Do worms like brewing by-products?

I have a worm bin for recycling household food scraps. The worms are red wrigglers, I believe. Does anyone know if they would like spent grains or or trub from the bottom of the fermenter?

I know the worms in my compost pile do!

Let's say "hypothetically" that I have a large pile of spent grains on my property rotting away in the sun. What would I need to add to it or do to it so that it becomes good compost?

Absolutely, the worms in my compost pile are so numerous that digging into it gives a spade full of wrigglers!

Gameface said:

Let's say "hypothetically" that I have a large pile of spent grains on my property rotting away in the sun. What would I need to add to it or do to it so that it becomes good compost?

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I dump mine in with the rest of my compost. Food scraps, grass clippings, etc. Though it my rot on its own. Dig into it and let us know. Wear a nose clip.

I need to get some worms for my compost pile...

They love it. Make sure to let the grains cool first. I had a bin I had a colony in, dumped the grains right after i finished the sparge. The heat from the grains killed the majority of my worms. Had to start a new colony, now i let the grains cool off before adding.

Gameface said:

Let's say "hypothetically" that I have a large pile of spent grains on my property rotting away in the sun. What would I need to add to it or do to it so that it becomes good compost?

Click to expand...

Well, the easy answer would be " google compost pile". But, the longer answer is: a compost pile is kind of like a layer cake. You layer plant material like leaves and garden waste, with animal manure(if you have it), and vegetable waste like peelings. Add a little garden soil(or old compost) to provide the active components. Often a little Lime is beneficial. And sometimes I add alittle plant food (fertilizer) to kickstart it. Beneficial bacteria and molds break down the waste. Worms and other invertebrates help by oxygenating as well as eating some of the raw materials. My pile tends to be mostly composed of coffee grounds and spent grains, along with whatever vegetable wastes we generate. In the Fall, there's lots of garden waste.
So, after the book, now to answer your Q: Take that pile of probably stinky grains, mix in some leaves or other coarse garden waste, sprinkle with a little lime, make sure it stays moist, and turn it over every week or two with a garden fork or shovel. If you find any worms, throw those in the pile. If you turn it (helps oxygenation) it will be useable compost in a month or maybe 6 weeks. Hmmmm, kind of sounds like making beer........

agree with the above poster! Compost piles are very complex but in short you need both green and brown material for it in the correct mix to get rich black soil out of it. Its not real rocket science or anything but about 30 minutes worth of research should be suffiecent enough to get started and maintain a health compost pile!

I gave up on keeping one due to our chickens destroying it while searching for stuff to eat lol.

I don't think I remember actually adding worms to my bin. After a month or so of starting, when I first turned it, the worms had just found it on their own.

Either way, we keep a 5 gallon bucket by the back door for kitchen scraps. I have the box a carboy came in sitting in the hallway that I toss toilet paper and paper towel tubes, shredded bills and news paper in.

Usually when the food bucket gets full, the box is half full so I dump the food and cover with paper. A week or so later give it a turn.

Green stuff, brown stuff, dirt and water and you end up with compost.

I would think spent grains count as "brown stuff", so I expect they would love it...

You can just mix it up watering the layers as you go and let it sit with no additional work... It willl go aster if you "tend it" as described above.

You migh cosider laying a bunch of old newspaper on the ground in think layers and do the compost on top.... else weeds and root w grow through it making it harder to dig up and move...