now on.

Christ...what a friggin' mess.

drayman86 said:

One....two...three!

And then, on the that third hard plunge, the PVC coupling at the P-trap under the sink split open, resulting in a shower of spent grain and water that absolutely exploded under the sink.

Click to expand...

I think I saw that explosion from my house...

lamarguy said:

I think I saw that explosion from my house...

Click to expand...

Pretty close, dude, pretty close. :rockin:

LoL. Funniest post I've read in a while!

Also don't stick your hand in there when its on...

yikes...I always garbage disposal my grains...might have to start dumping them in the woodss

Putting spent grains down the disposal never occurred to me. It's just a really bad idea. If you dont have a compost pile just find a place outside to dump them.

I never would have thought of putting that much volume in the disposal. you guys who do it havemore faih in yours then i have in mine.

i just started composingmine. Before that it was the garbage

my spent grains (mini-mash) are all but gone in a day or two on the the compost pile... birds love 'um

My dog likes the grain too much, mine goes in my yard waste bin with the grass trimmings for pickup.

+ 1 on composting or just dumping in the back yard

I've built a large 6x4x4 compost bin a few years ago with the intent of doing the right thing and composting all of our vegetable waste, etc.

Several years later, I've found that I'm lazy, I never turn the compost, and it takes forever for some of the stuff to decompose. However, being able to just dump grass clippings, spent grains, leaves, etc in without having to bag everything up? Priceless.

If you can build one, do it. It doesn't have to big huge, but you'll want to cover the grains with the grass or shredded leaves to make sure it doesn't start smelling.

Add some yeast nutrients to the spent grains and mix well, then gently lower a nice edible mushroom on top of it and leave it there for a few hours. The spores will settle into the mush, leave the mushroom where it is and put the whole thing in the basement for a few weeks. Then have a look, with some luck you'll be growing mushrooms

Spent grains for growing mushies, now that's an entertaining hobby duo.

And it's been done before. I know of at least 1 brewer here in the Netherlands who does it. Adding the nutrients really helps by the way, remember that shrooms are funghi too

I did the exact same thing when I moved into my new house, only most of the grain went into the garbage (no compost bin). It was when I was rinsing out my cooler. All the grain went down the drain, then the water started rising. I got out the plunger, went to down, then BOOM! The seals broke free in the pea trap. Good thing it was SS because the plastic would have cracked.

The Highway dept captured video of what happened on the road behind his house when he plunged..

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRpGkY1P94c]YouTube - Sewer Explosion[/ame]

I feed my spent grains to the horses. 2 out of 3 of them like the grains more than my beer. What do mares know.

I left some spent grains in the tun last month. Sunday morning I got a nasty maggot surprise right before brewing. YUCK

I have put hops down the disposal (Pliny the Elder 10 gallon's worth) and it is touch and go - don't advise it. I will be changing my ways, I promise!

Garbage disposals were made by plumbers, for plumbers to come and fix! My mother puts everything down hers (chicken and pork bones... really) and I try to tell her. They exists, but that doesn't mean they are for trash disposal. I second the composter or spreading them out in the yard. Birds will eat them all in one day and they won't stink. I won't have a garbage disposal in my house for the very reason people "try" to clog it.

Ever heard a shot glass disintegrate when you flip what you thought was the light switch, lol? How about quarters cups poured out with the quarter still there? It must be a sin to stick your hand in and remove the foreign debri. I mean come on, it says dis-pos-all doesn't it? LOL

woollybugger2 said:

my spent grains (mini-mash) are all but gone in a day or two on the the compost pile... birds love 'um

Click to expand...

As do rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and raccoons.

Yeah my dog loves spent grain as well. I think if I let him he'd eat up all of them after each brew day. I don't imagine it would hurt him much, I hear some pet feed companies buy spent grain from breweries to make their animal food, not positive on that though. When my dog does manage to get to the grain though I stop him before he eats to much, I bet with all the sugar he'd be bouncing off the wall.

Patrick

patrck17 said:

When my dog does manage to get to the grain though I stop him before he eats to much, I bet with all the sugar he'd be bouncing off the wall.

Click to expand...

That, and the gastrointestinal explosion later that day. Spent grain - nature's all natural laxative.

Ever heard a shot glass disintegrate when you flip what you thought was the light switch, lol?

Click to expand...

Too many shot glasses have died this way at my place lol...sad when it happens. They get demolished!

But really, no one uses their toilet? I just dump all spent ingredients in the toilet, but I live in a 4th floor apartment.

I rinse mine down the sink either in the bathroom or in the bathtub. Sometimes, I'll throw them in my gas tank.


Are you people kidding me? Why would you think this was a good idea???

TheMan said:

But really, no one uses their toilet? I just dump all spent ingredients in the toilet, but I live in a 4th floor apartment.

Click to expand...

I imagine this can be okay in moderation as toilets are designed to pass bulk material. I think you'd have to break it up a good bit and it is just faster for me to dump it off the balcony of my 2nd floor apartment. Wouldn't recommend that if you stay at a nice place, but theres nothing back there at this location so it is okay.

Patrick

+1 on turning the grain into mulch/compost.

55 Gallon Brute trashcan is like $30-$40 bucks. It will hold a years-worth of spent grain for almost every brewer (notice I said almost...). Anaerobic bacteria will break it down for you slower than aerobic, but you won't smell a thing until you open it. Duct tap the lid to seal it after after filling and you won't see a gnat! After a year of filling, it is black gold. Hell, you can bury the thing up to the lid if you have a yard and space is an issue (then you would want drain holes in the bottom). You can even use it as a dog poop digestor. I will warn you though, when you fill the above ground can be prepared for the smell of death. It smells like a Bigfoot turd covered in burned skunk hair, that was then mixed with Satan's very own poo!!! Not a smell you can define easily for folks, even with such harshness as I tried to convey.

I know some of you apartment people can't do this very easy do to space, but there is really no excuse other than us being lazy not to compost/reuse the spent barley berries, hop poo, and old yeast that we all have thrown away. BTW, I'm going to start drying out some of my old yeast and eating it. Full of vitamins.

WortMonger said:

BTW, I'm going to start drying out some of my old yeast and eating it. Full of vitamins.

Click to expand...

I'm all for saving the planet if that's your gig, but eating old dried yeast cakes? If you're pressed for Vitamins, don't you have a GNC around you? Or hell I get emails every day trying to sell me vitamins!

But to each his own.

In capsules. I take vitamins and brewers yeast pills are like $8 a bottle. Huge pills too, ick. I'm not really a big green guy at all, I just look for ways to reuse things I am buying or having to pay to get rid of. Also, the more hobbies I have, the less I spend on other things in my idle-time. There is no way on Earth I would eat a frickin' yeast cake. That would give you goat-ass I believe.

I already own the capsules because I can't stand bee pollen either, ick ick. My worms don't care what it is. If it fits in their mouth, they eat it! So, they will still be doing the bulk of digestion on something like old spent yeast. I just need a little for myself.

By all my posts, I look like this big sandal wearing hippy... but I'm not .

Do you bring in tree trimmings and feed them into your garbage disposal too?

Seriously....it's not a damn wood chipper. Why would you shove pounds and pounds of grain down your drain? That's just asking for it. I've never understood the desire for a garbage disposal at all....is it really a big deal to reach over and put things in the trash? Most people's trash is within 2 feet of their sink anyway.

One time I opened a box of instant mashed potatos and it had worms in it, so I made the mistake of trying to pour it down the garbage disposal. Well as you might imagine, mashed potato flakes basically turn into cement when you add cold water. The whole kitchen sink was clogged to hell, had to take the trap off and snake close to 20 feet of pipe to get water draining again, and then as soon as I got it put back together and drained some more water somewhere down in the bowels of the septic system those potato flakes would absorb some more water and grow and clog it again. It turned into a total cluster****.

WortMonger said:

55 Gallon Brute trashcan is like $30-$40 bucks. It will hold a years-worth of spent grain for almost every brewer (notice I said almost...). Anaerobic bacteria will break it down for you slower than aerobic, but you won't smell a thing until you open it. Duct tap the lid to seal it after after filling and you won't see a gnat! After a year of filling, it is black gold. Hell, you can bury the thing up to the lid if you have a yard and space is an issue (then you would want drain holes in the bottom). You can even use it as a dog poop digestor. I will warn you though, when you fill the above ground can be prepared for the smell of death. It smells like a Bigfoot turd covered in burned skunk hair, that was then mixed with Satan's very own poo!!! Not a smell you can define easily for folks, even with such harshness as I tried to convey.

Click to expand...

Oh my god I cannot even think to imagine how awful this would smell. I can't imagine a 55 trashcan in the yard full of decomposing grains and dog crap would smell any better though.

My worst adventure was trying to run the peals from 20 lbs of potatoes down the disposal. At least, the pipes didn't break, but it took a long time and a lot of flushing.

I've never understood the desire for a garbage disposal at all....is it really a big deal to reach over and put things in the trash?

Click to expand...

The disposal manufacturers (and perhaps others) have touted environmental reasons for using a disposal. And those reasons seemed to make sense at first glance. My parents put all kinds of stuff in theirs from egg shells to potato peels. But according to this article...maybe they're not so enviro-friendly.

Interesting that that article states that:

According to my favorite wastewater engineer, "household garbage disposals were the worst thing to ever hit the wastewater industry. Cities will eventually outlaw them for any new construction (as with what's happened with water softeners)."

Click to expand...

However just based on the name of that website...I can't say I'm convinced just yet.

patrck17 said:

Oh my god I cannot even think to imagine how awful this would smell. I can't imagine a 55 trashcan in the yard full of decomposing grains and dog crap would smell any better though.

Click to expand...

They are called composters, and many people compost in their own kitchen if they have charcoal filters. It is a fairly well used system that nature itself uses. I just suggest putting your "yard/kitchen wastes/brewing wastes" into one spot, and she chooses to use the whole planet.:rockin: You cover what you put in wet (like spent grain) with other dry wastes in a ratio, or in some composters you would roll it/turn them under to redistribute the moisture throughout the mix.

Both have liquid "leachate" called compost tea (this is the good kind of leachate not the bad kind from landfills) that drop out if conditions get overly moist. You need to contain this and cover it for no smell, hence the trash can filled in levels (contained and covered). I wouldn't recommend anaerobic to someone wanting to compost indoors, ever!

Aerobic does just fine indoors adding work in maintaining the ratio so you don't produce leachate, and with consistent turning for sure (you want O2 in there). You also must prevent insects, so screening/filters are necessary for aerobic.

Anaerobic bacteria are fine with you taping the lid shut and the trash can lid leaks a little gas out the plastic bung they have in the top of the handle. The methane created by anaerobic composition is a heavy gas, and so simply leaks out and down the side of the can diffusing into the atmosphere. Your smelling methane if/at all, not dog poop or spent grains, unless you open that lid for addition to the digestor. If you have a yard I suggested burying it only because you can drain the leachate and shovel out the can for addition to your yard. I wouldn't worry about smell from non-taping due to the gas being heavy. Think the little hole on a manhole cover .

On an apartment terrace/balcony, you have a potential stink bomb unless you control the escape of gas somewhat. It just happens that the trash can lid is easy to work and no gnats (which is the #1 reason most people don't compost), they are the absolute worst. The only reason I mention apartment anaerobically composted, is because most people wouldn't have the discipline nor the equipment (proper screening to keep out insects) to make them want to continue composting. But if you can brave that smell for a minute of two... anaerobic is the way to go!

Good stuff Wortmonger.
Here is an automatic, indoor composter that was linked in the article I linked above. It is aerobic and has a charcoal filter. These things worth it?

Yeah SpanishCastleAle, those are great for small family cooking waste. You would have to watch out for cooking for parties and other non-regimental occasions of filling it. Those are made for a small amount per day, so you also don't want to go to long without filling it. That is what I was talking about when I mentioned filtration. Those you have the link to smell better than most garbage disposals. Just to be upfront and perfectly honest, I have always owned a garbage disposal, it's just my personal one has never had anything that wouldn't "just not" go down a regular drain ran through it.

Also, a quick tip to you guys that do use your regularly, put a ice tray of ice in the disposal and pack it in there before you turn on the water and disposal. Helps to clean it out really good. Sounds horrible, but perfectly alright to do for real. Then throw a couple of citrus peels in there afterwards. Makes the smell that comes from them tolerable. Ever notice gnats "first" in your sink???

But wait, there's more!

Also doubles as a small-batch barley-malting machine.

Don't try putting whole hops in there either... did that back a few months ago when i was rising out my secondary after dry hopping, stopped it up real good, had to take out the p trap and reset the overload switch. I thought I had burned it up to start with, but definitely learned my lesson.