Spent Grains

I was wondering if anybody knew if there are any nutrients left in the grains after the mashing process

The birds in my back yard seem to think so.

I know some people and even breweries will feed their spent grains to livestock or poultry. So there must be some nutritional value to it.

I eat mine as a breakfast cereal with milk and honey. It fills me up and gives me extra fiber in my diet.

farms use them as fillers for the animals. My wife makes dog biscuits with them.

check this pdf out. +1 to farmers feeding it to the animals, we've done it for years.

http://www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/asc/asc186/asc186.pdf

Our chickens love them!

edds5p0 said:

I eat mine as a breakfast cereal with milk and honey. It fills me up and gives me extra fiber in my diet.

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Do you eat them wet or dry them first?

There's a company on Bend, Oregon (LOVE that town) who contracted with Boneyard Brewery to make dogfood out of their spent grains. Not sure how good that really is for dogs, but there seems to be a market for it, at least out there. As for me, my spent grains seem to make a great addition to my parent's compost pile. I have a friend who brings his spent grains to a chicken farmer who in turn gives him a dozen eggs, that's a pretty good deal.

I make pizza dough and dog treats. It goes a long way, so what I don't freeze, I take it to the local farmer's market/farmer to use for compost. At least I feel better about it growing into food for others than just dumping it in the trash! Support local and look out for your farmers! They will help you when it counts! (my local market lets me pick ingredients for crazy small batch ideas). Last year, he let me pick buds off of fresh local Douglas Firs for a pine/lavender saison that I brewed for the holidays. It was amazing and he didn't charge me a dime!

I either make dog treats or spread them in my planting beds around the house. Same thing w/coffee grounds, not for the dog w/them.

Thanks for all the info. I am trying to work a deal with a local chicken farmer for some eggs. I like to see the grains going to use, I use them to make bread but still have a lot left over. A friend of mine used to have pigs and goats and they loved it. I will try the dog treats next, my lab seems to like my beer so might as well give him treats made from the grains.

I use mine mixed with Strawberry Jello for wild pig bait. Works well.

I make dog treats with mine. Chase loves stout chocolate treats (closest he gets to chocolate is chocolate malt!)

MTate37 said:

Do you eat them wet or dry them first?

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I just drain off the excess and keep it in the fridge.

edds5p0 said:

I just drain off the excess and keep it in the fridge.

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Interesting. How long do they keep in the fridge?

It seems a lot of folks are making dog treats! Can you guys post some recipes?

Dogs are not suppose to eat grains, and the food companies know this. It's used as a cheap filler.

My dogs love my steeping grains. They scarf them down like crazy!!!!

My wife takes a few cups of left over grains and makes bread. It's not too bad.

I toss a lb at a time into a ziplock and freeze it then make bread and dog treats when I have the time. The bread is awesome actually and the dog seems to agree with the treats.

Just made some dog biscuits from my grains over the weekend.. the Pup loves them! might have to make them more often.

We love the breads we've made so far, especially a cranberry walnut bread. Our dogs also go crazy for the treats, but then again they also love cat poo.

BuzzKillington said:

My wife takes a few cups of left over grains and makes bread. It's not too bad.

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My wife does this as well. We have gotten pretty good at making honey wheat bread.

Not only can you use the grains in bread, but you can use the yeast sediment your fermenter too instead of baking yeast.

MTate37 said:

Interesting. How long do they keep in the fridge?

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Since I'm just using steeping quantities, they aren't around for long.

Spent grains are called 'spent' for a reason, not much left. Doesn't keep the pigs from scarfing them down, but not much left nutritionally.

I don't own pets or animals, but I have made dog treats with peanut butter, eggs, flour, and spent grains. The only dogs that would eat them are now on a raw meat diet. It's doing wonders for them, but isn't helping me get rid of the spent grains. Now they just go into the compost pile. The possums seem to love them.